Background/Purpose Elementary school teachers play a vital role in the physical development of children. The quality of physical education that students receive during the elementary years may influence the degree to which they continue to develop physically during adolescence and adulthood. The budget crisis in California has reduced the number of physical education specialists and increased the responsibilities classroom teachers to include physical education. This trend will likely continue as many districts reduce budgets in response to the economic recession. The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges that impede quality physical education when instructed by classroom teachers.
Method This was a case study that included ten classroom teachers in California. Semi-structured interviews, demographic documents and field observations were completed. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Field observations utilized interval recording analysis techniques. The interview data was coded and interpreted to generate themes.
Analysis/Results Results were triangulated from semi-structured interviews, field observations, and demographic documents and four themes emerged revealing the following: 1) Teacher preparation programs failing to adequately prepare multiple-subject teacher candidates to teach physical education. 2) Lack of administrative support. 3) Teacher ambivalence toward teaching physical education. 4) Barriers and challenges that impeded classroom teachers' ability to teach effectively.
Conclusions Results suggest that improved administrative support and professional training in physical education for classroom teachers, and a reduction of teacher ambivalence toward teaching physical education is essential for effective physical education instruction. Implementing these changes could prove useful in reducing many of the challenges that impede quality physical education.