Transformational Teaching and Child Psychological Needs Satisfaction, Motivation, and Engagement in Elementary School Physical Education

Drawing from tenets of transformational leadership theory, this research examined the relations between transformational teaching and child psychological needs satisfaction, motivation and behavioral engagement in school-based physical education. A total of 577 elementary school students (M-age = 11.18 years; 284 males) completed measures midway through the school year; 2 months later 533 students completed measures of the same variables once more. Data were analyzed using multilevel structural equation modeling in order to account for the nested nature of the data. The results revealed that children's perceptions of their teacher's transformational teaching behaviors predicted student self-determined motivation and student engagement. Psychological needs satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between children's perceptions of transformational teaching and motivation. Furthermore, children's psychological needs satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between students' perceptions of transformational teaching and child engagement behaviors. Taken together, these findings suggest that displays of transformational teaching within school physical education represent an important predictor of health-enhancing cognitions and behaviors among elementary school children. Implications for theory development and applied practice are discussed.