A comparative analysis of physical education and non-physical education teachers who coach high school sport teams

Abstract

Although high school sport in Canada has traditionally been an extracurricular activity overseen by physical education teachers, recent findings demonstrate how the majority ( n = 1677, 60%) of coaches are in fact non-physical education teachers. The purpose of the present study was to compare physical education and non-physical education teachers who coach high school sport teams. A national sample of 2890 Canadian high school teacher-coaches (males = 1967, 68%) from all 10 provinces and 3 territories responded to an online survey. Significant differences were found between physical education teacher-coaches and non-physical education teacher-coaches in terms of demographic variables, perceived teacher-coach benefits, and perceived coaching efficacy, whereby physical education teacher-coaches tended to have more favorable perceptions. Based on the results, access to coach education should be facilitated, particularly for non-physical education teacher coaches.