International Journal of Instruction

e-ISSN: 1308-1470 www.e-iji.net

July 2013 Vol.6, No.2 p-ISSN: 1694-609X

The Relationship between Attitudes toward Participation in Physical Activities and Motives for Choosing Teaching Physical Education as a Career
Nasser Al-Rawahi Department of Curriculum & Instruction, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman [email protected] Ali Al-Yarabi Department of physical education, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman [email protected]

This study aims at investigating the relationship between physical education teachers attitudes toward participation in physical activity and their motives toward choosing physical education as a teaching profession. Two questionnaires with a sample of 98 participants were employed as a data collection vehicle. The results showed that participants in this study had strong attitudes toward physical activities. Furthermore, participants expressed a mixture of intrinsic and extrinsic reasons as to why they opted for physical education as a teaching profession. Moreover, the findings revealed a significant relationship between participants' attitudes toward participation in physical activity and their motives toward choosing physical education as a teaching profession. Key Words: Teachers Attitudes, Motives, Physical Education, Teaching Profession, Physical Activities INTRODUCTION Recently the physical education profession has gained widespread popularity among prospective teachers. It is viewed as "the renaissance of the new millennium" in the 21st century. Advocators to this view mentioned that the starting point to achieving this mission is by outstanding work done by physical education specialists, as this will provide the link between benefits associated with participation in physical activities in the present and those in the future (Masurier & Corbin, 2006). Physical education specialists are the most important group that can provide deliberate physical education activities leading our generation to a more active and healthier lifestyle. Well-qualified prospective physical education teachers with high motivation to the teaching profession and having positive attitudes toward physical activities help in the realization of the objectives of the physical education programme (Aicinena, 1991; Chen, 2001; Treasure & Roberts, 2001; Murcia, Coll & Perez, 2009). The conjunction

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between attitudes and motivation creates action. Each one has an influence on the other and our attitudes are encouraged by motivation (Piipari, Watt, Jaakkola, Liukkonen, Nurmi, 2009; McKenzie, 2007; Dishman, Motl, Saunders, Felton, Ward, & Pate, 2005). Tuckman (1999) argued that without positive attitudes no desired behavior is expected. That means if a person does not have a positive attitude toward an object, no action is expected. For example, if physical education candidates do not have positive attitudes toward physical activities, we don't expect them to be highly motivated toward teaching physical education programs. This study was carried out among prospective physical education teachers at Sultan Qaboos University, who were engaged in physical activity and were taking physical education teaching as a career. The study aimed at identifying whether participating in physical activities influenced prospective teachers choice of the physical education teaching profession. The study discussed prospective physical education teachers attitude towards participation in physical activities, how attitudes toward physical activities influenced motivation to choose the physical education teaching profession and how attitudes and motivation toward physical activities varied on different variables, notably gender, GPA, year of study, time practicing sports, sports days of the week and type of physical activities. LITERATURE REVIEW Since physical education teaching involves teaching and actively engaging in physical activities, therefore physical education teachers require not only high motivation to teach but also strong attitudes to participate in physical activities. Various scholars have elaborated the synergy of attitude on motivation. Notably, Tuckman (1999) argues that positive attitude generates action, therefore for students to enroll in physical education teaching programs they should have strong attitudes toward physical activities. It is believed that individuals develop strong attitudes toward physical activities given the benefits inherent in participating in physical activities. Health experts agree that the recent increase in cases of chronic diseases in the world is due to the lack of physical activities, attributed to negative attitude toward physical activities. Studies reveal that diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, stroke, cancer, obesity and respiratory diseases can be prevented by participating in physical activities. According to Sport and Health: Preventing and Managing Non-Communicable Diseases (2010, p. 34), in 2005 more than thirty five million people succumbed to chronic diseases, which are preventable through participation in physical activities. This is equivalent to sixty per cent of all the deaths reported. The statistics are alarming as chronic disease related deaths amount to double the deaths caused by infectious diseases. Reports show that heart related disease deaths alone are five times those caused by HIV and AIDS. The World Health Organization indicates that developing countries incur national income losses running into billions of dollars due to chronic disease related deaths. Researchers in physical education settings classified attitudes for why people choose to participate in various physical activities under different categories. Based on different research results, people choose to participate in physical activities due to health and fitness benefits, social, psychological, leisure and recreational benefits. The scientific

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evidence proved that participation in various physical activities enhances the quality of life by improving cardiovascular and respiratory function, increasing performance at work, increasing feelings of well-being, decreasing stress, anxiety, and depression, and reducing total body fat, blood pressure and insulin needs (Armstrong, Balady, Berry, Davis, Davy, & Davy, 2006). Bairly (2009) exemplifies social benefits by confirming that participation in physical activities provides opportunities to communicate with others, to improve motivation, self-concept, self-efficacy and well-being. Carlson (1994) found that society, culture and school sport activities positively influenced attitudes toward physical education among 51% of 100 junior high school students. At the undergraduate level, Zayed, Jebali & Alshaili (2004) investigated Sultan Qaboos University students attitudes toward physical activities. The results demonstrated that overall, students had positive attitudes toward physical activities. The results also indicated that the order of reasons to participate in physical activities was fitness and health, social experience, recreation and anxiety, appearance, competition and challenge in that order. In addition, the study revealed that there was a consistency between male and female attitudes aligning partially with the above result. Health benefits were found as a frequent reason why individuals choose to participate in physical activities by many studies (Blair, 1984). Other reasons for involvement in physical activity were found to be relaxation, tension, social, appearance, fun and enjoyment, competition and challenge and achievement. In the area of exploring the effect of different variables on attitudes toward participation in physical activity, Gorna (2001) demonstrated that those who participate in school sports experiences had more positive attitudes toward participation in physical activities than those who had professional sports experiences. Similar findings were also proved by Tomik (2007) who found that student sport club members had more positive attitudes toward physical education and sports than non-sport school club members. Furthermore, Shropshire, Carroll, and Yim (1997) found that the physical education grade had a strong effect on attitude as well as participation in leisure time sport activities. Regarding gender difference, significant difference was demonstrated between male physical education and female physical education students. Females scored higher than males for competition reasons while males scored higher than females for fun, enjoyment, challenge and achievement reasons. In general males have more positive attitudes than females as resulted in different studies (Froowicz, 1994; Koca, Hiilya, Demirhan, 2005; Grna, 2001; Shropshire et al., 1997; Koca & Demirhan, 2004; Stewart & Green, 1991). Researchers have studied motives and reasons why students pursue the teaching profession; they found that most students were motivated intrinsically and extrinsically. Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2008) differentiates between three types of motivation that energize and direct peoples behavior to choose one activity over others. The first type is intrinsic motivation, which is characterized by taking activity for enjoyment and satisfaction. Intrinsically motivated people experience high autonomy, relatedness and competence in undertaking activities. The second type is

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extrinsic motivation; here people take activities because of outside consequences, for instance gaining tangible rewards or avoiding punishment. They are compelled and controlled by external forces. The third type is motivation, which reflects acting without intention or inaction. Intrinsically motivated students cited the interpersonal service attractor as a reason for choosing the physical education profession, while extrinsically motivated students cited sports and physical activity attractor. Easy entry attractor was cited by demotivated students. The intrinsic motivation was significantly cited by females more than males (Spittle, Jackson, Casey, 2009). Koh, Wang, Erickson and Cote (2012) studied 10 reasons for choosing the teaching profession in four different programs. Their findings demonstrated that about 85% of the responses spread between four main reasons, love for children/young people, interest in teaching, to fulfil a mission and job factors or job fit which represents altruistic and intrinsic motivation. Therefore, their results support the findings of Zounhia, Chatoupis, Amoutzas, & Hatziharistos (2006). They found that Greek physical education students motivational reasons to join the teaching profession were intrinsic and altruistic. They found that teachers join the profession to fulfil interpersonal satisfaction and contribute to the growth of the society. In conclusion, investigating the potential attraction of physical education and reasons for choosing the physical education profession and attitudes toward participating in physical activities may assist people in charge to design proper physical education programs. Thus, this study aims to achieve the following purposes. First to determine attitudes toward physical activities amongst prospective physical education teachers at Sultan Qaboos University. Second to understand why they chose to enrol for the physical education teaching profession. Lastly, to understand the relationship between prospective physical education teachers' attitudes toward participation in physical activities and their motivation toward choosing the physical education teaching profession. METHOD Sample A total of 98 prospective physical education teachers enrolled in the physical education department at Sultan Qaboos University completed the two instruments adopted for the purposes of this study, which is a response rate of 77%, 57 male and 41 female. Instruments This study used two questionnaires. The first one was the Kenyon ATPA instrument (adapted version: Alawee, 2000) to determine the attitudes toward physical activity of the respondents using the five-point Likert scale. It was a translated version of the original questionnaire by Kanon (1968). The translation from English to the Arabic language was carried out previously by an Arabic researcher who used the instrument to investigate attitudes toward physical activity but with different samples.

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The second instrument was a questionnaire designed by the study researchers aimed at understanding participants motives toward the physical education teaching profession. Establishing the final draft of this questionnaire was achieved by conducting a pilot study on 20 physical education student teachers at Sultan Qaboos University. They were asked to write down reasons that motived them to choose the physical education teaching profession and why they chose to enrol at the physical education department. Lists of various reasons were elicited from their responses. To achieve the validity of the two questionnaires, six physical education specialists reviewed the questionnaires. Their responses were used to assess the instruments content and to determine whether the statements elicit the information needed to answer the research questions. This process has resulted in some necessary modification based on the specialists suggestions and the final form of the questionnaires were approved and established. For reliability test, a pilot study was carried out on 30 new physical education teachers who had just graduated from Sultan Qaboos University. The Cronbachs Alpha values for Motives Teaching Instrument and Attitude Instruments were 0.71 and 0.86 respectively. Since both values exceeded 0.60, the instruments were considered as suitable for the purposes of the study. RESULTS Attitudes toward Participation in Physical Activities The descriptive statistics, listed in Table 1 below, show that the highest mean score is from students whose attitude is aesthetic experience with a mean score of 3.85 0.78. Aesthetic experience is the beauty and creative qualities that certain physical activities portray, for example gymnastics. The second highest mean is from those students whose interest is in health and fitness with a mean of 3.73039. Pursuit of vertigo is the third highest mean score with 3.61049. Vertigo is the thrill that results from the body being disoriented when people get involved in activities that involve quick direction change, speed, acceleration or exposure to situations that are dangerous. The fourth mean score is 3.520.48. Under this category, participants believe that physical education releases lifes tension and stress. Students feel physical education makes them relax, and it is essential to them. Lastly, 3.51 0.39 is the fifth mean, which is from students who believe that physical education is beneficial to them as it enhances their social lives; this means that they manage to socialize with people in their surroundings and this makes their lives better. The lowest mean is from students who listed tension and risk. This means that some students believe that physical activities ensure that they do not encounter tension and risks. The overall mean for the six groups is 3.620.34, with 68% of the scores lying between 3.25 and 3.99, and 95% of the scores lying between 2.28 and 4.36. This high overall mean demonstrates that the attitude of physical education students at Sultan Qaboos University toward participation in physical activities is positive.

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Table 1: Means and standard deviation of students attitudes toward participation in physical activities
The domain Social experience Health and fitness Reduction the tension Tension and risk Pursuit of vertigo Aesthetic experience Scale as a whole Means 3.51 3.73 3.52 3.48 3.61 3.85 3.62 Standard Deviation 0.39 0.41 0.48 0.48 0.49 0.78 0.37 Order 5 2 4 6 3 1

Motives towards Physical Education Teaching Profession Table 2 below illustrates respondents responses on motives that attracted them to the physical education teaching profession. The highest mean is among the students whose response is that the study of physical education is fun and full of pleasure with a mean of 4.86 5.17. This means that this motive highly influenced their choice for a physical education career. The second mean is from those students whose response is that they loved sports since childhood resulting in a mean of 4.42 0.82. The third ranked mean is among students whose response is that they had a desire to learn new sport skills since childhood with a mean of 4.39 0.78. The above reasons are intrinsic reasons; hence the students reveal high intrinsic motivation toward the physical education teaching profession. Altruistic reasons also have a high ranking with a mean of 4.22 0.82. This is among students whose responses were; they have fun and thrills studying physical education and they would like to improve other peoples sports life. The lowest altruistic reason had a mean of 3.811.15. This is where students response was that they enjoy working with young children. The highest ranked extrinsic reason had a mean of 3.890.90 whose response was that the career of physical education offers a wide variety of jobs. The lowest mean is 1.821.21 among the students whose response is that their ratios in high school could only allow them to study the physical education teaching programme. Table 2: Means in descending order and standard deviations of the responses of respondents to motives toward physical education teaching profession
Statements 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Because study of physical education is fun and pleasure Because I love sport since childhood Desire to learn new sports skills Because I appreciate the positive benefits resulting from my study of Physical Education Because I love sport as part of my future career Because I enjoy learning skills of various sports Because I believe deeply that sport plays an important role in the lives of others Mean 4.86 4.42 4.39 4.39 4.37 4.28 4.23 St.Dev 5.17 0.82 0.78 0.86 0.79 0.89 0.94

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8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

Because I believe that studying physical education is thrilling and fun Because I believe that I will have a positive impact in the life of others Because I need to develop my abilities and my skills in various sports Feeling that I can help others with regards to sports life Feeling comfortable working with beginners and professional athletes To be more relevant to the world of sport To maintain my fitness level on a regular basis Chosen profession because I will be specializing in the care of the health of others in terms of physical Because it offers me the opportunity to be coach of a sports Career opportunities available with many of the jobs that can be joined by Enjoying working with young children Job guaranteed after graduation The nature of the study in physical education is more practical than theoretical Showing the people around me that I am an athlete distinct Showing my skills and my abilities in front of my fellow sports For I will be the happiest of my family and my friends to optional career teaching physical education. Because it is a profession characterized by safe and secure pension after the end of the service Because the salary received by the physical education teacher is adequate Because the profession of teaching physical education allows me to spend more time with my family I think that the study of physical education is easy compared to other disciplines Because the profession of teaching physical education gives me a long summer holiday The large number of holidays in the teaching profession I do not know a particular reason that made me choose the profession of teaching physical education The effort physical education teachers make is less compared to the efforts of teachers of other subjects Because of encouragement by my relatives Physical Education teacher Because the ratios in the high school did not qualify me to study a different subject Total mean

4.22 4.12 4.11 4.08 4.03 4.03 4.02 3.97 3.91 3.89 3.81 3.57 3.55 3.49 3.20 3.17 3.15 3.13 2.71 2.58 2.45 2.45 2.41 2.07 2.01 1.82 3.54

0.82 0.82 1.05 0.98 0.88 1.02 0.84 0.95 1.06 0.90 1.15 1.06 1.15 1.21 1.29 1.24 1.10 1.15 1.18 1.20 1.20 1.09 1.31 1.26 1.19 1.21 0.43

Relationship between attitudes toward participation in physical activities and motives of choosing physical education as a profession Table 3 below gives the analysis investigating if there is a relationship between attitudes toward participation in sports and motives to choose the physical education teaching profession. Pearson coefficient correlation shows the correlation coefficient is 0.36, and its significance level is 0.001. This shows that the relationship is significant. A student with positive attitude towards participation in physical education is likely to

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take up physical education teaching as a career. It is apparent that the strong attitude towards physical activities was reflected in the strong motivation towards physical education teaching. All these findings are consistent with some of the previous studies, whereby some researchers have results that agree with these findings. According to Silverman and Ennis (2003, p. 149), attitudes strongly influence the decisions concerning various aspects in our lives, and attitude toward physical activities and physical education is a determining factor of whether to engage in a given activity. The study establishes strong attitude towards physical activities and motivation among students as an attractor towards the physical education profession. Table 3: The correlation coefficient between attitudes toward participation in physical activity and motives towards choosing the physical education teaching profession
Total average e score on attitudes scale 3.62 Total average score on motives scale 3.54 correlation coefficient 0.36 significance level 0.001

Variation of attitudes toward participation in physical activities and motives towards teaching physical education based on gender T-test analysis is tabulated in Table 4 below. The test was carried out to find out whether gender influences attitudes toward participation in physical activity and motives towards choosing the physical education teaching profession. The test variation of gender on attitude toward participation in physical activities shows 57 male respondents had a mean of 3.600.40, while 41 female respondents had a mean of 3.660.33; this gives a T-value of 0.811 and a P-value of 0.42. This shows there is no significant difference between gender and attitudes toward participation in physical activities. The second test was on variation of gender on motives towards choice of the physical education teaching profession, 57 male respondents had a mean of 3.610.41, while 41 female respondents had a mean of 3.450.43, these results give a T-value of 1.56 and a P-value of 0.07. This shows there is no significant difference between gender and motives towards choosing the physical education teaching profession. Table 4: Significant differences between male and female on attitude towards physical activities and motives towards physical education teaching career
Scale Attitudes toward participation in physical activity Motives towards choosing PE teaching profession Gender male female male female Number 57 41 57 41 Means 3.60 3.66 3.61 3.45 Standard Deviation 0.40 0.33 0.41 0.43 1.56 0.07 T-value .811 Sig-level .42

Variation of attitudes and motives with respect to GPA, study year, sport days per week, time participating per week and sports activities Table 5 below shows variation of attitudes toward physical activities and motives towards the physical education teaching profession on the following variables, GPA,

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year of study, sports days per week, time practicing sport and type of physical activities. The results illustrate that P-values showing variation of GPA on attitude and motives scales are 0.98 and 0.12 respectively. Therefore, attitude toward physical activities and motives toward the physical education profession do not vary with GPA. The next results are P-values of study year against attitude and motives scales, which are 0.79 and 0.50 respectively. Variation of attitude and motives scales on sports per week indicates P-values of 0.78 and 0.45 respectively. The P-values of attitude and motives scales against time of practicing sports are 0.80 and 0.84 respectively. Lastly the type of physical activity against attitude and motives results in P-values of 0.20 and 0.51 respectively. Since the P-values in our results are above (=0.05), it is clear that there is no significant difference between the scales of attitude and motivates with the following variables, GPA, year of study, time of practising sports, sports days per week and type of physical activities. Table 5: Significant difference between the averages of responses of respondents on the study scales according to above mentioned variables
Source of variance GPA Scale Attitudes scale Between the groups Within the groups Total Between the groups Within the groups Total Between the groups Within the groups Total Between the groups Within the groups Total Sport days per a week Attitudes scale Between the groups Within the groups Total Motives scale Between the groups Within the groups Total Between the groups Within the groups Total Motives scale Between the groups Within the groups Total Sum of squares 0.02 13.46 13.84 1.07 16.54 17.61 0.15 13.33 13.48 0.43 17.18 17.61 0.07 13.41 13.48 0.29 17.32 17.61 0.06 13.42 13.48 0.06 17.55 17.61 Degree of freedom 3 94 97 3 94 97 3 94 97 3 94 97 2 95 97 2 95 97 2 95 97 2 95 97 0.03 0.18 0.17 0.84 0.03 0.14 0.23 0.80 0.15 0.18 0.78 0.45 Mean of squares 0.01 0.14 0.36 0.18 0.05 0.14 0.14 0.18 0.04 0.14 0.25 0.78 0.79 0.50 0.34 0.79 2.03 0.12 T-value 0.06 Siglevel 0.98

Motives scale

Study year

Attitudes scale Motives scale

Time practicin g sport

Attitudes scale

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Types of physical activity

Attitudes scale Motives scale

Between the groups Within the groups Total Between the groups Within the groups Total

0.45 13.03 13.48 0.25 17.36 17.61

2 95 97 2 95 97

0.22 0.14 0.13 0.18

1.64

0.20

0.69

0.51

DISCUSSION Participation in physical exercises and sports requires strong attitudes toward physical activities. Our research findings show that physical education students have strong attitudes towards physical activities. This is consistent with the following findings, Mea and Hoe (2005, p. 100) found that Malaysian sports science students had strong positive attitudes toward physical activities and Zeng, Hipscher, Raymond (2011, p. 532) also found that their study participants had strong attitudes toward physical activities. However, their attitudes vary in different domains. Our study shows that the students attitude is strong in the aesthetic experience domain and relatively weak on tension and risk. Mea and Hoe in 2005 differ from our findings as they found social experience as the strongest attitude and aesthetic experience as the weakest attitude toward participation in physical activities. It is probable that the strong attitude was because of prior sports exposure, moral support from parents and support from physical education teachers in their childhood. According to Trudeau and Shephard (2005, pp. 98-100), pupils who engage in physical exercises develop strong attitude toward physical activities. They go on to claim, pre-adolescent students who were compelled by their teachers to be involved in physical exercises are highly likely to experience negative attitude toward physical activities in their adult life. Martin-Matillas (2010) reveals that adolescents who received moral support from their relatives engaged in physical activities more than their counterparts who received little or no moral support. This shows the importance of social encouragement in influencing attitude toward physical activities. Madejski, Kosiba, Majer (2009, p. 27) postulates that motivation influences students positively towards choosing their career. Motivation is occasioned by three reasons namely, intrinsic, extrinsic and altruistic reasons. In our study, the students reasons for choosing the physical education profession were intrinsic and altruistic. The findings that students choose the physical education profession for intrinsic and altruistic reasons are supported by Zounhia, Chatoupis, Amoutzas, Hatziharistos (2006, p. 103) who found that Greek physical education students cited intrinsic and extrinsic reasons for choosing the physical education teaching profession. Surprisingly, extrinsic reasons like job security, attractive salaries and long holidays were the least popular reasons why they chose the field. This phenomenon is attributable to the following reasons, firstly, prospective students of the profession love sports since childhood and want to identify with sports for their entire lifetime. Secondly, together with love for sports they may be experiencing passion for teaching, and lastly social encouragement. Ralph (2011, p. 77) explains that Irish pre-service teachers were motivated to enrol for physical education teaching programs due to love for sports and encouragement from

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teachers or relatives. Male pre-service teachers are shown to love sports but have no keenness in teaching; while female pre-service teachers love sports and show passion in teaching, experiencing motivation to enrol for the physical education profession. The relationship exists between attitudes toward physical activities and motivation toward the physical education profession. Since the students had developed strong attitudes toward physical activities it was probable that they would later be motivated toward the physical education teaching profession; more so, if they love teaching and are given moral support to enrol for a physical education teaching program. Bandura (1997, p. 61) argues that self-efficacy as an attitude contributes highly to performance and motivation level. This is a fact that reveals motivation and attitude have a positive relationship thus supporting this research finding. According to Cho (2004, p. 492), cultural value that formed negative attitude among women in South Korean society contributed to low motivation levels in women participating in physical activities. Cultural values instilled strong attitude toward participation in physical activities among men contributing to high levels of motivation to take up sporting activities. It is evident that attitudes toward participation in physical activities do not vary with gender. However, a number of studies differ with this revelation. According to Ransdell, Vener, and Sell (2004), gender is the only non-reversible factor that influences participation in physical activities. As noted earlier, society has prejudice towards boys participation in physical activities, which later causes differences in attitude between genders. Daigle (2004, p. 26) in his dissertation Gender Differences in Participation of Physical Activities: A Comprehensive Model Approach notes that gender highly influences attitudes toward participation in physical activities. Contrary to these scholars, our findings are attributable to the following probable reasons, the society encouraged the students irrespective of their gender to participate actively in physical activities from childhood hence developing strong attitude toward physical activities. Bailey, Wellard, and Dismore (2005, pp. 4-6) posits that family greatly contributes to childrens level of physical activities involvement. Children who were actively involved in physical activities either had physically vigorous parents or physically energetic siblings. This attitude toward physical activities is sustained throughout ones lifetime. The study shows that attitudes toward participation in physical activities and motivation toward the physical education teaching profession do not vary with the following, GPA, year of study, time of practicing sport days of the week and type of physical activities. However, various findings contradict our findings; notably, Mea and Hoe (2005, pp. 104-105) found that attitudes of Malaysian students studying sport science vary with year of study. Third year students have strong attitude toward physical activities compared with the other years. Spittle, Jackson, Casey (2008, pp. 193-194) supports our findings that motivation does not vary with years of study. Moreover, Trudeau and Shephard (2008, p. 9) in their investigation on physical activities and academic performance found that engaging in physical activities may slightly improve academic performance, though it was not statistically significant. This supports our findings that GPA does not influence attitude toward physical activities. Students who are highly

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intrinsically motivated to participate in physical activities do so with disregard to their GPA (Murcia et al., 2009, p. 2). The contrast to the previous findings can be explained by the following probable reasons, societys encouragement for students to pursue the physical education profession. Maybe all the students who enrolled for the physical education profession had sports experience, hence no other factors would influence their attitude toward physical activities and motivation toward the physical education profession. And lastly maybe physical education students possess apparent ability and skills in sports. We can argue that lack of variation in attitude toward physical activities and motivation toward the physical education profession among the students is due to perceived physical competence in physical activities and in teaching. Kalaja, Jaakkola, Liukkonen, & Watt (2010, p. 80) found that physical activity capacity greatly influences participation in physical activities. If an individual believes that he has the physical skills to engage in physical activities he will develop strong attitude towards physical activities. CONCLUSION Participation in physical activities is through physical exercises and sports. Individuals who are involved in either physical exercises or sports exhibit strong attitude towards physical activities. Students who enrol for a physical education career should thus have strong attitude towards physical activities and motivation toward teaching. From the findings it is apparent that students show strong attitude toward physical activities. This phenomenon can probably be explained by students during their childhood being actively involved in physical exercises for enjoyment and sports. Maybe they had supportive teachers during their physical education classes, their parents on realizing their physical abilities and inherent benefits in physical activities encouraged them to actively participate in physical activity. And lastly, there are interpersonal reasons. Lessons in physical education positively influence students attitude towards participation in physical activities (Trudeau and Shephard, 2005, pp. 98-100). Trudeau and Shephards research continues to say that students attitude towards physical activities is enhanced when they engage in activities that recognize their individual abilities. Kalaja et al. (2010, p. 80) posits that strong attitude is fostered by alleged physical abilities in sports and physical exercises among physical education students. To establish how physical education teachers influence the attitude of students towards physical activities into lifetime, Trudeau and Shepherd (2005, p. 99) state that preadolescent pupils who were forced to engage in physical exercise as a form of physical activities experienced negative attitude towards physical activities in their adulthood. These studies underpin the stated reasons as probable reasons for strong attitude towards physical activities. The study also reveals that female and male students attitudes toward physical activities and motivation toward a physical education profession are similar. This is a subject of contention as other studies conclude the contrary. Marques, Martins, Martins, Costa, Sarmento & Carreiro (2011) in their study on childrens attitude towards physical activities indicate that gender shows significant difference with attitude toward physical activities, with males showing stronger attitude than females. The indifference

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in attitude toward physical activities and motivation towards the physical education profession is probably attributable to love for sports and passion in teaching across the gender divide. Irish pre-service teachers enrolled for the physical education profession due to love for sports and passion for teaching (Ralph, 2011, p. 77). It is apparent that students who chose physical education are intrinsically motivated. This shows that the students were motivated by love for sports since childhood and at the same time they wanted to encourage others to engage in physical activities, thus they are attracted to the profession to bring meaningful change in physical education teaching and activities. The findings also reveal that motivation plays a vital role when physical education students are choosing the physical education teaching profession, with motives of male and female students being closely related. In reference to this study, the attitude of students towards physical activities and their motivation towards choosing a physical education teaching career have a relationship. LIMITAIOM AND FUTURE DIRECTION This study like other educational studies has some limitations. At the methodological level, it based on one scientific data collection method. Scientific methods such as questionnaire give an impression of a low level of deeper understanding. Researchers are not able to gain a comprehensive understanding of participants stories or voices, or talk with them face to face in their particular situations or circumstances. Another limitation in this study is associated with the chosen sample. Although the study included a large number of participants, it cannot be said that the findings can be generalized. This study forms the basis for potential future research. It highlighted the importance of advanced studies which take into account prospective physical education candidates attitudes and motives toward teaching physical education prior to inter teacher preparation programmes. Attitudes and motives play a significant role in shaping and reshaping candidates future commitment toward teaching physical education. Also, future studies are needed to investigate how teachers educators at preparation programmes could change, alter, and shape candidates attitudes and motives. This suggestion is supported by Tsangaridou (2006) call for attention to be paid to teachers beliefs. He said that knowledge derived from the teachers beliefs area of study will have robust impact on teaching practices only when more research findings will reveal the conditions and possibilities of how to change teachers beliefs (498). Moreover, there is a need to use of triangulation methods such as interviews and observations instead of relying on one method particularly in studies aim to investigate motives and attitudes. REFERENCES Aicinena, S. (1991). The teacher and student attitudes toward physical education. Physical Educator, 48 (1), 28-32. Ajzen, I. (2002). Perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, locus of control, and the theory of planned behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32, 665-683.

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