The Congruence of Teaching Styles Used by Turkish Physical Education Teachers with National Curriculum’ Goals and Learning Outcomes

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the congruence of the teaching styles used by Turkish physical education teachers in their lessons with the goals and learning outcomes of the curriculum they are responsible for taking into consideration. The case study design was used and eight physical education teachers serving in middle and high school grades in the central districts of a metropolitan city were involved in this study. In the study, a semi-structured interview form prepared by the authors was used to reveal which teaching styles physical education teachers prefer in their lessons, the reasons for their preference, and the congruence between the teaching styles they use in their lessons and the goals and learning outcomes of the curriculum. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. The results of the study indicated that physical education teachers generally preferred reproduction cluster teaching styles to vary extents and mostly used the practice style. Effective skill learning and effective time management were found to be the most mentioned reasons for teachers to prefer the practice and the command styles more in their lessons. The study additionally revealed that when selecting teaching styles for their lessons, physical education teachers did not take into consideration the goals and learning outcomes of the curriculum. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that professional development programs be designed to enhance the curriculum literacy of physical education teachers and to inform them of the teaching styles that are aligned with certain goals and learning outcomes.