Primary school student teachers' physical self-perceptions and attitudes toward teaching physical education

The importance of physical self-perceptions in relation to exercise behavio r has been acknowledged However, the importance of physical self-perception s in relation to specific attitudes has been overlooked. This study used a self-report questionnaire to assess the physical self-perceptions and attit udes toward teaching physical education of a sample of final-pear, female, primary school student teachers (N = 116). The most positive attitudes towa rd teaching physical education were recorded by students reporting more pos itive physical self-perceptions. Comparisons between students with low and high attitudes toward teaching physical education using MANOVA and discrimi nant function analysis confirmed these findings. Specifically, students wit h the most positive attitudes toward teaching physical education reported s tronger self-perceptions of sports competence, and perceived competence in the sport subdomain was deemed more important than the other subdomains. It is speculated that these findings reflect a process of cognitive consonanc e mediating physical self-perceptions and attitudes.