The current situation of physical education according to teachers: A qualitative study with teachers from the Region of Murcia

The objective of this study was to analyse the current status of physical education according to physical education teachers. The research data came from semi- structured interviews conducted with 29 physical education teachers belonging to secondary schools from the Region of Murcia (Spain). The results of this study highlight that physical education teachers declare their vocation for their profession and believe in the indispensable role that physical education plays in the school curriculum, although they stress its contributions to health over other aspects that are more related to students' education. Many teachers think physical education is still considered an `easy subject', even though some of them recognise the status of the subject has improved in last years. The teachers think their good professional practice is the main way to increase the status of physical education. The majority of the participants believe that physical education needs a greater hourly load, something which contrasts with the fact that some teachers continually teach the same contents. The information of this article may be of interest for the identification of strategies to improve the status of physical education.