Teaching Practices, Self-Efficacy and the Physical Activity Environment in Aotearoa, New Zealand Early Childhood Education Centres
Date
Authors
Pirie, Wendy
Gibbons, Andrew
Duncan, Scott
Jones, Rachel
Bruijns, Brianne
Tucker, Patricia
Harris, Nigel
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Abstract
Early Childhood Education (ECE) has potential to influence physical activity levels and participation among children. Factors include early childhood educator’s teaching practices, self-efficacy and quality of the movement environment. A cross-sectional study of early childhood teachers’ self-reported, self-efficacy using online Early Childhood Educator Confidence in Outdoor Movement, Physical Activity, Sedentary and Screen Behaviours (ECE-COMPASS) Questionnaire and ECE movement environment from Movement Environment Rating Scale (MOVERS) was assessed. Descriptive statistics were conducted to analyse data. Early childhood teachers (n = 42) rated (means [SD]) for task (7.2 ± 2.3) and barrier (7.0 ± 2.5) self-efficacy (out of 10). ECE (n = 6) movement environment quality (out of 7); 1 (4.0 ± 1.1), 2 (4.0 ± 0.4), 3 (3.8 ± 0.6), 4 (4.0 ± 0.6) and overall total score (4.0 ± 0.3). Early childhood teachers rate themselves as self-efficacious in delivering physical activity; however, quality of the movement environment was adequate.Description
Keywords
1301 Education Systems, 1303 Specialist Studies in Education, 1701 Psychology, 3903 Education systems, 5201 Applied and developmental psychology, early childhood education, physical activity, children, teachers, self-efficacy
Source
Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, ISSN: 1836-9391 (Print); 1839-5961 (Online), SAGE Publications. doi: 10.1177/18369391251349550
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© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).