The level of moral competences of pre-service PE teachers – a reason to worry?

Abstract

Summary Study aim: The main purpose of this study was to examine the level of moral competences of 437 pre-service physical educa­tion (PE) university students. It was also designed to evaluate the level of moral competency and the correlations with factors (i.e. Parents, Religion, School education, PE teacher, Sport coach, Studies, Media and Peers) potentially influencing moral development in pre-service PE teachers. Material and methods: The study included data collected in 2017 from 216 male and 221 female students aged 21.5 ± 1.85 from the faculty of Physical Education in Poznań, Poland. The students were categorised into three levels of moral competences, after which possible correlations between the factors influencing moral development were examined. The Moral Competence Test (MCT) survey was used to measure the ability to rate arguments by their moral quality. Participants were requested to confront two moral dilemmas and agree or disagree with the statements which were presented to them. Results: The results suggest that a vast majority of students (78.7%) present a very low level of moral competences, and with regard to the factors influencing moral development, the lowest value was attributed to PE teachers. Moderate positive correla­tions were found between School education and PE teacher, and between Sport coach and PE teacher. Conclusions: The findings indicate the need for more attention to be paid to moral education in teacher training in PE.