Value orientations of student physical education teachers learning to teach on school-based initial teacher education courses in England

Abstract

There has been considerable interest in the socialisation of (student) physical education (PE) teachers, the beliefs and values developed as a result of this socialisation and the impact of these on teachers’ learning, behaviours and practices and the curriculum. Many studies looking at the beliefs and values of PE teachers have used the values orientation instrument (VOI). However, as far as we know, in England there has only been one study using the VOI to study the value orientations of PE teachers and none which has studied the value orientations of student PE teachers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to look at the value orientations of secondary student PE teachers learning to teach in England. Two hundred and seventy two student PE teachers studying on both one year postgraduate certificate of education and four year undergraduate PE initial teacher education (ITE) courses at four universities in England completed the revised VOI (VOI-2) once during the academic year. Means and standard deviations were used to calculate the score for each value orientation across the whole sample, Pearson product–moment correlation coefficients were computed to determine the relationships between value orientations and one way analysis of variance tests were used to test for any differences between the groups according to gender and course/year on course for undergraduate student PE teachers. Results showed some variability in the value orientations given highest and lowest priority by different groups of student PE teachers in this study. However, with a few exceptions, learning process, ecological integration and self-actualisation were consistently given highest priority, whilst social responsibility and disciplinary mastery were consistently given lowest priority. There were some relationships between value orientations, but the only difference between groups was between male and female student PE teachers on learning process. Results are compared to the results of a similar study in England, and discussed in relation to possible reasons for the results, practical implications for meeting the aims and outcomes of the PE curriculum and for student PE teachers’ development on ITE courses and into their induction year.