The effect of student teaching experience on selected personality traits in Physical Education

Abstract

Personality plays a significant role in teacher development. Minimal studies have investigated personality traits of student teachers in physical education. This study examines changes in selected personality traits of fifty-three physical education student teachers over the course of a student teaching semester. The personality traits measured included anxiety, concentration, confidence, mental preparation, motivation, and cooperation. An adapted Psychological Skills Inventory for Sport (PSIS) questionnaire was administered before (PRE), at mid-term (MID), and immediately after (POST) a student teaching period. Three paired Hotelling’s T-square tests and their post-hoc tests were used to determine whether changes occurred in selected personality traits over time (PRE, MID, and POST). Our findings include: (1) there are significant changes in anxiety, concentration, and confidence from PRE to MID and from PRE to POST; (2) the significant changes in mental preparation occur only for a longer period of time, e.g. between PRE and POST; (3) There are no significant changes among all these personality traits between MID and POST; and (4) No significant changes were found for motivation and cooperation in any time period.