Self-Efficacy and Achievement Goals Among Malaysian Physical Education Preservice Teachers

Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) programs have responsibility to prepare preservice teachers to become effective PE teachers, who in turn will impact the quality of school physical education in the future. Therefore, it is important for researchers and practitioners to understand and explain what motivates preservice teachers to learn and achieve during their training in PETE programs. Guided by self-efficacy theory and achievement goal theory, the present study examined teacher self-efficacy and teachers’ achievement goals and their relations to important educational outcomes (intention to become a physical education teacher in the future, GPA, and teaching behavior) among PE preservice teachers in Malaysia. Utilizing multiple sources of data (questionnaires, interviews and videotaped lessons), the present study attempted to answer four research questions: (1) What is the reliability and validity of adapted Teachers’ Sense of Self-Efficacy (TSES) and Achievement Goal Questionnaire for Teaching (AGQ-T)? (2) What are the relationships between teacher self-efficacy, achievement goals and important educational outcomes? (3) To what extent is teacher self-efficacy related to observed teaching behaviors among PE preservice teachers? and (4) What experiences did preservice teachers perceive contributing to their self-efficacy in their PETE program? Participants included 176 preservice teachers (age M = 24.19, SD = 1.11; 97 males and 79 females; 94 juniors and 82 seniors) enrolled in the PETE program at a major research university in Malaysia. Results of both Item Response Theory (IRT) analyses and Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFAs) revealed that TSES was a reliable and valid measure to assess teacher self-efficacy for classroom management, instructional strategies and student engagement among this group of preservice teachers. AGQ-T, after the deletion of five items and several modifications, demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity as a measure to assess six teachers’ achievement goals in the present study. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed teacher self-efficacy for classroom management, instructional strategies and student engagement all positively predicted preservice teachers’ intention to become a PE teacher in the future. Among the six teachers’ achievement goals, only self-approach goals were found to positively predict this intention outcome. The Poisson regression analyses revealed teacher self-efficacy for classroom management and teacher self-efficacy for student engagement predicted the occurrence of teaching behaviors that focused on classroom management and student engagement in PE classes that were observed in the present study. This finding provides the first empirical evidence that teacher self-efficacy predicted some actual teaching behaviors and thus extends the research literature that links teacher self-efficacy to teaching behaviors assessed by self-reports. Lastly, the interview data revealed that preservice teachers reported enhanced self-efficacy for teaching physical education from the beginning to the end of their 14 weeks student teaching at schools. This finding adds support to the importance of student teaching in the development of self-efficacy for preservice teachers. Additionally, preservice teachers in the present study identified professors in the PETE program, school mentor teachers, and student teaching as the most important contributors to the development of their self-efficacy for teaching physical education during their study in the program. With such insightful information, faculty members in PETEs may be in a better position to prepare preservice teachers to become effective PE teachers