Analysis and Evaluation of Teaching Behaviours Among Physical Education Teachers in Athletics Lessons Using the SMITH System for Structured Observation

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse the teaching behaviours of physical education teachers in the Iraqi school setting using the CBAS teaching behaviour observation system, and to identify the most common behavioural categories and their polarity. The sample consisted of five teachers, and three lessons were observed for each teacher, making a total of fifteen lessons. The observation lasted twenty minutes of the main section of each lesson, divided into eight minutes for the instructional activity involving explanation and presentation, and twelve minutes for the practical activity. Behaviour was coded every five seconds, with two behaviours permitted to be recorded if they occurred within the same time interval. A total of 3,696 behaviours were observed. The results showed that general technical instructions were the most frequent category at 16.23 per cent, followed by error-related technical instructions at 15.83 per cent, then organisation at 11.93 per cent, and maintaining control at 10.88 per cent. Positive reinforcement accounted for 9.82 per cent, general encouragement for 8.28 per cent, and error-related encouragement for 8.12 per cent. Positive and functional behaviours accounted for 70.21 per cent of all behaviours, compared with 15.99 per cent for negative behaviours, whilst general communication unrelated to the activity was the least frequent, at 2.92 per cent. The standardised score values indicate a clear increase in general technical instructions and error-related instructions compared with the average for other classes. The study concluded that the prevailing teaching style was characterised by technical guidance, organisation and lesson control, with a predominance of positive behaviours. The study recommends increasing the use of specific reinforcement and encouragement, providing corrective feedback in a supportive manner, minimising punishment and overlooking mistakes, and incorporating training on the analysis of teaching behaviour and improving the quality of classroom interaction into teacher training programmes. The findings emphasise the importance of striking a balance between clear instructions and providing pupils with opportunities for participation and autonomy, whilst calling for follow-up studies on larger samples that link teacher behaviour patterns to pupil motivation, motor learning and the level of their active participation in organised classroom lessons.