Onderwyserpersepsies rakende leerdermotivering na afloop van 'n Liggaamlike Opvoeding-indiensopleidingsprogram

MEd (Liggaamlike Opvoeding), North-West University, Potchefstroom CampusIf professional development focuses on the pedagogy and teaching strategies designed to improve learner performance and academic growth, how are subject content areas which are not subject to evaluation tests, such as Physical Education, affected? In South Africa, there is often a shortage of teachers with the necessary expertise and experience to be able to offer a quality Physical Education programme. This lack of expertise and experience causes teachers to become anxious in this field and begin to doubt themselves, which is one of the reasons why low quality Physical Education is often offered in schools, which in turn gives rise to low levels of learner motivation in the Physical Education class. It is imperative that all teachers, pre-service as well as in-service, receive quality programme training to prepare them better and to gain the expertise and experience to provide quality education, in order to cope with the new generation of learners with unique needs and interests. A qualitative research design was used in this study. The research focused on the perceptions of Physical Education teachers regarding learners' motivation after completing the in-service training programme. This study was also theoretically grounded in the Self-determination Theory (SDT) of Deci and Ryan (2000; 2012). The SDT is based on the principle that motivation stems from the self and not from desires for external rewards such as compensation and performance. The SDT shows that people reveal three main psychological needs, namely needs for competence, relatedness and autonomy, and that the satisfaction of these needs lead to improved intrinsic motivation to continue with a task. Four themes emerged in the data analysis of the first (on the last day of the training programme) and second set (six week safter the training programme) of interviews conducted with the participants. These themes included factors that played a role in learner motivation before and after the in-service training program, according to participants' opinions. The four themes were: teacher training; learner enjoyment, barriers in Physical Education and physical and motor fitness tests. The findings indicate that, initially, in the opinions of the participants before they returned to their schools, the motivation levels of the participants’ learners were low due to teachers that were untrained for Physical Education and who presented boring and unpleasant lessons. Learners, especially older learners and females, were also not motivated to participate due to a shortage of apparatus and facilities, and the low status of Physical Education. The participants were positive that the new knowledge, ideas and teaching strategies that they received in the training programme, would enhance their learners’ motivation levels. With the completion of the six weeks after the training programme, the participants indicated that the training that they had received in the improvisation of apparatus, new ideas, better planning and teaching strategies according to the SDT, enabled them to manage the challenges in the teaching of Physical Education better, and that their learners’ motivation levels improved. The physical and motor fitness tests that were conducted with the learners, also had a positive effect on learner motivation, as most of the learners enjoyed doing the tests, challenging each other and training to perform better than their co-learners. It also seemed that the participants’ psychological needs were addressed and that they were more positive after the six weeks. From the participants’ responses it also seemed that they were more motivated and positive to teach Physical Education and that they were not as fearful of failing as in the past. Regarding learner motivation, a few challenges still remained for the participants, as was apparant from their responses in the second set of interviews. Large classes, few or no facilities or apparatus, and untrained Physical Education teachers were some of the challenges that still made it difficult to motivate learners. However, in general the participants’ feedback after the training programme as well as six weeks after, were strongly positive, and they recommended it with regard to other Physical Education teachers. From the findings, it can thus be deduced that the in-service training programme had a positive effect on learner motivation and was informative to all participants, by equipping them with new information, knowledge, ideas and activities for their own teaching. According to the participants, there was also a strong positive response regarding the learners' motivation levels, to the improvisation of resources that were immediately implemented by the participants in their schools after the in-service training programme.Master