A Descriptive Analysis of Undergraduate PETE Programs

The current study describes the nature of physical education teacher education (PETE) programs in the United States. Of the 200 institutions of higher education invited to participate, 116 PETE programs completed a comprehensive questionnaire regarding their undergraduate programs (58% response rate). Respondents reported employing an average of 3.84 ( SD = 2.80) full-time and 3.07 ( SD = 3.52) part-time faculty members, nearly equal in gender (females = 48%), and overly representative of Caucasians (92% of respondents reported employing a faculty of at least 60% Caucasian). First- and second-year field-based teaching experiences were provided by 77% of respondents. A majority (65.8%) of institutions provided student teaching experiences at the elementary and either middle or high school settings. These experiences typically lasted 9 weeks and were supervised by university personnel three times per setting, and 76.3% were conducted exclusively by PETE faculty. Emphasis on specific curricular models was reported by 83% of respondents, 45.3% reported electronic portfolio development as a primary technology experience, and 62% reported coursework as the primary means by which candidates received multicultural experiences.