Teachers\u27 perceptions of the goals of secondary schools physical education in state of Kuwait

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of the Kuwait physical education teachers relevant to the goals of the physical education program for secondary schools. Data were collected from a sample consisting of 200 (n = 200) physical education teachers teaching in six provinces in Kuwait. For data collection, a five-point Likert scale questionnaire, named Kuwaiti Physical Education Goals (KPEG) was designed. The instrument asked the participants to indicate the level of agreement with four categories of physical education goals. In addition, differences in teachers based on gender between physical education teachers\u27 perceptions were investigated. An examination was also made to see if there were differences in teachers\u27 perception of the physical education goals based on the number of years of teaching. Research questions were analyzed using descriptive and inferential analyses. The results established that affective (M = 2.71) and psychomotor domain goals (M = 2.76) were perceived positively while the cognitive (M = 3.34) and health domains (M = 3.09) were perceived negatively. Also, the result showed that female and male physical educators differ to a certain extent in their perceptions relevant to the goals presented in the KPEG items. Further, it was established that the psychomotor domain goals were perceived positively at the top (52.2%), followed by affective domain goals (51.8%), then health related (46.0%) and finally, cognitive domain goals (41.4%). Significant differences (p = .014) ware found between group 1--5 and 11--15. A major conclusion made was that the significant differences found between male and female teachers suggest that there are cultural and gender influences on teaching physical education in Kuwait. Similarly, years of teaching do not have significant influence on teachers\u27 perception of physical education goals. Finally, physical education program in Kuwait can be said to be effective in attaining only the psychomotor and affective domain goals. Major implications for this study were that physical educators in Kuwait need professional development to assist them in applying the concepts of the cognitive and health-related fitness domain to their students. Similarly, teachers should provide their students with information regarding the needs and values of practicing heath-related fitness exercises