issues and future trends in teaching physical … · issues and future trends in teaching physical...

Issues and Future Trends in Teaching Physical Education: A Preliminary Study

Lee Boon Kiat

Department of Educational Sciences,

Mathematics and

Creative Multimedia, Faculty of

Education

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

81310 Johor Malaysia

[email protected]

Noor Dayana Abd Halim

Department of Educational Sciences,

Mathematics and

Creative Multimedia, Faculty of

Education



[email protected]

Halijah Binti Ibrahim

Department of Education Foundation

and Social Science, Faculty of

Education



[email protected]

Abstract—This study discusses the issues and future trends of

teaching physical education subject. The data is elicited from an

interview conducted with four expert teachers. Four issues were

identified after conducting an analysis of the interview transcript.

The issues are time, teaching method, perception toward physical

education and future trends in teaching and learning physical

education. Physical education is important for a child’s

development from the cognitive, social and physical health

aspect. Physical education is not emphasized in school. Based on

the data obtained, a new teaching method must be devised to

prevent the lack of interest in learning physical education in the

classroom.

Keywords—Thematic Analysis; Physical Education; Time ;

Teaching Method; Perception; Future Trends

I. INTRODUCTION

Physical education is pivotal in the development of a child.

Physical education is important to children as nurture’s them

intrinsically and extrinsically in their intellectual, spiritual,

emotional and physical domain [1] and also in their academic

performance [2]. Bailey [2] supports this notion that physical

education enables to enhance students’ self-confident, self-

esteem, social skill, cognitive development and academic

achievement. Other research findings posit that physical

activity can improve children’s physical health during pre-

adolescent years [3]. Barber, Eccles, and Stone [4] claim that

students who are active in sport have greater achievement in

academic performance compared to students who are not

active in sports. This statement is supported by Shephard [5]

who states that physical activity provides positive impact to

students’ attention in classroom, personality, behaviors and

academic performance during the physical education class.

Thus, it can be deduced that there is a close relationship

between academic achievement, children’s behavior and

physical education.

II. BACKGROUND OF PROBLEM

Physical education is a subject that involves physical

activity and the knowledge of awareness to health issues [6].

There are many topics that need to be taught by the teacher in

physical education class. The topics are categorized into two

part; physical education and health education. According to

the syllabus [6], in the physical education class, the teacher

teaches the assigned topics in classroom as well as conducting

physical activities outside the classroom

In the Malaysian education scenario, teachers still use the

textbook to teach in class which is the traditional teaching

method [7]. The textbook that is provided by the Ministry of

Education Malaysia has a lot of information or knowledge but

it is portrayed in text. Therefore, teachers need to spend more

time to explain or demonstrate the relevant topics. Topics such

as muscular or cardiovascular system is requires the teachers

to teach using relevant teaching materials. In this century, the

students are influenced by the technology boom [8][9] and

variety of learning materials such as video and animation are

easily obtained on the internet [10]. Teaching method is

important in vesting the interest of the students to learn the

subject, and the determination of the teacher is equally

essential in educating the students.

The perception of teachers in teaching physical education

is important as physical education is a subject that assist a

child in the development and growth over the years [1]. Thus,

the responsibility of a teacher is huge in delivering the

relevant information to the students. The interest of the teacher

to teach physical education is vital in encouraging and

motivating the students during their learning process [11]. The

interest of teacher to teach effectively during the physical

education class can influence the students’ learning style and

also able to enhance their interest to learn the subject. Previous

studies posit that there are close relationship between interest

and fitness toward the students’ learning achievement [12].

In this paper, four issues are discussed based on the

interview. From the finding, the four issues are time factor,

teaching method, students’ reaction during physical education

class and future trends in teaching physical education.

2015 IEEE Conference on e-Learning, e-Management and e-Services

ISBN 978-1-4673-9436-9

III. RESULT AND FINDING

The interview was analyzed using thematic analysis.

Thematic analysis is an independent qualitative descriptive

approach and can be defined as a method used for identifying,

analyzing and reporting patterns based on a theme within the

data [13]. Thematic analysis is widely used to interpret a

qualitative data based on the theme and based on the theme

can obtain the important data that able to support the research

study. This research used thematic analysis to analyzed the

interview transcript and identify the issue encountered by the

physical education teacher.

A. Time

The first issue that is identified from the interview

transcript is time or duration of physical education class.

Based on the finding, the duration of physical education class

is only 70 minutes once a week which is two period of each

class. According to the respondents, the time allocated is

insufficient to teach the syllabus designed for the subject.

According to the respondents, the duration of a physical

education class comprises of two periods of 35 minutes each.

The subject teacher is required to teach several topics

pertaining sport skills as well as health topics. A respondent

mentioned that he spends 35 minutes to teach the relevant

theory and the remaining 35 minutes the students practices the

sports skill. The time allocated for practice is insufficient to

acquire the appropriate skill of the sport. The syllabus of the

subject must be taught 42 week inclusive of public holidays

and exam weeks. There are reports which show that duration

of physical education class should be more than 70 minutes.

According the report from Indiana Standards [14], the time for

physical education class should at least be within 75-105

minutes weekly. Besides that, a report from National

Standards for Physical Education [15] also recommends that

the duration for physical education may require a minimum of

150 minutes per week for elementary level and 225 minutes

per week for middle and secondary school level to meet the

high quality of physical education program. Due to

insufficient time, the teacher also responded that the time

allocated is divided into two sections of theory and practical

skill accordingly. One respondent responded that he teaches

the theory and skill concurrently on the field.

B. Teaching Method

Based on the interview, the second issue that is identified

is teaching method. When the respondents were asked about

their teaching method, 3 out of 4 respondents uses traditional

method that uses the textbook in the teaching of physical

education. Some of the respondents does not often use the

textbook in their class but uses other teaching aids too.

However, one respondent uses textbook and PowerPoint only.

The respond are as below.

Researcher

“How do you teach physical education in your class? Do you

use any material to help you in teaching?”

Respondent 1

“In my school, I am provided with a reference book so I can

find extra note for my students and I also refer the examples of

exercises in that reference book for my students.”

Respondent 2

“I often do not use the textbook and I use the textbook only as

a reference because I will find other reference which is

beyond the textbook to teach the students. This will attract the

students and the students can get more “surprises” when they

are learning certain topic.”

Respondent 3

“I do not often use textbook because the students enjoy the

teaching method which is more interesting. They prefer or

focus when I use some teaching aids in physical education

class.”

Respondent 4

“I use the textbook and power point slides when I teach this

subject. Some of the classes are installed with LCD so I can

use power point to teach. However, there are not all the class

have LCD. For the class that is not installed with LCD, I have

to use textbook to teach the students.”

Based on the answers from the respondent, it is clearly

stated that the respondents still uses the traditional teaching

method even though in the current 21st century the teachers

and students are exposed to technology. The teachers use the

face-to face teaching method in the classroom. Indirectly, it

will affect the interest of the students to learn physical

education.

C. Students’ Reaction During Physical Education Class

Next from the interview data, the researcher found that the

teachers are still using traditional method to teach the physical

education subject. Teachers are the best individual to observe

every reaction in class while the class is ongoing. One of the

interview question is “What are the students’ reaction when

you are teaching in physical education class?” Basically, all

the respondents gave the same answer, whereby most of their

students are bored and feel uninterested to learn the subject

when taught in the classroom. One of the respondents said

that mostly the students does not like to bring physical

education textbook to school and this action portrayed the

students’ lack of interest in the subject. However, when the

teachers teach the topic by using some teaching aids, the


ISBN 978-1-4673-9436-9

students are focused and show interest in the topic being

taught. The interview question and the respond from

respondents are show as below.

Researcher

“Based on your observation, what is the students’ reaction

when you are teaching during the physical education class?”

Respondent 1

“The students are aware that this subject is not a core subject

in examination such as SPM so they do not take it seriously.

They also does not show interest or enjoyment when I use

textbook to teach this subject.”

Respondent 2

“I use textbook to teach in class and the students feel boring

in this subject and some of them purposely don’t bring the

textbook to school. When I use teaching aids in class, the

situation in class is different. The students show interest and

focus to the topic that I teach in class.”

Respondent 3

“The students feel boring when I teach this subject by using

textbook. On the other hand, they are attracted and focused

when I include some teaching aids in my lesson.”

Respondent 4

“I use textbook and power point. There is a lot different when

I use these two types of method. When I use textbook in my

lesson, it is difficult to attract the students’ attention. If I use

power point, the students are interested and it is easier to

attract the students’ attention because I can add some image

into the power point slides.”

The data shows that the students are uninterested and

teachers are unable to attract students’ attention when they use

the textbook to teach physical education. However, some

respondents suggest that by integrating the teaching aids in the

teaching process is easier to attract the students’ focus in the

class. Thus, new teaching aids are needed to assist the teachers

to teach during the physical education class.

D. Future Trends In Teaching And Learning Physical

Education

The last finding focuses on the future trends in teaching

and learning physical education. The data shows that

currently, teachers still uses the traditional method in the

teaching process and the outcome may show negative result.

However, the respondents suggests that they are willing to use

other method in their teaching process for a more interesting

and enjoyable lesson. The respondents suggest that by

integrating multimedia elements such as video in teaching

process may provide positive impact to the students’ interest

for physical education. This is aligned with Blakley and Irvine

[16] which claimed that video is the combination of text, audio

and graphics. The usage of video in class is does not only

benefits the teachers but also the students. The respondents

commented that the use of video in class allows the students to

attain better understanding of the subject matter as audio

visual provides better learning environment.. The respondents

also commented that audio visual also assist them to teach the

skills that they do not comprehend. For example, a respondent

who is not an expert in teaching rugby, will be able to and he

can show explain to the students the relevant skills of the

game with the help of a video clip. The respondents also

commented that they able to find the relevant video from

YouTube that capture professional players performing the

sport skills. The example respond is shown as below.

Researcher

“Do you think video clip can help you in your teaching

process? Why?”

Respondent 1 and 2

“It is very helpful. For example, if we use video to teach about

the topic of cardiovascular, I think the lesson will become

more interesting because the topic is show in visual method.

Besides that, it also can encourage the students to know more

about the topic. If we teach this kind of topic by using

textbook, the students may find it hard to understand. I think

this is very good and helpful if we have this kind of teaching

material.”

IV. IV DISCUSSION

From the interview conducted, there are four issues

identified based on the finding. The four issues are time factor,

teaching method, students’ reaction during physical education

class and future trends in teaching and learning physical

education.

Firstly, the teachers have insufficient time to cover all the

topics in the syllabus by using the traditional teaching method.

There are several research comparing the effectiveness of

traditional teaching method and new teaching method in time

and the finding shows that new teaching method such as

integrating technology in teaching and learning process is less

time consuming the time [17] Integrated technology in

teaching and learning process is much different than teaching

face-to-face in class in terms of students’ interest and

enjoyable to the physical education subject. Besides that, the

teacher needs to complete the syllabus with limited time. The

respondents stated that they must use the correct teaching

method or technique in order to complete the syllabus at the

end of the year [18]. Due to insufficient time, the teaching

style of teachers is teacher-centered to complete of the


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required task and teach the syllabus of the subject. Limited

time affects the teaching quality the inability of the teachers

in imparting knowledge effectively.[19]. Therefore, the

teachers will always complete the daily basic content of the

textbook by following the teaching plan.

Secondly, teaching method is important to increase

students’ interest and encouraging them to be involved in the

physical education activities. The comments from the

respondents show that they are apply traditional teaching

method in the classroom. The traditional teaching methods

tend to encourage passive learning and the students are may

not have the chance to critically appraise the new knowledge

[20]. According to [20], choosing the appropriate teaching

media is important in encouraging students to interact during

teaching and learning in the classroom. The way to encourage

students to interact with teachers is by asking question. Most

of the time, the teachers themselves answers the questions

being asked. Nonetheless, teachers should wait for the answer

from the students because it may take time for the students to

change the mode from listening to thinking [20]. However,

due to the limited time allocated, there is less interaction in the

classroom.

Thirdly, the students’ reaction during lesson is the best

way to reflect the dissemination of information. Maintaining

the motivation of students during the lesson is essential in any

lesson being taught [21]. Teachers have to use the appropriate

teaching technique or motivational strategies to engage the

students who less interested in this subject. The strategies does

not only able to engage the students to involve in the ongoing

class activities, but also assists the teacher to achieve the

teaching objective. According to [21], there are two factors

which influence students’ motivation to involve in physical

education class which is internal and external aspects. The

internal aspects includes individual characteristics (e.g. age,

gender, physical attributed), dispositional variable (e.g.

attitude, task and ego orientation, intrinsic motivation) and

individual situational variable (e.g. sport practice involvement,

motives for sport participant, perception of success) [22] [23].

External factors includes environment situation variable (e.g.

teacher’s expertise, school characteristics, parents’

involvement, providing choice) and contextual variable (e.g.

Physical education curriculum, Physical education program,

physical education teacher) [22] [23] [24]. Based on the two

factors, the teachers have to find out the suitable teaching

method that can engage students’ motivation to involve or

participant in physical activities. Students who show greater

motivation in physical education also enable to enhance the

teaching and learning quality of the subject.

Fourth, technology is widely used in the education field

and this trend is growing rapidly because technology provide

greater impact to students who are not academically inclined

and improves the teaching and learning quality in the

classroom [25] [26]. Mobile learning is actively being used in

the education field and research states that that children can

learn from well-designed educational application [27]. There

are several studies which show that the current trend in

education is mobile learning [28] [29] [30] [31]. A report by

Telstra [32], show that the ownership of mobile device in

Australia has increased by 36% from 2010 until 2011 and was

predicted that the growth will be up to 60% by 2012. Based on

this number, researcher asked the respondents on the use of

mobile device in the teaching and learning process. The

respondents provides positive feedback and comment that

integration of mobile device in teaching and learning process

enables to change the classroom environment to become more

enjoyable and interesting.

Researcher

“Do you think mobile device can help you in teaching this

subject?”

Respondent 1

“I feel it is helpful because if we have the tablet we can easily

to show examples to the students but there is a problem,

whereby tablets cannot be provided to all the students and the

screen is too small.”

Respondent 2

“I think it will be more attractive because the mobile device

can be used outside the school hour also.”

Respondent 3

“I feel it is useful and interesting because it is a new teaching

method and students will enjoy the dynamic teaching material.

The textbook used in teaching and learning has only text and

statics images. When integrated with new technology, the

students will understand the topic better.”

Respondent 4

“Of course. Mobile device is portable and I can bring to the

field and show the video to the students on the spot. Compared

to laptop, the size of the laptop is bigger and the mobility is

low.”

The comments above illustrates that mobile device is

helpful and useful. However, there are some problems such as

the screen is too small and the tablet cannot be provided to all

students. There are some applications able to overcome this

problem. One of the solutions to overcome this problem is by

using the Google remote desktop. This application is an open

source and can be downloaded from the internet. The main

function of this application is to share the smartphone or

tablet’s screen into computer.


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V. CONCLUSION

This paper illustrates the thematic analysis of interview

data which was conducted by the researcher with four

respondents. Several interview questions were asked to the

respondents. Based on the interview data obtained, the

researcher analyzed the transcript and identified four issues

which are time constrain, teaching method, students’

perception toward physical education and future trend in

physical education. There is limited time for teachers to teach

all the required topics during the physical education lesson and

teacher needs to use the correct teaching method to teach the

students in the allocated time. Unfortunately, the teachers still

use the traditional method and a lot of time is used in

dissemination of knowledge. Hence, the students show less

interest and does not focus during ongoing lesson in the

classroom as some topics is quite complicated to understand

such as cardiovascular system or muscular system. Besides

that, it was noted that the students purposely do not bring the

physical education textbook to school. To overcome this

problem, new teaching method has to be applied to change the

classroom environment during physical education lesson.

Currently, mobile learning is a trend and previous studies

show that mobile learning enables to change the classroom

environment. Although mobile learning shows a positive

impact in the teaching and learning process, the learning

module also has an important role. The researcher suggests

that a digital application should be developed to replace the

tangible textbook. The digital textbook that developed in the

future should include the multimedia element that can attract

and encourage students’ interest to further study in this

subject.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors would like to thank the Universiti Teknologi

Malaysia and Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia for their

support in making this project possible. This work was

supported by the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme

(R.J130000.7831.4F604) initiated by the Ministry of Higher

Education.

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issues and future trends in teaching physical … · issues and future trends in teaching physical...

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