Ghanaian Classroom Teacher Trainees’ Perceived Competence and Intrinsic Motivation in Physical Education

Primary school teachers in Ghana are non-specialists but are required to teach physical education (PE) in addition to the regular subjects taught in primary classrooms (CS). Using a Self-Determination Theory, this study examined classroom teacher trainees’ (TT) perceived competence and intrinsic motivation in learning to teach PE. In addition, the study compared TTs’ competence and motivation in PE and CS. Participants included a purposive sample of 190 from two colleges of education in Ghana. They completed modified forms of the Perceived Competence Scale (PCS) and the Intrinsic Motivation (IM) subscale of the Perceived Locus of Causality once. Descriptive statistics showed most TTs had moderate to high levels of competence and intrinsic motivation both in PE and CS. Independent Samples t-Test and One-Way ANOVA analyses indicated significant gender and grade level differences for PCS in PE. A Paired-Samples t-Test analysis indicated TTs’ PCS mean score was significantly higher in CS than that in PE. However, TTs’ motivation in PE and CS were similar. The classroom teacher trainees in this study perceived themselves to be less competent in PE than in non-PE contents (CS), even though their levels of motivation to learn to teach in both contexts were similar. This is consistent with extant literature that teachers in Ghanaian primary schools are not adequately prepared to teach PE. The development of children’s PE programs in the country’s teacher education institutions is warranted.