Engagement and motivation in Physical Education students. Does teacher burnout matter?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze whether teachers burnout could be associated with their students basic psychological needs satisfaction, intrinsic motivation and behavioral engagement. The sample was comprised of 2156 students (1074 boys and 1082 girls) from Spain (n=644), Colombia (n=778) and Chile (n=734) ranging from 23 to 62 years of age (M = 39.04, SD = 10.12). The 88 PE teachers (M=38.71, SD =10.03) of these students did also participate in the study (54 male and 34 female). Findings of the present study show that burnout experienced by teachers might affect students motivation and behavior during PE classes. Specifically, students whose teachers exhibited lower levels of burnout shoed the higher levels of intrinsic motivation, BPN satisfaction and behavioral engagement. The present study confirms an important issue in education: teacher burnout will lead to the undermining of student motivation.