A comparative analysis of physical education and non-physical education teachers who coach high school sport teams:

Although high school sport in Canada has traditionally been an extracurricular activity overseen by physical education teachers, recent findings demonstrate how the majority (n = 1677, 60%) of coaches are in fact non-physical education teachers. The purpose of the present study was to compare physical education and non-physical education teachers who coach high school sport teams. A national sample of 2890 Canadian high school teacher-coaches (males = 1967, 68%) from all 10 provinces and 3 territories responded to an online survey. Significant differences were found between physical education teacher-coaches and non-physical education teacher-coaches in terms of demographic variables, perceived teacher-coach benefits, and perceived coaching efficacy, whereby physical education teacher-coaches tended to have more favorable perceptions. Based on the results, access to coach education should be facilitated, particularly for non-physical education teacher coaches.