Value orientations of physical education preservice and inservice teachers

The purpose of this research was to examine and compare physical educators' value profiles in Flanders, Belgium. The revised Value Orientation Inventory (Ennis & Chen, 1995) was used to collect data From 274 preservice teachers and 637 inservice teachers at thr secondary level. Descriptive data on teachers' value profiles were consistent with data gathered in the United States by Ennis and colleagues. Years of teaching experience and type of teaching degree were related to differences in values, but gender was not. The value profiles of both preservice teachers and inservice teachers reflected the recently introduced curricular innovations and physical education concepts. The teachers in this study placed a high priority on their social responsibility orientation, not supporting the traditional dominance of the disciplinary mastery orientation. The findings suggest that the process of enculturation and social construction (Pajares, 1992) created educational beliefs that are similar to the value orientations observed in other studies.