The Sports Teacher Student at GIH

Introduction Diagnostic information on new students at university level is not a regular part of planning for forthcoming students, even though there is ample of information that in that way are avoided for planning courses and developing a challenging study situation for the students. In Sweden PE teacher training are carried out at 16 universities/colleges, which means that about 60 % of all teacher training institutes have also education PE teachers.Aside from more or less regular diagnostic information and information concerning the precious experience of new student there is, at least in Sweden, also a discussion concerning the excellence in itself of the students. The aim of this study is among other things to describe the PE teacher students at GIH, their background, their experiences from PE & Health in school and what kind of competencies they have in PE and physical activity. Furthermore, we like to develop a national platform for diagnostic information covering all PE students in Sweden. In this study we present the first step in such national platform.Method As a first step we have used the information at hand at GIH and added information based on a questionnaire consisting of 44 items administered to 45 students (25 women and 20 men). Some of the items in the questionnaire were of an open-ended character. The results were analysed using SPSS.Results In our pilot study on 45 student described above 50 % had grown up in large city, the mean age is 24 years, and the entrance score were very high (from 16,2 points to 19,6 point on a 20 point scale). All students had positive experience from their previous studies and judge themselves as high achieving students. More than three quarters of the students had parents who were well educated compared to Swedish standards. Many students, 65%, had spent time in other countries and not only as tourists. Most of the students had chosen studies at GIH as a first hand choice. When accepted to GIH, almost 50% had carried out university studies. 15% of students have parents born in another country than Sweden. Most students read a daily newspaper, 35% live by themselves in an own apartment and some of them have a long distance to GIH (up to 150 kilometres). Many students at GIH have a long experience as being a leader in several situations, and in many cases within the sporting area. Most student perform well in many activities, e.g. knows how save people in water and knows about a connection between health and physical activity They knows less well about sports for disabled people and how to prepare skis for cross country skiing.Discussion It seems quite clear form this pilot study that the PE students at GIH are well prepared for their forthcoming studies. At the same time the information gathered might be used in an effective way to enhance their forthcoming studies and adjust the information in a better way than so far. The question remains as to how representative our students are with PE students at other universities and colleges in Sweden. We hope in the near future be able to answer that question and thereby increasing the discussion about the future PE studies in Sweden.