Relationship of type of teacher feedback with students' perception of autonomy in physical education classes

The objective of the study was to confirm the predictive power of different feedback strategies that teachers use on perceived autonomy support in physical education students. For this purpose, we used a sample of 423 students of Compulsory Secondary Education to whom we administered the Perceived Autonomy Support Scale for Exercise Settings (PASSES) and the revised Perceptions of Teacher's Feedback Questionnaire (PTF). As Koka and Hems (2005) PTF scale had not been validated to the Spanish context, we analysed its psychometric properties. Statistical analysis demonstrated adequate validity and reliability, and was found to be invariant across gender. The results showed that offering students a general positive feedback, knowledge of performance and non-verbal positive, feedback was related to the perceived autonomy of physical education students. Regression analysis confirmed that the teacher's feedback predicted perceived autonomy in the learner. The results are discussed in terms of promoting greater autonomy of students in physical education classes.