Abstract
Introduction: Primary Physical Education (PE) is often delivered by generalist teachers without specialized preparation in PE. This can reduce program quality and hinder students’ motor competence development (e.g., Schole et al., 2022), highlighting the need to both investigate and support generalist teachers’ PE instruction. To address this issue, an eight-week competence-oriented PE program was developed and implemented by generalist teachers to enhance 3rd and 4th graders’ motor competence. The program included four thematic modules (e.g., “balancing and rolling”), each featuring movement games, learning tasks, as well as peer- and self-assessment exercises. This study investigated how the program was implemented by generalist teachers in their regular classroom settings.
Methods: The program was implemented by eight female primary teachers in Alto Adige/Südtirol. Six implementation outcomes — adoption, acceptability, fidelity, feasibility, implementation cost, appropriateness, and potential sustainability (Proctor et al., 2011) — were assessed through semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was used to analyse the data.
Results: Preliminary analysis showed that teachers joined the project to enhance their teaching competence (adoption). The program met teachers’ expectations and was perceived as offering relevant content and structured design (acceptability). Teachers adhered to core program components (fidelity). Although implementation was supported in part by the research team, additional guidance would have been beneficial (feasibility: support). School facilities were mostly sufficient, though time constraints often led to selective use of tasks (feasibility: resources). No additional financial costs were reported (implementation cost). Teachers found the program appropriate and aligned with curriculum requirements (appropriateness). Teachers expressed interest in continued use but stressed the need for simplifying assessment formats (potential sustainability). Discussion & Conclusion: This study showed that generalist teachers were able to implement competenceoriented PE in their classroom settings, while also highlighting challenges. These findings point out how program-based support may enhance generalist teachers’ instructional quality in PE.
References:
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.
Proctor, E., Silmere, H., Raghavan, R., Hovmand, P., Aarons, G., Bunger, A., ... & Hensley, M. (2011). Outcomes for implementation research: conceptual distinctions, measurement challenges, and research agenda. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 38, 65–76.
Schole, L., Gerlach, E., & Sallen, J. (2022). Lehrkräfte machen den Unterschied? Einfluss der fachlichen Qualifikation und der Zielorientierung von Sportlehrkräften auf die Entwicklung motorischer Basiskompetenzen von Grundschüler*innen. Zeitschrift für sportpädagogische Forschung, 10(2), 161–182.