Physical education teachers’ perceived effectiveness in association with student attendance, teacher adaptability, external educational supports, and teaching format during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Spring 2020 pandemic-control policies included an abrupt shift to remote teaching, which may have affected physical education (PE) teachers’ perceived effectiveness. This study examines PE teachers’ perceived effectiveness in association with student attendance, teacher adaptability, PE supports, teaching format (in-person, remote synchronous, remote asynchronous, etc.), and teacher- and school-level demographics at three time points (before the pandemic, Spring 2020, and the 2020-2021 school year). An electronic survey was developed by an expert panel and distributed to U.S. public school PE teachers (convenience sampling via school health-related organizations). For analyses, teacher perceived effectiveness was dichotomized (very/extremely effective= “1”; not at all/slightly/moderately effective= “0”). Logistic regression models assessed associations between perceived effectiveness and independent variables (student attendance, teacher adaptability, PE supports, teaching format, and demographic variables) at each time point. Respondents (n=134; M age=46) were mostly female (62%), general PE teachers (82%, versus adapted), had a graduate degree (66%), had 0-10 years of teaching experience (37%), and were from 26 states. Perception of being very/extremely effective was highest before the pandemic (93%), lowest in Spring 2020 (12%), and recovered somewhat in 2020-2021 (45%). During the 2020-2021 school year, teachers had greater odds of perceiving they were more effective if they reported having higher student attendance (OR 1.06 [CI:1.02-1.09], p>.001) and higher adaptability (OR 1.22 [CI: 1.09-1.37], p>.001), adjusting for gender, education level, years of experience, school type, and title I status. Professional development opportunities are needed for remote teaching of PE to enhance teachers’ adaptability and perceived effectiveness during potential future school closures.