Analyzing the Learning of the Taking Personal and Social Responsibility Model Within a New Physical Education Undergraduate Degree Program in El Salvador

Abstract

El Salvador has an unfortunate history that includes a military regime and a civil war that together created a legacy of violence in which the country still struggles nowadays. Salud Escolar Integral (SEI) was created in 2005 by universities, federal governments, a corporate sponsor, and sport associations as a program to combat youth violence with the promotion of humanistic principles in physical education (PE) classes. In 2007, SEI supported the Universidad del Salvador (UdS) to develop the physical education teacher education (PETE) curriculum for the novice degree that was created. The purpose of this research was to analyze whether the PETE program offered by UdS provided the education, training, and experience to develop high self-perception levels of competence and confidence related to attitude, skills, and knowledge to teach PE with humanistic principles. The taking personal and social responsibility (TPSR) model was used as the theoretical framework to analyze the development of humanistic principles. The research was conducted with a case study methodology including three sources of data: questionnaires, reflection templates, and interviews. The data were collected longitudinally across a 3-year process (2007-2009). Methods of triangulation were used in the research, and it was concluded that UdS students reported high levels of confidence and competence to teach PE with humanistic principles. Nevertheless, the research also acknowledges that UdS needs to provide better support in teaching principles such as students' empowerment and transfer learning to guarantee humanistic principles are used when PE is taught