The Analysis of Factors Related to Creativity in the Sample of Physical Education Teachers

Abstract

Research background and hypothesis. There are many obstacles for creativity in physical education teachers’
work  but  majority  of  physical  education  teachers  tend  to  work  creatively  so  it  is  worthwhile  to  explore  which
variables predict creativity. The hypothesis of the study: Personal factors are more important for physical education
teachers’ creativity in comparison to social factors.
Research  aim  was  to  identify  individual  and  social  factors,  predicting  creativity  in  the  sample  of  physical
education teachers.
Research methods. Quantitative study. The questionnaire survey was used to establish the level of creativity,
creative self-efficacy, motivation, emotions and the microclimate characteristics. The sample involved 120 physical
education teachers.
Research results. Creativity was predicted by self-efficacy and intrinsic process motivation. Extrinsic motivation
inhibited creativity in physical education teachers’ work. Supervisory encouragement for creativity has the only
social factor facilitating creativity.
Discussion and conclusions. The obtained data confirmed interrelation between creativity and self-efficacy and
validated results obtained by D. F. De Moulin (1993). Intrinsic process motivation also predicts creativity. It is in
agreement with Y. Ommundsen and S. Eikanger Kvalo’s (2007) results. Extrinsic motivation has negative impact
towards  creativity.  It  is  possible  that  teachers  motivated  intrinsically  create  task-involving  motivational  climate
which leads to competitiveness (Ommundsen, Eikanger Kvalo, 2007). Supervisory encouragement is the only social
variable predicting teachers’ creativity. The data revealed that supervisors’ behavior was more important than that of
colleagues (Laker et al., 2008; Blankenship, Coleman, 2009).

Keywords: creativity, personal and social factors.