Classroom Management Strategies and Teaching Motivation among Physical Education Teachers in Primary School

The importance of Physical Education (PE) is acknowledged worldwide. However, various countries have found many problems with regards to PE teaching and learning such as the existence of unknowledgeable and incompetent teachers. The purpose of this study is to determine the significant differences between trained and untrained PE teachers in relation to classroom management strategies (CMS) and teaching motivation (TM) by using independent t-test. Additionally, this study sought to examine the relationship between CMS and TM among trained and untrained PE teachers through correlation analysis. The samples of this study were 72 PE teachers in Southern Thailand (40 trained and 32 untrained PE teachers respectively). Questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection which comprises Classroom Management Strategies Questionnaire (CMSQ) and Autonomous Motivation for Teaching Questionnaire (AMTQ). The results evinced that trained PE teachers are better at CMS and TM compared to untrained PE teachers. It was also found that there is a positive relationship between CMS and TM for trained PE teachers. Meanwhile, there is no significant relationship between CMS and TM for untrained PE teachers. This study provides empirical evidence to confirm that teachers who teach physical education must be expert in the area. Moreover, proper CMS and teacher motivation should be enhanced concomitantly.