THE EFFECTS OF INSERVICE EDUCATION ON THE TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS OF EXPERIENCED PHYSICAL EDUCATOR

Declining enrollments in schools and uncertain economic conditions have led to a nationwide stabilization of the teaching force. Within Physical Education, there is an urgent need to develop effective inservice programs that result in more effective physical education teaching.;The main purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a behavioral inservice model of supervision on the teaching effectiveness of experienced physical educators in terms of increased time devoted to Activity, the establishment and maintenance of a positive learning environment, and increased student involvement with the subject matter.;The methodology chosen to improve the teaching skills of the experienced teachers, was systematically to collect data of the teaching-learning process during the physical educator's classes. Target students were observed and their behavior, together with the teacher and class behavior, were recorded and later analyzed. On the basis of these data, feedback was provided to the teacher in a series of conferences. During these conferences, specific strengths and/or weaknesses of the teachers teaching were discussed, strategies to improve specific teacher and/or student behavior were examined, and targets were set for teacher behavior change in the subsequent lessons.;The quasi experimental design employed in this study was a series of AB designs using multiple target measures with extended followups on the dependent variables.;The results demonstrated that the supervision package used had only partial success in improving specific teacher behaviors and had little effect in increasing or maintaining the amount of student ALT-PE(M) (involvement with motor activity) during physical education lessons. It was concluded that improvement in teaching performance could occur only when the environmental context within which teachers teach becomes supportive of their efforts towards instructional improvement. Improvement in the quality of schooling must not be solely the burden of the teacher. In the present context where there is little incentive for teachers to improve and no sanctions for ineffective teaching, the behavioral supervision model, as used in this study, is not effective. To improve the quality of teaching, not only teachers but students, principals, and educational supervisors must be held accountable for student learning.