An analysis of elementary school teachers' attitudes towards physical education and game course

Elementary school teachers' attitudes towards physical education and came course were studied in the research. Moreover, whether elementary school teachers' attitudes regarding physical education and game course differ according to their gender, professional seniority, grade levels they teach, presence of a gym at their schools and attendance to in-service education about the issue was handled in the study. The study is a descriptive one and was designed as mixed research. The study population consists of the elementary school teachers in Gaziantep province and the sample is comprised of 350 elementary school teachers serving in 16 state schools affiliated to the District Directorates of National Education of Sahinbey, Sehitkamil and Oğuzeli, which are Gaziantep's central districts. "An Attitude Scale Towards Physical Education and Game Course", developed by the researchers and a semi-structured interview form were utilized as the data collection tools. An Attitude Scale Towards Physical Education and Game Course, a five-likert type scale, has a structure of four factors and includes 30 items. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient was determined as 0.84. The teachers were asked about their opinions about the lesson, its impact on students, what they pay attention to in the lesson and the fact that elementary school teachers teach this course in the semi-structured interviews which were conducted with totally 8 male and 8 female, totally 16 elementary school teachers, chosen among the sample group. The data derived from the attitude scale were tested through independent samples t-test and one-way anova, whereas descriptive analysis was used in the analysis of the interview data. As a result, it was found out that elementary school teachers' attitude does not differ significantly according to their gender (t= .806, p>.05), professional seniority [(F(4, 345)=1.510, p>.05], grade levels they teach [(F(3, 346)=1.669, p>.05], presence of a gym at their schools (t= -.006, p>.05) and attendance to in-service education (t= -1.768, p>.05). When the findings of the semi-structured interviews with the teachers in the sample group were examined in general, the teachers expressed that they discharge their extra energy in physical education and game course and that students' feelings such as helping each other, cooperation, sharing and self-confidence improve. Then, improvement in students' mental, physical and social wellbeing and easier adaptation to school and school's social context thanks to this course are among the outcomes of the study. However, students were found to lack a secure setting, and materials, Finally, the teachers admitted that they are insufficient for this course and that expert teachers in this field school should teach this lesson. Key words: Physical education and game course, attitude towards physical education and game course, elementary school teachers