Are educator-created (dis)empowering climates equally associated with motivational experiences in physical education pre-service teachers as in foreign language pre-service teachers?

Guided by self-determination theory, the objective of the present research was to examine the differences between physical education (PE) and foreign language (FL) pre-service teachers in terms of the associations between perceived educator-created (dis)empowering climates and need-based experiences and motivation. A convenience sample of 246 PE and 208 FL pre-service teachers (57.08% women, Mage=24.92, SD=4.07) participated in this cross-sectional research. All the participants came from eight Andalusian public universities: Almería (19.8%), Cádiz (5.7%), Córdoba (3.7%), Granada (32.2%), Huelva (3.5%), Jaén (4.8%), Málaga (16.1%) and Sevilla (14.1%). The participants completed the following scales: the Educator-Created Empowering and Disempowering Climate Questionnaire, the Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction Scale, the Psychological Needs Thwarting Scale, and the Academic Motivation Scale. The results showed that PE pre-service teachers scored significantly higher than FL pre-service teachers in disempowering climate, need satisfaction and amotivation. The results from the multi-group path analysis revealed that, overall, empowering and disempowering climates were differentially associated with the motivational outcomes between the PE and FL pre-service teachers. More specifically, FL pre-service teachers had slightly higher associations between empowering climates and need satisfaction, and between disempowering climates and need frustration. Conclusions: the findings underscore the importance not only of teacher educators creating empowering climates. FUNDING INFORMATION. “This research was financed by the Andalusian Research, Development, and Innovation Plan (PAIDI 2020) of the Andalusian Regional Government: grant number P20_00148”; research project (I+D+i) entitled "Is the empowering-disempowering motivational climate that undergraduate students perceive related to their intention of becoming a teacher?
Basado en la teoría de la auto-determinación, el objetivo de la presente investigación fue analizar las diferencias en las asociaciones del clima (des)empoderador creado por el formador con la satisfacción y frustración de las necesidades psicológicas básicas y la calidad de la motivación entre el profesorado en formación inicial de educación física (EF) y de lengua extranjera (LE). En este estudio trasversal, participó una muestra de conveniencia de 246 docentes de formación inicial de EF y 208 de LE (57,08%mujeres, Medad=24,92, SD=4,07). Los participantes pertenecían a ocho universidades públicas andaluzas: Almería (19.8%), Cádiz (5.7%), Córdoba (3.7%), Granada (32.2%), Huelva (3.5%), Jaén (4.8%), Málaga (16.1%) and Sevilla (14.1%). Cada participante completó las siguientes escalas: el Educator-Created Empowering and Disempowering Climate Questionnaire, la Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction Scale, la Psychological Needs Thwarting Scale, y la Escala de Motivación Académica. Los resultados mostraron que el profesorado en formación inicial de EF obtuvo valores medio significativamente superiores que el profesorado en formación inicial de LE en el clima desempoderador, satisfacción de las necesidades y desmotivación.