Challenges Physical Education Teachers Encounter In Teaching Alongside Coaching Sports In Senior High Schools In The Central Region Of Ghana

Abstract

Teaching and coaching are two different occupational roles. Performing the two alongside can be exciting and rewarding experience for many; however the combined roles of being a P.E teacher and a coach can create role conflict which can lead to job stress and burnout problems. It was against this background that the study sought to explore the challenges Physical Education teachers encounter in teaching and coaching sports in Senior High Schools in the Central region of Ghana. To achieve this, a descriptive design was used and the instrument for data collection was a questionnaire. Total samples of 130 P.E. teachers were selected from Senior High Schools in the Central Region of Ghana using census method. The statistical tools used for the analysis of results were descriptive statistics (frequency counts and percentages) and inferential statistics (Binary logistic regression). Results from the study revealed that, most P.E. teachers in the Senior High Schools in Central Region teach P.E. alongside coach school teams which majority find very challenging. This eventually lead most of them to experience work family conflict, fatigue, tension and job stress. Also, married P.E. teachers were more burnout than their colleagues who were not married. Finally, gender, age and academic qualification do not predict burnout of P.E teachers in the Central region Senior High Schools. Several recommendations were offered which included the fact that coaches should be employed to schools to reduce the workload of the P.E. teacher in the Senior High School in the Central region of Ghana.