Observing physical education teachers’ need-supportive and need-thwarting styles using a circumplex approach: how does it relate to student outcomes?

Background: Self-Determination Theory-based studies showed that teachers’ need-supportive styles (i.e. autonomy-supportive and structuring) enhance students’ motivation and well-being, while teachers’ need-thwarting styles (i.e. being controlling and chaotic), have been related to several detrimental outcomes. The value of jointly depicting teachers’ need-supportive and need-thwarting styles in a circular structure has been shown based on multidimensional scaling analyzes on data derived from the recently developed Situation-in-School (SIS) Questionnaire. However, this circumplex approach has only been applied to self-reported measures. Compared to self-reports, observational studies have many methodological advantages (e.g. high ecological validity, objective assessment, opportunities for multi-informant perspectives) and may be of added value to train teachers in their need-supportive styles (e.g. to obtain real-life and concrete examples, and to give teachers more objective and tailored advice).Purpose: The main objective of this study was to adapt an existing observation instrument so that it matches the recently developed self-reported circumplex measure (SIS-PE-Questionnaire) by developing the called ‘SIS-PE-Coder’. The first aim was to examine whether the circumplex structure could also be found based on observations with the SIS-PE-Coder. The second aim was to test the reliability and validity of the new observation instrument. The third aim was to examine the relations between observed need-supportive and need-thwarting styles and students’ need-based experiences and motivation.Method: The study sample consisted of 65 PE teachers (M age = 40.15, SD = 11.50 years) and 904 students (M age = 13.23, SD = 1.18 years). One PE lesson of each teacher was video- and audiotaped. At the end of each lesson, students completed questionnaires on their need-based experiences (i.e. need satisfaction and frustration) and their situational motivation towards PE (i.e. intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation, and amotivation). Teachers’ need-supportive and need-thwarting styles were assessed by experts using the SIS-PE-Coder (41 items). Internal consistency, intra- and interrater reliability, and interrater agreement were assessed. Internal validity was assessed by examining the structure of the items relying on multidimensional scaling. Multilevel analyzes were performed to examine the relations between observed need-supportive and need-thwarting styles and student outcomes.Findings: The SIS-PE-Coder showed good reliability and internal validity, with teachers’ need-supportive and need-thwarting styles being depicted in a circular structure. Teachers’ observed autonomy-supportive style was positively related to students’ need satisfaction and intrinsic motivation, and was negatively related to students’ need frustration. Teachers’ observed structuring style was positively related to students’ intrinsic motivation and identified regulation, while being negatively related to students’ amotivation. Teachers’ observed controlling style only showed an unexpected negative relation with introjected regulation. Teachers’ observed chaotic style was negatively related to students’ identified regulation and was positively related to students’ amotivation.Conclusion: The new observation instrument captures more ‘definitively’ PE teachers’ need-supportive and need-thwarting styles in a comprehensive manner and depicts observations of autonomy-support, structure, control, and chaos in a circular model. The findings revealed that when teachers’ were more autonomy-supportive and structuring, and less chaotic, their students showed higher levels of intrinsic motivation and identified regulation and lower levels of amotivation.