A person-centred approach to understanding dark-side antecedents and students’ outcomes associated with physical education teachers’ motivation

The present study firstly establishes physical education (PE) teachers’ motivational profiles based on their autonomous motivation, controlled motivation and amotivation and, secondly, investigates how different PE teachers’ motivational profiles differ in terms of certain maladaptive antecedents (i.e. psychological need frustration, pressures perceived at work and burnout). It also addresses the differences in their students’ perception of autonomy support, psychological need satisfaction and autonomous motivation. A total of 105 PE teachers and their 2164 students completed validated questionnaires. Four profiles were retained in the cluster analysis. Results showed that teachers who were high on autonomous motivation displayed the most optimal pattern of outcomes, whereas teachers who were high on amotivation showed the opposite pattern. Analysis of the established profiles suggested that the experience of controlled motivation was linked with maladaptive outcomes among both teachers and students. Implications for educational policy and practice are discussed.