What Is the Place of Physical Education among the Teaching Priorities of Primary School Teachers? An Empirical Study on Importance, Qualification and Perceived Teachers' Competence

The education of children is important because it determines the future of the world. Teachers have a great responsibility for this, which applies to every subject taught. In this regard, teachers usually specialize in a specific area and greatly influence how the subject is taught and how students gain a view of the subject. The present study aimed to investigate teachers' attitudes about subjects in primary school, with a particular focus on physical education. The sample of participants (N = 111) included Croatian female primary school teachers with a mean age of 47.88 (+/- 8.11 SD) years and a mean teaching experience of 21.83 (+/- 10.24 SD) years. The variable sample consisted of a three-criteria questionnaire for the assessment of classroom subjects: (i) the importance of a subject (importance); (ii) the level of qualifications obtained during study for a subject (qualification); and (iii) the teacher's competence for teaching (competence). Significant differences were found in the assessment of classroom subjects. The group of core academic subjects has noticeably higher assessments than the group of practical and artistic subjects. The assessment of teachers' competence in PE teaching is the lowest of all the classroom subjects. Further research of classroom teachers' attitudes towards the implementation of physical education is advised, with an increased number of participants and the inclusion of new measures.