Perceived expertise among physical education teachers: the role of personal and contextual factors

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on teacher perceived expertise (TPE) influenced by both contextual and individual characteristics. By using a validated questionnaire based on two dimensions of TPE, i.e. subject matter and pedagogical expertise, the present study compares TPE in physical education (PE) to that of other subjects and examines the role of selected key personal variables and teaching context characteristics in TPE. Following a 2 × 2 * 2 MANCOVA, data on 482 teachers revealed a significant main effect of teacher sex and subject taught and a significant interaction effect between teaching context and subject taught on TPE, with a notably higher level of perceived subject-matter expertise for other-subject teachers than for PE teachers and for French other-subject teachers (than for French and Swiss PE teachers and Swiss other-subject teachers). This study discusses the importance of pedagogical expertise in TPE and of the interaction effects between personal and contextual factors on subject-matter expertise.

KEYWORDS:

• Perceived expertise
• physical education
• sex
• teaching context

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The French acronym for ‘Questionnaire sur l’Identité Professionnelle Perçue chez les Enseignants’.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the ‘Germaine de Staël’ programme, Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SAWT) [grant number 2016-09].

Notes on contributors

Vanessa Lentillon-Kaestner

Vanessa Lentillon-Kaestner is ordinary professor and head of the physical education and sport unit (UER EPS) at the University of Teacher Education, State of Vaud (HEP Vaud), Lausanne, Switzerland. She finalized her PhD in 2006 on gender inequalities in physical education at the University of Sport of Lyon, France, worked six years at the University of Sport of Lausanne, and since 2010 she has been working at the HEP Vaud. She has developed different research projects on various domains: gender inequalities, eating disorders, doping behaviours, teacher health and professional identity, and student motivation in physical education. Based on a psychosocial perspective, her research focuses on both psychological and sociocultural factors that may influence health behaviours in sport and student/teacher behaviours in physical education. She has already developed different national and international research collaborations and obtained different research funding as main applicant.

Valerian Cece

Valérian Cece is a French researcher and physical education teacher. He completed his doctoral thesis in the Laboratory on Vulnerabilities and Innovation in Sport (LVIS) at the University of Lyon, France, and he is currently working at the University of Teaching Education, the State of Vaud (HEP Vaud, UER-EPS, Lausanne, Switzerland) as a post-doc. His main research interests are related to the emotional and motivation dynamics of vulnerable populations in the fields of sport psychology and education. Specifically, he uses quantitative approaches to explore the intra-individual (changes over time) and inter-individual (differences between individuals) variability of psychological processes. He also aspires to capture the key determinants of these process to deduce and implement intervention programs. His first research object refers to young athletes involved in intensive training centers. The purpose is to identify the key variables in the psychological process over time (e.g. competitive season) to promote both performance and well-being. Secondly, his research is also focused on the vulnerability of teachers, particularly physical education teachers by focusing on the determinants and consequences of their psychological health (e.g. burnout, vigor, professional identity).

Emma Guillet-Descas

Emma Guillet-Descas works as an Assistant Professor in Sport Psychology at the University of Lyon 1 (France) and is the director of the Laboratory on Vulnerabilities and Innovation in Sport (LVIS). Her main research focuses on sport engagement, in longitudinal and predictive perspectives. Specifically, her research themes are articulated around three axes: the influence of the interpersonal context on the behavioural phenomenon of investment and/or sport drop-out in adolescents and in particular, the impact of different socialization agents, such as parents, peers, and the coach. A second axis concerns the analysis of the predictive variables that lead to “burnout” and its consequences in athletes through the theoretical models of self-determination and emotional intelligence. Finally, the third axis focuses on the links between the Sense of Sports Community, commitment, and burnout. The objective is to understand the construction of a sense of community in sport and its influence on the commitment of adolescent athletes.