The 6th Congress of Exercise and Sport Sciences

Physical Education Teachers As High School Classroom Educators

Amit Natani Miki Ophir Sarit Shalev Sima Zach
Department of Education, The Academic College at Wingate, Netanya, Israel

Aim: To examine the perceptions of students, principals, parents and educators of the education profession in high schools in Israel, and their recommendations for teaching methods and contents.

Method: This is a combined study of two-step methods, and will focus on presenting the perceptions of physical education teachers who serve as class educators. One-hundred physical education teachers who are also high school classroom educators answered questionnaires. In addition, 12 teachers participated in two focus groups. For the purpose of the study, a questionnaire was constructed that examines the teachers` perceptions regarding the importance of the profession, its contribution and the ways in which it is taught. The questionnaire contains 14 open-ended questions and 22 closed-ended questions. The questionnaire was distributed online.

Results and Conclusions: Findings that emerged from the questionnaire and the focus groups indicate a high importance attached to the role of the class educator in general, and to the education lesson in particular.

According to the participants, this lesson regularly deals with topics that are not part of the school curriculum, but have the potential to address the students` social and emotional needs. We found a gap between this perception and the teachers` report, claiming that it is rarely the students who propose the lesson topics and/or are partners in its design, meaning that they are not sufficiently involved in the lesson at any stage. Moreover, often the education lesson becomes a place to deal with problems of the class as a learning group, instead of applying the vision to create lessons with added value.

Amit Natani
Amit Natani
Wingate








Powered by Eventact EMS