Student teachers perceptions on how they create a learning environment that motivates their pupils in Physical Education.

Abstract

This study investigated how student teachers motivate their pupils in Physical Education (PE) through manipulation of the motivational climate, as detailed in the work of Ames (1992). The two climates that are used in the current study are mastery and performance. Previous research (Koka & Hein, 2003; Weigand & Burton, 2000; Morgan & Carpenter, 2002; Escarti & Gutiérrez, 2001) has looked at motivation in the classroom from a pupils’ perspective. Therefore, the rationale for this study was to look at motivation from a student teachers’ perspective. The participants were six student teachers who were undertaking a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course in secondary PE. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant. The key topics covered within the interview were motivational climate, importance of the mastery climate, the learning environment, and effective and empowering teaching. The results revealed that to create an effective learning environment, teachers should look to optimise the mastery climate to enhance pupils’ motivation and the student teachers stated that they favoured a mastery climate and tried to incorporate this into their teaching where possible. Furthermore, the results suggested that empowerment holds importance in terms of motivating pupils and seems to coincide with a mastery climate. These findings have valuable implications for PE teachers because although the importance of the mastery climate is highlighted, it became apparent that it was impossible to abandon the performance climate completely in PE