Teachersí Value Orientations and Their Compatibility with the National Curriculum for Physical Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe a sample of English physical education teachers’ value orientations for curricular decision making and to assess their compatibility with the National Curriculum for Physical Education (NCPE). In addition, the impact of gender, experience and activity background on teachers’ value orientations was examined. The revised Value Orientation Inventory was used to collect data from 64 teachers working in the south-west of England. Descriptive statistics were computed for each of five value orientations. The numbers and percentages of teachers who demonstrated high, neutral and low priorities for each value orientation were also computed. One-way analysis of variance tests was used to make comparisonsbetween the scores for gender, experience and activity background groups. Product–moment correlation coefficients were computed to determine the relationships between value orientations. Results indicated that this sample of teachers had a number of different priorities other than teaching the subject matter of physical education. This finding suggested that the focus of recent NCPE policy texts may not be compatible with the values of many teachers. There were no significant differences based on gender or experience. Teachers with a traditional activity background placed a higher priority on social responsibility, while teachers with a non-traditional or eclectic activity background placed a higher priority on learning process. In addition, correlational data suggested that teachers with high priorities for self-actualization and socialresponsibility may find it particularly difficult to deliver NCPE in congruence with the latestofficial policy.