Recommendations for increasing children's physical activity (PA) at school include strategies classroom teachers can implement in various contexts (CDC, 1997; NASPE, 2008). Few studies, however, have investigated the potential of classroom teachers to be school PA activists. One variable which may play an important role in teachers' PA promotion behaviors is self-efficacy, which Parks, Solmon and Lee (2007) found was related to elementary classroom teachers' willingness to integrate PA into their classrooms. Furthermore, the authors found that mastery experiences were most influential in predicting the strength of teacher efficacy. Based on these findings, the present study examined the efficacy of preservice classroom teachers before and after taking a course designed to give them the competencies needed to integrate PA throughout the school day.
Method
Sixty-three early childhood and elementary education majors (all female; mean age=20.7 years) who were enrolled in a 16-week PA promotion course at a southeastern university participated in this study. At the beginning and end of the course, participants completed a questionnaire on their efficacy in implementing PA integration strategies in the classroom, at recess, and in before and after school programs. Additionally, participants responded to questions pertaining to their PA enjoyment. Questionnaire items were content validated by a panel of experts, pilot tested with members of the target group, and factor analyzed. Using Chronbach's (1951) procedures, internal reliabilities were .95 for the efficacy measure and .85 for the PA enjoyment measure.
Analysis/Results
Paired sample t-tests were performed to analyze differences between pre- and post-measures of efficacy. A one-way ANOVA was performed to compare differences in efficacy between participants reporting high versus low PA enjoyment. Results indicated significantly higher scores on post measures of efficacy across participants indicating higher perceived competence at promoting school PA following the course (t(63)= -8.660, p>.001). Participants in the high PA enjoyment group had significantly higher efficacy than participants in the low PA enjoyment group both before (F(1, 61) = 5.61, p <.05) and after the course (F(1, 61) = 10.94, p < .01).
Conclusions
This study suggests preservice education can play an important role in increasing aspiring teachers' PA promotion efficacy through the provision of mastery experiences. Experiences which lead to PA enjoyment may also be an important consideration in preservice programming. Further research is needed to explore whether such experiences, in fostering efficacious beliefs, can lead to increased PA activism at school by classroom teachers.