Abstract:
The purpose for this study was to investigate the strategies adopted by
Physical Education (PE) teachers to manage students’ diversity in Mixed
Ability Classes (MAC) and also to examine the factors that influence
teachers’ choice of teaching strategies for MAC during instruction as well
as the challenges teachers encounter in teaching MAC. Descriptive survey
design was adopted for the study. The entire population of 135 trained PE
teachers was purposively sampled for the study. Descriptive statistics
(mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (multiple
regressions) were used in analyzing and discussing the result. The findings
of the study revealed that whole class teaching strategies (M=2.98,
SD=0.63) is the most frequently used teaching strategy by Senior High
School (SHS) PE teachers in Central Region. Station teaching (M=2.54,
SD=1.04) was the rarely used teaching strategy by SHS PE teachers in
Central Region. The findings also revealed that the amount of space
available to a teacher influences their decision to use group/cooperative
(S.E. =1.009, B= 1.95,𝑝 < 0.05). The use of station teaching is influenced
by the amount of teaching time available to them (S.E=0.953, B=1.13,
P˃0.05). It is concluded, the predominant use of whole class teaching
coupled with the challenges PE teachers in Central Region encounter in
their MAC will limit their ability to cater for the needs of students. It is
recommended that the Ministry of Education (MoE) in conjunction with
other stakeholders should provide and supply adequate facilities and
equipment for the teaching of PE
