An Empirical Study about the Importance of Teachers´ Educational Beliefs and Acculturation Attitudes for the Implementation of Intercultural Education in Physical Education

Abstract

Previous research suggests that teachers’ behaviour is influenced by educational beliefs and attitudes. This article focuses on two explorative studies among 99 and 18 physical education teachers, and aims to find out if educational beliefs and acculturation attitudes influence teachers’ willingness and behaviour to promote students’ intercultural competence through physical education lessons. The research design is based on a mixed-method approach. By interlocking quantitative and qualitative data, a mismatch between the expressed willingness and the real behaviour is uncovered. Educational beliefs influence the willingness but not the behaviour, whereas acculturation attitudes do not have any significant influence on the expressed willingness or on the behaviour. The impact depends on the accessibility of the namely constructs that is attained by reflection. Therefore, teacher education must be more than the conveyance of knowledge and techniques but provides teachers with strategies to reflect on their belief systems and their implication on teaching