Supporting Pre-service Teachers to Motivate Students in Physical Education: A Pilot Study

To help pre-service PE teachers reflect on how to sustain students’ motivation, this study employed a mixed-methods approach to evaluate a pilot training course titled “Learning How to Motivate.” Its content covers 19 empowering motivational strategies that pre-service PE teachers can adapt to support students’ motivation according to their needs and abilities. Four participants followed the training course during the third year of teacher training in complementary to their other theoretical and practical courses. They completed an online questionnaire before and after the training course, and participated in individual interviews. Results indicate that their beliefs about empowering and disempowering motivational strategies, as well as their intention to use some of them, tended to evolve after taking the course. Furthermore, participants appreciated the added value of the training and recognized its relevance as preparation for high school internships. Recommendations are offered to improve this training as a complement to teacher education.