Association between Teacher Candidates’ Competency and First-Year Employment in Physical Education: A Comparison Study

Physical education teacher education (PETE) programs prepare teacher candidates to be competent and employed in P-12 school settings. This study examined the relationship between competency and first-year job obtainment in physical education (PE). Participants included 111 teacher candidates from two schools. Participants’ competency in content knowledge in Kinesiology and sub-disciplines (CKKH), content knowledge in sport and skill proficiency (CKSP) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and first-year job obtainment in PE were collected. Descriptive statistics, independent-samples t tests, and multiple logistic regressions were used to analyze the data. The overall sample showed participants were most competent in PCK, followed by CKSP and CKKH. Female participants were more competent in PCK than their male counterparts, and those at School A performed better in CKSP and PCK than their peers at School B. As a sample, more than half of the participants (55.9%) obtained PE jobs. There was a significance between the overall sample and female participants’ competency in CKKH and their first-year employment in PE. This study was limited by sample size, variances in courses between the two schools, and by the defined timeline to clarify first-year PE employment. Implications regarding the importance of CKKH and first-year employment were discussed.