Physical education pre-service teachers’ perceptions of learning about the spectrum of teaching styles and its role in their pedagogical awareness and practice

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine physical education pre-service teachers’ (PSTs’) beliefs about the usefulness of the spectrum of teaching styles (also referred to as The Spectrum; Mosston and Ashworth, 2008) and their perceived abilities to use each style. Using a series of foregrounding techniques based on The Spectrum, PSTs’ (N = 34) experiences with the teaching styles were explored over one academic semester using a mixed methods approach ( Creswell and Plano Clark, 2018). The participants completed a pre/post survey (validated instrument) before and after the semester to record their perceptions of each teaching style. All participants answered several open-ended questions and completed a series of video-based lesson reflections, and 15 of the 34 participants were interviewed individually about their experiences. The results reflected significant increases in the PSTs’ perceived ability to use styles A, B, and F. Qualitative themes were: (1) instructional comfortability from early and frequent experiences learning about and using The Spectrum; (2) a heightened desire to utilize styles with K-12 students; (3) a desire for more support in understanding the alignment between style choice and learning objectives; and (4) an interest in knowing how to connect The Spectrum with curriculum models. The results suggest that there is likely a developmental process for PSTs in learning about and applying The Spectrum. A relationship also appears to be present between using The Spectrum in conjunction with models-based practices. Foregrounding PSTs’ learning within The Spectrum can ease planning anxiety more intentionally and effectively, which can in turn increase the pedagogical accountability of PSTs.