Students' perceptions of physical education teachers : Do perceptions differ by students' gender, age, and physical activity level?

BACKGROUND: The school environment and physical education (PE) classes in particular influence the attitude an individual develops toward physical activity. The student's perceptions of physical education, physical activity, and physical competence are shaped by the PE lesson contents and by the teacher's approach to interacting with students, listening, and providing encouragement. This study aimed to analyze what teacher characteristics students perceive as important and whether there are differences in terms of students’ gender, age, and overall physical activity level. METHODS: This study is part of the Finnish School-aged Physical Activity study (F-SPA) that collects data with a nationally representative sample on children and adolescents’ physical activity-related behavior every two years. The participants in this study were 2922 secondary school students (52 % girls) and the sample was collected in 2022. Students’ perceptions of teacher characteristics were measured by four items included in the Pedagogical Dimensions in Physical Education Inven-tory. Physical activity was measured by asking students to evaluate how many days they reached at least 60 minutes of MVPA. Descriptive analyses and Chi-square tests were used. RESULTS: The teacher’s fairness and encouragement were the most important characteristics of a PE teacher for all secondary school students. More than 60% of the students considered these characteristics important or very important. About half of the students thought it was important that the teacher was easy to talk to and slightly less than half valued the teacher's expertise. More girls (69%) than boys (58%) perceived the teacher’s encouragement important or very important factor in PE (p=0.002). No significant differences were found in the students’ perceptions between 7th and 9th grades. Students who were less physically active rated all teacher characteristics as less important than students who were more physically active (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study are consistent with the literature, that has emphasized the importance of teacher fairness and good interpersonal and communication skills in the work of effective PE teachers. Contrary to our expectations, students whose PA level were low valued for example teacher’s encouragement less than students whose PA level was high. This shows that motivating all students to be physically active is a complex task. Implementing quality physical education requires teachers to have versatile competencies to motivate and enhance participation for all students, especially those who are less physically active.