The Social Context as a Determinant of Teacher Motivational Strategies in Physical Education

THE SOCIAL CONTEXT AS 15

Just the practicalities. I'm not sure whether it's always best in front of the
children to ask “what do you want to do?” or “what did you think of that?”,
because often for a lot of children it has got to be constructive. And I also
think that a teacher has to have authority over what the children do and you
don't want the children, you know, a bit of anarchy.

In contrast to Carl’ beliefs, more experienced teachers indicated discontent with the
modern teaching culture. Hayley provided an example, when asked about her opinions on
interacting informally with students:

In PE you've got to be able to have a laugh, but you've got to be so careful
what you say that I won’t have a laugh. In the old days a kid who'd dropped a
ball, I’d say “come on give us the seals” (Hayley imitates a seal) and they
would laugh and say “oh shut up!” Now I'd be had up in the courts I think if I
said that. So I'm very careful now what I do. I do think it has changed quite a
lot. You do have to be a lot more official and a lot more formal.

Hayley indicated that earlier in her career she taught in a manner which emphasized
humorous social interaction which was consonant with her beliefs. However, over time a
conflict has occurred between how she actually teaches and how she wants to teach. In
comparison, two newly qualified female teachers did not share Hayley’s feelings about the
importance of social interaction. For example, Karen, a 22 year-old colleague of Carl’
discusses how she is not very comfortable socially interacting with her students and doesn’t
think it is important, particularly with younger students:

Interviewer: What do you think of promoting social interaction between the
student and teacher in the lessons?

Karen: A fine line again. I think you’re always going to have different
relationships with every class. I personally find it easier; I come across more

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