Curriculum preferences of physical education teachers in primary schools: differences in length of pedagogical practice

Purpose. Curriculum preferences of physical education (PE) teachers in primary schools differ, depending on educational policy, local guidelines, and particular needs of students (pupils); therefore, the survey objective was aimed at determining the curriculum preferences of PE teachers in primary schools in terms of differences in length of pedagogical practice. Material and methods. Curriculum preferences of PE teachers in primary schools (survey instrument) was conducted 6 months (January – June, 2022), through the purposive sampling of size (survey group) of 1 300 (100%) PE teachers in primary schools: (i) Pedagogical practice ≥10 years (n = 518, 39.84%); (ii) Pedagogical practice ˂10 years (n = 782, 60.16%). Descriptive (e.g., percentage frequency, arithmetic mean), inferential (e.g., Pearson's r, chi-square test) statistics were used to evaluate (e.g., analyze, compare) the data. Results. Significant differences (0.01, 0.05) between the pedagogical practice ≥10 years (n = 518, 39.84%) and ˂10 years (n = 782, 60.16%) of PE teachers (n = 1 300, 100%) were as follows: (i) Curriculum preferences of PE teachers (χ2(3) = 77.75, p = 9.35E-17); (ii) Demanding teaching activity in PE teachers (χ2(4) = 29.34; p = 6.65E-06); (iii) Undemanding teaching activity in PE teachers (χ2(4) = 30.10, p = 4.68E-06). No differences (p˃0.05), between the pedagogical practice ≥10 years (n = 518, 39.84%) and ˂10 years (n = 782, 60.16%) of PE teachers (n = 1 300, 100%), were as follows: (i) Popular teaching activity in PE teachers (χ2(4) = 6.82, p = 0.15); (ii) Unpopular teaching activity in PE teachers (χ2(4) = 8.78, p = 0.06). Conclusions. Curricular reform in Slovak primary schools allows PE teachers autonomy (partial) in selecting the educational content (course) in terms of meeting the specific needs of students and learning environment, in consultation with board of education (school board) in terms of meeting the particular needs of students and learning environment, recognizing the importance of PE teachers' autonomy and value of tailoring education.