The influence of the Sport Education Model on developing autonomous instruction

Background: Teachers commonly adopt instructional styles that thwart student motivation. As such, researchers have examined interventions based within the self-determination theory to identify changes in teaching behaviors. Results of these studies have demonstrated a level of success in teachers adopting a more motivationally supportive teaching context. While important results to the development and implementation of quality motivational pedagogy, these results may have occurred due to an increased focus on specific behaviors as espoused by the self-determination theory. What is absent to date is an examination of current pedagogical approaches that align with aspects of self-determination theory that might inherently influence the motivational instruction of teachers. A model of instruction that has been aligned with self-determination theory and may provide a new avenue for the development and implementation of motivationally supportive instruction is the Sport Education Model (SEM). Purpose: The purpose of this study was to provide an initial examination into the influence of using the Sport Education approach on pre-service teachers autonomous instruction. Participants and setting: 50 pre-service physical education teachers (PT's) were enrolled in a secondary physical education methods course and randomly assigned to teach a 15-lesson unit using Sport Education or skill-drill-game approach. Data collection: Collection of teacher instruction utilized an observational tool that coded distinct teacher-student interactions into one of fifteen categories. As a result, each teacher was provided an overall frequency of statements that were further classified into an overall level of autonomy-supportive, controlling and neutral statements. In addition, students within each of the classes were asked to complete the Learning Climate Questionnaire (LCQ) and Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) that provided a score for perception of autonomy-support and individual motivation. Teacher instruction was collected daily, while LCQ and SMS data were collected at four time points within the unit. Data analysis: Analysis of data was conducted using repeated measure ANOVA's for teacher instruction, student perceptions of autonomy-support and motivation. Significant ANOVA calculations were further analyzed using follow-up tests to examine where the significance occurred. Results: Statistical analysis revealed that teachers within distinct phases of Sport Education provided a significantly higher level of autonomy-supportive statements. In addition, students engaged within Sport Education reported similar significance related to the second and third phases of the model. Conclusion: As a result of this study, utilization of Sport Education seems to provide support that teachers may adopt a more autonomy-supportive social context within their instructional practices.