Development of an instrument to assess perception of Quality Physical Education (<i>QPE</i>) among European professionals

Abstract

Developing quality physical education programmes (QPE) for school-age children is an important goal of teachers and health educators. This paper studies professionals’ perceptions of QPE in Europe. In the survey, 24 items related to status and roles, educational elements and supportive features in physical education, were presented to education professionals from six selected European cities. A sample of 342 professionals participated. After an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), using Maximum Likelihood extraction and direct oblimin rotation methods, 18 of the 24 items were retained. The items were clustered under four subscales, Development and Supportive Elements for QPE in Schools, Core Value of QPE, Curriculum Arrangement of Physical Activities and Core Content Knowledge of QPE. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α=0.85) indicated good internal consistency for the overall measure. The retained four factors from the EFA were assessed with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The four-factor model demonstrated a good fit with the data. It was hypothesised that all 24 items could be retained after EFA, but six items were excluded due to low factor loading. The four-factor structure had internal consistency and acceptable inter-factor correlations. The structure seemed applicable to the diversified setting for the study of QPE.

Keywords: Quality PE (QPE); Perception of QPE; European perspective of QPE