Teachers’ Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Thwarting: Can They Explain Students’ Behavioural Engagement in Physical Education? A Multi-Level Analysis

Students&rsquo
engagement in Physical Education has been linked to several adaptive consequences. Even though the existing literature suggests that perceived autonomy support can predict engagement, research is scarce on how teachers&rsquo
antecedents might influence this behavioural outcome. This study sought to compare the influence of teachers&rsquo
basic psychological needs&rsquo
satisfaction and basic psychological needs&rsquo
thwarting on students&rsquo
behavioural engagement and on the relationship between perceived autonomy-support and the students&rsquo
behavioural engagement. The sample included 29 Physical Education teachers and 644 students who were taught by the participants teachers. Data were collected using both paper and online surveys and they were analysed using multilevel modelling techniques. The results revealed that, while teachers&rsquo
autonomy satisfaction might be significant in the explanation of students&rsquo
engagement (&beta
= 0.33, p &lt
0.01), it seems that needs thwarting could be a better predictor of this outcome (&beta
autonomy thwarting = &minus
0.17, p &lt
0.01
&beta
competence thwarting = &minus
0.06, p &lt
0.05). These findings suggest the impact of certain external pressures on teachers&rsquo
practices which, in turn, might affect students&rsquo
behavioural outcomes.