Development of the Pre-service Physical Education Teachers’ Teacher Identity Scale

Aug 29, 2026

Development of teacher identity (TI) shapes pre-service physical education teachers’ career intentions and teaching practices. Existing work on pre-service physical education teachers’ teacher identity (PPET-TI) has largely relied on qualitative approaches, while universal and stable quantitative aspects across contexts remain underexplored due to limited measurement tools. This study develops and evaluates the PPET-TI Scale by deriving items and structure from a dynamic systems model of role identity, interviews with 19 pre-service teachers, and expert content validity review.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Teacher identity and career intentions

Role of teacher identity in teaching practices

Theoretical frameworks of TI

Definitions and meaning-making process

Intention to teach as a TI component

Original Research Article Development of the Pre-service Physical Education Teachers’Teacher Identity Scale Jingwen Liu California State University, Fullerton, USA Xiaofen D Keating The University of Texas at Austin, USA European Physical Education Review 1–19 © The Author(s) 2021 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)DOI: 10.1177/1356336X211028832 [journals.sagepub.com/home/epe](journals.sagepub.com/home/epe) Abstract The development of a teacher identity (TI) profoundly impacts teacher education program graduates’ career intention and teaching practices. Existing studies on pre-service physical education teachers’ teacher identity (PPET-TI) have used qualitative methods to focus on the dynamic andreﬂective features of TI. Quantitative studies that help reveal the universal and stable aspects of TI across contexts are scarce, which may be due to a lack of measuring instruments of PPET-TI. This study aimed to develop and examine the psychometric properties of the PPET-TI Scale. Scale items and structure were developed based on the theoretical framework of dynamic systems model of role identity, interviews with 19 pre-service physical education teachers (PPETs), and content validity evaluations by 10 experts. The initial PPET-TI Scale was then validated among 523 PPETs. Conﬁrmatory factor analysis revealed a measurement model including three domains: self-deﬁnitions, teaching goals, and professional responsibilities. This model showed an acceptable model ﬁt to the data. Convergent validity, criterion validity, and discriminant validity of the scale scores were also within the acceptable range. The scores of the PPET-TI Scale also showed an acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.91 for the entire scale). Teacher educators may use the PPET-TI Scale to understand PPETs’ current TI and identify areas for intervention. The PPET-TI Scale enables future quasi-experimental studies to identify inﬂuencing factors of TI development and examine the effectiveness of TI interventions. Keywords Physical education students, teacher identity, teacher education, scale, survey validation Corresponding author: Xiaofen D Keating, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin, 1912 Speedway, Stop D5000 Austin, Texas 78712, USA. Email: [xk93@austin.utexas.edu](xk93@austin.utexas.edu) Introduction To meet the demands ofthe increasing school-aged population in the USA, a 17% increment in new teacher hires by 2027 was projected (Hussar and Bailey, 2019) . However, enrollment in teacher education programs in the USA decreased by 36% from 2008 to 2018 (US Department of Education, 2019) . The declining enrollment has also been found in physical education teacher education (PETE) programs (Keating et al., 2017; Woods and Ayers, 2019) . Teacher education graduates’ career choice is inﬂuenced by the teacher identity (TI) they develop in pre-service training (Adams et al., 2006; Day et al., 2005; Hong, 2010) . TI is a way of being and becoming a teacher (Beijaard et al., 2004), representing a status of relation to the teaching profession (Lawler, 2015) . In addition, TI plays an important role in teaching practices. Previous studies indicated a signiﬁcant relationship of TI with teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning (Melnychuk, 2001; Sirna et al., 2010; Wrench and Garrett, 2012), self-efﬁcacy (Settlage et al., 2009; Wagoner, 2015), pedagogical choices (Kreber, 2010; MacDonald and Kirk, 1999), and attitudes toward education reform (Fernandez-Balboa, 1997; Vähäsantanen, 2015) . Forming a TI coherent with professional standards supports teachers in overcoming various constraints in the teaching context (Day and Gu, 2007) . Content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge have been central to teacher preparation programs (Kaplan and Garner, 2017) . On the other hand, TI is often assumed

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the PPET-TI Scale study?

To develop and examine the psychometric properties of the PPET-TI Scale and validate its measurement structure.

How was the PPET-TI Scale developed?

Scale items and structure were grounded in a theoretical framework of dynamic systems model of role identity, informed by interviews with 19 pre-service teachers, and reviewed by 10 experts for content validity.

What domains does the final measurement model include?

Confirmatory factor analysis identified three domains: self-definitions, teaching goals, and professional responsibilities.

Aug 29, 2026

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