Teaching Perspectives of Pre-service Physical Education Teachers in Shanghai: A Pilot Study

Lijuan Wang

doi:10.5539/ass.v8n1p209

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the teaching perspective of pre-service Physical Education teachers in Shanghai, China. The Teaching Perspectives Inventory instrument (Pratt, 1998) was used to collect data from 158 pre-service teachers. Descriptive data showed that pre-service teachers exhibited a common pattern of at least one or perhaps two dominant teaching perspectives. They attached importance to student affective development, but paid less attention to the change of society and student thinking. A series of univariate analyses of variance revealed that the scores of the female teachers on Nurturing were significantly higher than those of the male teachers. Although study levels had no significant effect on teaching perspectives of pre-service teachers, a slight increase in the mean scores of Transmission and Social Reform perspectives was observed in first-year to fourth year pre-service teachers. Finally, a significant correlation among several perspectives was observed. Using the findings as bases, we provide implication for the improvement of teaching perspectives.

Highlights

Numerous studies have revealed that teaching is a complex and challenging filed (e.g., Kent, 2000; Rust, 1994)
This study focused on pre-service teachers and adopted a theoretical framework on teaching perspectives (Pratt, 1992; Pratt & Associates, 1998; Pratt, Collins, & Selinger, 2001) and Teaching Perspective Inventory (TPI; Pratt & Associates, 1998) to investigate pre-service teachers’ perspectives on teaching
The pre-service teachers exhibited a common pattern of at least one or perhaps two dominant teaching perspectives and no distinguishable recessive perspective. These findings are different from those obtained by Deggas (2008), who noted that majority of pre-service teachers in the U.S only had one singular teaching perspective, indicating that the teaching perspectives of pre-service teachers in China may be more diversified than those of teachers in the U.S On the other hand, the results of this study are consistent with the new concept of Physical Education (PE), recently introduced in curriculum innovation in China. the traditional concept of PE was limited to fitness perspectives alone

Summary

Introduction

Numerous studies have revealed that teaching is a complex and challenging filed (e.g., Kent, 2000; Rust, 1994). In exploring the complexity of teaching, researchers have noted that beliefs and perspectives play a critical role because they are recognized as important mediators of teaching behaviours (McNeil, 1990) They form the rationales that determine, in part, how practical educational decisions are made by teachers (Eisner, 1992). In the Physical Education (PE) domain, the theoretical framework and curriculum provide general directions for teaching, freedom is provided to PE teachers to make a significant number of important educational decisions These decisions include what content to teach, how to teach it, and the extent to which the content will be learned by students (Behets & Vergauwen, 2004; Ennis & Chen, 1995). This study focused on pre-service teachers and adopted a theoretical framework on teaching perspectives (Pratt, 1992; Pratt & Associates, 1998; Pratt, Collins, & Selinger, 2001) and Teaching Perspective Inventory (TPI; Pratt & Associates, 1998) to investigate pre-service teachers’ perspectives on teaching

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