ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Assessment, Testing and Applied Measurement
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1570510
Pre-service teacher's knowledge of evidence-based classroom management practices in physical education: A test validation using item response theory
Provisionally accepted
- University of Teacher Education St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
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TThis study validated an assessment instrument measuring pre-service teachers’ professional knowledge of evidence-based classroom management practices in physical education. Drawing on a model of teacher competence that integrates knowledge, situation-specific skills, and performance, the study focused on the competence area of classroom management to ensure conceptual clarity and relevance. Data from 877 pre-service primary education teachers from four universities of teacher education were analyzed using item response theory to examine the instrument’s structure and psychometric properties. The findings indicate a unidimensional structure with satisfactory reliability and no evidence of bias related to demographic variables. Test scores showed a small positive correlation with situation-specific skills, reflecting construct validity, as these require additional distinct cognitive abilities while being conceptually related. However, the test’s items proved relatively easy, resulting in a mismatch between item difficulty and participant ability levels, and did not capture the expected differences across pre-service teachers at different stages of their training, potentially due to a ceiling effect. Together, these findings limit the test`s capacity to differentiate among higher-ability individuals, thereby constraining criterion validity. Despite these limitations, the results demonstrate the instrument’s capacity to measure knowledge about evidence-based practices in classroom management. Further refinement could enhance its discriminatory power at advanced knowledge levels. This assessment provides a foundation for exploring how knowledge shapes teachers' perception, interpretation, decision-making, and performance, and could support efforts in teacher education to develop effective classroom management practices.
Keywords: Physical Education, Evidence-Based Practice, Declarative knowledge, Test Development, test validation, Professional Competence, classroom management
Received: 03 Feb 2025; Accepted: 27 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Berthold, Jeisy and Baumgartner. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Clemens Berthold, University of Teacher Education St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
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