Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Understand the Beliefs of Chinese Teachers Concerning Teaching Games for Understanding

Abstract

This study describes the beliefs of Physical Education (PE) teachers regarding Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Twenty PE teachers participated in this study. Data collection consisted of a survey on demographic data and semistructured interviews. The research results indicate that the teachers were positively or neutrally disposed to TGfU. They were motivated to use TGfU either intrinsically by their responsibilities and satisfaction, or extrinsically by pressure to comply with how principals, professional colleagues, and students felt about the TGfU model. Furthermore, most of the participants expressed having low confidence in TGfU teaching due to the limitation of internal factors, such as inadequate game knowledge, limited TGfU conceptual understanding, and inability to modify games, and external factors, including contextual constraints, safety concern, and conflict with the current learning assessment system. The discussion of findings in relation to TPB furthers the understanding of TGfU implementation by the teachers (only nine out of 20 PE teachers adopted the TGfU model in classes). The findings also provide empirical evidence to support moral norm and affective beliefs as additional TPB predictors, as well as the influence of control beliefs on behavior and normative beliefs.