Urban Peninsular Malaysian Teachers' Perceptions of Teaching Physical Education

Purpose

In the 2005 (August and September) issue of the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, there was a two-part feature on standards and practice in Asian physical education. Housner (2005) mentions that the purpose of this feature was to provide a snap-shot into the world of physical education in China, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore. Extending upon this work, a study was conducted with physical education teachers in Peninsular Malaysia. This study is based on the conceptual framework of human and non-human factors as the underlying structure that girds the problems in teaching physical education. Factors related to teachers, students and the administration constitute the human factors. Non-human factors comprise factors related to facilities and equipment. The purpose of this study was to examine the problems in teaching physical education (PE) as perceived by Malaysian PE teachers.

Methods

PE teachers (N=111; male = 60, female = 51) from urban elementary (n=28), middle (n=27), and high (n=56) schools in Peninsular Malaysia were the participants in this study. Participants were given a survey based on the human and non-human factors impacting teaching physical education. All surveys were administered by graduate students trained in survey research.

Analysis/Results

Descriptive analysis indicated lack of pedagogical knowledge (46%) and inadequate teaching facilities (60%) as the two top problems encountered by PE teachers in Peninsular Malaysia. In addition, results also indicated that participants had difficulty planning and designing lessons (38%), lacked knowledge of subject matter (42%), lacked administrative support (36%), and difficulty in assessing student learning (34%).

Conclusions

The problems attributed to teaching physical education in Peninsular Malaysia in this study are directly related to the marginalization of the subject matter, lack of adequate teaching facilities, and lack of qualified physical education teachers. Only 25 percent of the participants in this study were trained in physical education and health education. This finding resonates with the acknowledgement that “out-of-field” teaching is pedagogically unsound (Harris, Monk, McIntyre and Long, 1992). Marginalization of PE also is an issue in China (Liang, Walls, & Lu, 2005), South Korea (Yoo & Kim, 2005), Japan (Nakai & Metzler, 2005), Singapore (Wright, McNeill, & Schempp, 2005) and the Philippines (Juico, 2008). There is evidence to suggest that the rise in economic prosperity has resulted in an increase in physical inactivity, poor dietary habits, and obesity in Asian countries (Chin, Yang, & Masterson, 2003). Results from this study have direct implications for teaching practice in Peninsular Malaysia.