Class management of Hong Kong primary physical education student teachers

Classroom management is recognized as an essential component of effective teaching. However, there is little information about how physical education student teachers manage their class during their practicum. The purpose of the study was to describe the class management practices of Hong Kong physical education student teachers. Twenty local primary pre-service student teachers were videotaped teaching two ball games lessons in the allocated schools during their final practicum. Each videotaped lesson was coded using the Physical Education Teacher Assessment Instrument (PETAI). Quantitative data generated by the PETAI indicated that the pre-service group spent similiar percentages of time in overall class management to other studies. Three pre-service student teachers were randomly selected to participate in the second phase of the study. Students were observed teaching two ball games lessons and were invited to take part in two pre-lesson interviews and two post-lesson stimulated recall sessions. Qualitative data were collected through lesson observations and interviews. Constant comparison and analytic induction were used to organize and categorize the data. Results showed that there were common managing behaviours and strategies exhibited by the pre-service student teachers during teaching. Pedagogical setting for learning and organization were the identical managing behaviours observed, whilst the preventive management, equipment management, and interactive management were the common class managing strategies identified. Findings of the present study hold implications for the preparation of physical education teachers.