Implementing a teacher-focused intervention in physical education to increase pupils’ motivation towards dance at school

Abstract

A teacher-focused intervention that supports the needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness was designed and implemented, to help experienced teachers develop a motivational style during dance teaching sessions at school. Four schools in Mexico, with 12 physical education teachers and 921 pupils, participated in the research. A program was developed at the beginning with the teachers in the experimental group to support the psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. Both groups were assessed at the beginning and at the end of the program and the results showed that participants from the experimental group had an increase in their perception of autonomy, relatedness and self-determination levels towards dance teaching sessions at school compared with participants from the control group. In conclusion, teachers’ training is important to increase pupils’ motivation towards dance. Schools should focus on encouraging teachers’ “training in motivational strategies to create pupils’” adaptive behaviors.