The Attitude of Portuguese Physical Education Teachers toward Physical Fitness

Adilson Marques; Diogo Balsa; Marta Domingos; Rafael Cavalheiro; Tiago Carreira; Tiago Moreira; Tiago Ribeiro; Élvio R Gouveia

doi:10.3390/children9071005

The Attitude of Portuguese Physical Education Teachers toward Physical Fitness

Children (Basel). 2022 Jul 4;9(7):1005. doi: 10.3390/children9071005.

Authors

Adilson Marques^{1

2}, Diogo Balsa³, Marta Domingos³, Rafael Cavalheiro³, Tiago Carreira³, Tiago Moreira³, Tiago Ribeiro³, Élvio R Gouveia^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ CIPER, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, 1499-002 Lisbon, Portugal.
² Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal.
³ Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, 1499-002 Lisbon, Portugal.
⁴ Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Madeira, 9000-390 Funchal, Portugal.
⁵ LARSYS, Interactive Technologies Institute, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal.

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to examine how Portuguese physical education teachers perceive the development of physical fitness through fitness tests in schools. The participants were 764 Portuguese teachers teaching at middle-school and high-school levels. The Physical Education Teacher Attitudes Toward Fitness Tests Scale (PETAFTS) was used to collect the data. The means and confidence intervals for each attitude subdomain and the overall attitude were computed. A one-way ANOVA was used to examine the group differences in three subdomains of the attitudes of teachers by different variables. The overall attitude of teachers toward fitness tests was slightly positive according to a 7-point Likert scale (5.52, 95% CI: 5.47, 5.58). The results suggested that female teachers found fitness tests more useful, but male teachers significantly enjoyed implementing them. The data collected also showed that younger teachers found the implementation of fitness tests significantly more enjoyable than older teachers. In conclusion, future research should prioritise specific intervention content considering gender and the age of teachers to reinforce the development of physical fitness through fitness tests in schools.

Keywords: attitudes of teachers; fitness tests; physical education; physical fitness.

Grants and funding

E.R.G. acknowledge support from LARSyS, the Portuguese national funding agency for science, research, and technology (FCT) pluriannual funding 2020–2023 (Reference: UIDB/50009/2020).