"The New P.E. & Sports Dimension"
November 2003

The column that opens your day by opening your mind

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The articles of our authors are indexed in

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Teaching Styles in Physical Education
and
Mosston's Spectrum

By

Jonathan Doherty, Centre for Physical Education, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK.

The term itself has no agreed definition but the more widely accepted definitions refer to it as "a set of teaching tactics" (Galton et al, 1980) "instructional format" (Siedentop, 1991). In PE circles the definition of it as "the general pattern created by using a particular set of strategies" (BAALPE, 1989, p.9) provides a neat working definition.

Over the last thirty years a number of writers in the United Kingdom have identified particular teaching styles and related them to philosophies of teaching or to specific learning outcomes (Bennett, 1978). Emerging from this work and that of other writers specifically in PE (Kane, 1974) are two important findings. Firstly, that integral to teaching styles is its effect on the involvement of students in the learning process. Secondly, while it is acknowledged that many teachers have their own individual styles of instruction, relying on personal preference is an unstable basis for effective teaching and that selection of a teaching style must be done on a more logical and scientific basis.

By far the most detailed analysis of teaching styles and behaviours came from work originated in the United States by Mosston (1966). His ideas on the interactions between teacher and student have been developed since his initial publication and have provided a framework for teaching physical education in different contexts all over the world. So influential was it that the work that it was described as "the most significant advance in the theory of physical education pedagogy in recent history" (Nixon & Locke, 1973, p.1227). So why is it so successful? What is it about Mosston's ideas that make them so enduring? The answer lies in the framework for teaching which he called the Spectrum of Teaching Styles.

The Spectrum of Teaching Styles

The Spectrum established a framework of possible options in the relationship between teacher and learner (Mosston & Ashworth, 1986) and was based on the central importance of decision-making. He grouped these into pre-impact, impact and post-impact categories and proposed that these govern all teaching. The pre-impact set is concerned with decisions made before teaching; at preparation phase and involves subject matter, learning objectives, organisation and presentation. The impact set includes decisions relating to performance and execution while the post-impact set includes evaluation of performance and feedback from learner to teacher.

The Spectrum incorporates ten landmark styles based on the degree to which the teacher or the student assumes responsibility for what happens in a lesson. This describes a continuum, where at one extreme is the direct, teacher-led approach and at the other lies a much more open-ended and student-centred style where the teacher acts only in a facilitatory role.

The teaching styles are:

The Spectrum provides a sound basis for analysis of one's teaching and the effectiveness of selected styles to meet particular learning intentions. It emphasises relationships between the different styles, rather than their differences. It follows that effective instruction in PE takes account of this variety in teaching styles and an ability to use the style that is most suited to the teacher (Coates, 1997). By the same token it would be misplaced to assume that a given style is associated with a particular physical activity area or sport. The Spectrum was never intended as a straitjacket: quite the reverse. It permits a huge degree of freedom and celebrates the creativity of the individual teacher. In this way teaching is both art and science.

In teaching physical education the effective teacher is involved in adjusting and reviewing tasks set according to the needs and responses from the students. Being able to use various teaching styles identified in Mosston's framework creates an optimum working environment, maintains good discipline, sets high standards, facilitates pupils' thinking and achieves the multiple learning objectives integral to PE. Surely worthy of serious consideration in our teaching.

References

Bennnett, N. (1978) Recent research on teaching: A dream, a belief, and a model. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 48, p.127-47.

British Association of Advisers and Lecturers in Physical Education (1989) Teaching and Learning Strategies in Physical Education.
Leeds: White Line Press.

Coates, B. (1997) Refining your Style. Sportsteacher. Spring edition

Galton, M., Simon, B. & Croll, P. (1980) Inside the Primary Classroom. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Kane, J.E. (1974) Physical Education in Secondary Schools. Schools Council Research Studies, London: Macmillan.

Mosston, M. (1966) Teaching Physical Education. Columbus, OH: Merrill.

Mosston, M. & Ashworth, S. (1986) Teaching Physical Education. Columbus, OH: Merrill.

Nixon, J. & Locke, L. (1973) Research on teaching physical education. In R. Travers (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching, pp.1210-1242. Chicago: Rand McNally.

Siedentop, D. (1991) Developing Teaching Skills in Physical Education. Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield.

Start the discussion:

1. What teaching styles can you remember being used in school physical education from your own experiences?

2. Are there particular sports or PE activities that are better suited to one (or more)of the identified styles in Mosston's Spectrum? Why is this?

3. If you were to analyse your own teaching of PE, what teaching style(s) do you tend use most often?

4. This article has linked teaching physical education with the work of Mosston. Do you think that sports coaches too would benefit from knowledge of the Spectrum?

First copy the above questions ( you'll paste them into the reply form of the discussion forum) and then ...

Just click onto this link

January 2004 - Dr. Daniel Frankl will start with a new article.

Have a good discussion, 

co-ordinator 

Guy Van Damme