Influence of teachers’ content knowledge on teaching physical education at the junior high schools in Effutu municipality, Ghana

Abstract

Physical education, which is one of the subjects studied in our schools in Ghana, is a very important subject that helps individuals acquire fitness, knowledge and attitude that contribute to their optimal development and personality. Recently, focus has been on how the subject is taught in the various schools by the teachers. The context of physical education creates a unique totality for shaping the individuals as well as the nation, because, it seeks to develop the individual mentally, socially, physically and emotionally. This study therefore focused on influence of teachers’ content knowledge on teaching physical education at the junior high schools in the Effutu Municipality in the central region of Ghana. It investigated how physical education teachers’ content knowledge influences students’ sports skill acquisition in schools. A descriptive research design was used for this study. A random sampling technique was used to select five (5) teachers and their respective classes for the study. A questionnaire and a self-designed observation checklist subjected to content validity by the supervisor and other experts in the physical education department was used to collect data for the study. The data analysis was done using the simple percentages with the aid of Microsoft excel 2007. Bar chats were also used to show graphical representation of the data. The findings of the study showed that, most sixty percent (60%) of the teachers observed, exhibited low content knowledge in teaching the sports skills at the junior high school level in the study area. This was as a result of teachers’ inability to exhibit the critical elements when dealing with the content, hence the low skill acquisition of the learners at the end of the lessons. It is therefore recommended that institutions that train teachers to teach the subject at the junior high schools must help the teachers’ improve on their content knowledge. This will help teachers to effectively teach the subject at that level. Further study is recommended to help deal with the issues raised from the findings.