Teaching Effectiveness and Physical Education: Data from systematic observation

Abstract

The purpose of the present study, which was part of a research project entitled "Development, testing and implementation of systematic observation/assessment tools for the teaching effectiveness of physical education teachers", was to evaluate the elementary physical educators' teaching practices and to examine the possible influence of teacher's gender and school grade on them. The teaching practices of 40 PE teachers (19 males and 21 females) were observed and evaluated via the general assessment framework of the Presidential Decree (P.D.) 152/2013; a rubric that the Greek Ministry of Education released for the assessment of all school teachers. The P.D 152/2013 was adapted, clarified and tested for the PE subject and consists of three categories, seven criteria and 26 indicators of teaching effectiveness, described on four performance levels (Incomplete, Sufficient, Very Good, Excellent). Multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant main effects a) of teacher gender on the criterion "Interpersonal relationships and expectations" in favour of males, and b) of teaching grade on the criteria "Interpersonal relationships and expectations", "Classroom organization" and "Instructional activities and Educational materials" where participants appeared more effective in upper grades. It seems that the teacher gender and the school grade play an important role on different factors of effective teaching in PE and should be taken into account in the development and implementation of teacher training programs. This research was implemented through the Operational Program "Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning" and is co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund) and Greek national funds.