A cross-cultural study of motivational climate in physical education lessons in the UK and Singapore

The primary purpose of this study was to compare the teacher behaviours that influence motivational climate and pupils' perceptions of the motivational climate in physical education lessons in Singapore and the UK. The participants were eight student teachers from the UK, ten student teachers from Singapore and their respective pupils. Each student teacher was filmed teaching one PE lesson and based on the teaching structures that influence motivational climate, their teacher behaviours were coded as 'mastery', 'performance', or 'neither', using the Behavioural Evaluation Strategies and Taxonomies software. Additionally, the pupils completed a questionnaire to assess their perceptions of the motivational climate. As hypothesized, the behavioural measure revealed higher levels of performance involving teaching behaviours in Singapore compared with the UK. Furthermore, pupils' perceptions of the motivational climate revealed higher levels of a perceived performance climate in Singapore compared to the UK. These findings are discussed in relation to cultural differences between Singapore and the UK.