According to self-determination theory, teachers can motivate students by supporting their psychological needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy. The present study complements extant research (most of which relied on self-report measures) by relying on observations of need-supportive teaching in the domain of physical education (PE), which allows for the identification of concrete, real-life examples of how teacher need support manifests in the classroom. Seventy-four different PE lessons were coded for 5-min intervals to assess the occurrence of 21 need-supportive teaching behaviors. Factor analyses provided evidence for four interpretable factors, namely, relatedness support, autonomy support, and two components of structure (structure before and during the activity). Reasonable evidence was obtained for convergence between observed and student perceived need support. Yet, the low interrater reliability for two of the four scales indicates that these scales need further improvement.

Despite evidence for the utility of self-determination theory in physical education, few studies used objective indicators of physical activity and mapped out between-class, relative to between-student, differences in physical activity. This study investigated whether moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and rated collective engagement in physical education were associated with autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and amotivation at the between-class and between-student levels. Participants were 739 pupils (46.3% boys, Mage = 14.36 ±1.94) from 46 secondary school classes in Flanders (Belgium). Multilevel analyses indicated that 37% and 63% of the variance in MVPA was explained by between-student and between-class differences, respectively. Students' personal autonomous motivation related positively to MVPA. Average autonomous class motivation was positively related to between-class variation in MVPA and collective engagement. Average controlled class motivation and average class amotivation were negatively associated with collective engagement. The findings are discussed in light of self-determination theory's emphasis on quality of motivation.

Background: During the last 30 years several theories of motivation have generated insights into the motives underlying learners’ behavior in physical education. Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a general theory on social development and motivation, has enjoyed increasing popularity in physical education research during the past decade. SDT states that for students to be optimally motivated for physical education, it is critical to support the satisfaction of their innate, psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness by being autonomy supportive, by structuring the environment and by creating a warm and solid relationship with the students. Purpose: Our goal was to provide a critical review of 74 SDT-grounded peer-reviewed studies in the field of physical education, to identify research gaps, and to provide suggestions for moving this line of research forward by discussing how insights from a pedagogical view can contribute to the development of SDT-based research. Findings: The included studies confirmed the motivational sequence as proposed by SDT. It was revealed that future research can be of extra value if a) combinations of the three dimensions of need supportive practices are addressed, b) more intervention and experimental studies are conducted, c) more insight is gained into antecedents of teachers’ behaviors, d) a broader set of learning outcomes is investigated, and e) relevant physical education related contextual factors are taken into account. Conclusions: Given the increasing number of SDT-studies in the context of physical education, this review recommends a better integration of pedagogical and psychological knowledge in future SDT-grounded work in the context of physical education. A better integration is needed because it can lead to ecologically valid and practical recommendations on how to enhance students’ motivation taking into account the pedagogical context of physical education

Self-determination theory (SDT) has served as a theoretical framework for considerable research on teaching behavior and student motivation. The majority of studies have focused on need-supportive teaching behavior at the expense of need-thwarting teaching behavior (i.e., the "dark side" of teaching). The goal of the present study was to examine motivational dynamics involved in controlling teaching behavior in the context of physical education (PE). The majority of studies on observed teaching behavior were conducted in the laboratory. To augment the ecological validity in the present study, the behavior of PE teachers was videotaped to rate their conU-oUing teaching behavior in a real-life setting. In a sample of 56 teachers and 702 secondary school students, controlling teaching behavior during a specific PE class, as observed by external raters, was related positively to students' perceived controlling teaching behavior and, through these perceptions, to controlled motivation and amotivation. These associations were obtained in spite of the low incidence of controlling teaching behaviors, suggesting that students may be quite sensitive to controlling teaching behaviors. No associations were found between observed controlling behavior and student autonomous motivation and students' perceptions of autonomysupportive teaching. Practical implications and recommendations for PE teachers' professional development training are included.

The present intervention study examined whether physical education (PE) teachers can learn to make use of autonomy-supportive and structuring teaching strategies. In a sample of 39 teachers (31 men, M = 38.51 ± 10.44 years) and 669 students (424 boys, M = 14.58 ± 1.92 years), we investigated whether a professional development training grounded in self-determination theory led to changes in (a) teachers' beliefs about the effectiveness and feasibility of autonomy-supportive and structuring strategies and (b) teachers' in-class reliance on these strategies, as rated by teachers, external observers, and students. The intervention led to positive changes in teachers' beliefs regarding both autonomy support and structure. As for teachers' actual teaching behavior, the intervention was successful in increasing autonomy support according to students and external observers, while resulting in positive changes in teacher-reported structure. Implications for professional development and recommendations for future research are discussed.