What makes a physical education teacher? Personal characteristics for physical education development

The physical education (PE) teacher is a decisive factor for PE development and teaching. Reflecting on and making the best possible use of the PE teachers' personal resources positively influence teacher effectiveness and student achievement. This requires a comprehensive analysis of PE teachers' personal characteristics.

Consequently, this study aimed to describe PE teachers by using an aggregated examination of PE teachers' synergistic personal characteristics and analysing gender, age, and school type differences.

1,163 German PE teachers (61.9% female; M = 43.16 ± 10.8 years) from six different school types participated in the study.

Participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing PE teachers' General Personality Traits, General Interests, and Motivational Characteristics (Teacher Self-Efficacy, Enthusiasm, and Interests). Descriptive analyses, between subjects MANOVAs, and univariate ANOVAs with pairwise multiple comparison tests were applied.

Multivariate gender differences occurred for General Personality Traits (η²  = .04), General Interests (η² = .07), and Motivational Characteristics (η² = .03); age differences for General Personality Traits (η² = .03); school type differences for General Personality Traits (η² = .05); and Motivational Characteristics (η² = .11). Considering individual dimensions, gender revealed most univariate differences, especially in General Personality Traits and General Interests. School types revealed most univariate differences in Motivational Characteristics.

The educational personnel can (1) make use of the PE teachers' general stable factors by aligning teaching accordingly, for example considering teachers' gender and (2) specifically foster PE teacher personal development regarding Motivational Characteristics by, for example adapting teacher education or professional training to the particular school type.