Background/Purpose The NCATE/NASPE (2008) Initial Teacher Standards for Physical Education highlight the significance of teacher candidate dispositions. According to Ryle (1949), dispositions are indicators of how someone will perform based on observation of behavior. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between physical education teacher candidates' affective dispositions assessed during an outdoor education course and their teaching performance assessed during student teaching.
Method Secondary data from a teacher preparation program was used in this study. Matching data for 142 students was extrapolated from program records. Dispositions were related to leadership, followership, respect, initiative, problem analysis, communication, professional bearing, and environmental ethics. Each teacher candidate's performance was evaluated with the Student Teacher Evaluation (STE), which incorporates the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) principles and Learning Outcomes.
Analysis/Results A pairwise correlation matrix was employed to investigate the relationships between affective disposition in an outdoor education program and components of student teaching performance. The results indicate a poor relationship between the affective dispositions and components of student teaching performance with correlation coefficients ranging from r=.01 to r=.20.
Conclusions A lack of predictive relationship between these two experiences may indicate that student teaching is unique in the teacher preparation process.