Study Satisfaction in Physical Education Teacher Education: A Mixed-Methods Study with Special Consideration of Gender

Abstract

In addition to objective criteria like academic performance or study duration, study satisfaction is considered a subjective feature of academic success. Based on the person-environment-fit-model (Caplan, 1987), the study satisfaction of current physical education students at a German university is examined in a sequential, explanatory mixed-methods design. For this purpose, the results of an online survey (n = 553) and the results of episodic interviews (n = 18) are integrated. The interpretation of differences includes group and frequency analyses. While there are no gender differences in the quantitative study regarding satisfaction with study contents and study conditions, the results of this study show gender differences in satisfaction with coping with study stress in favour of male sports students. Accordingly, female sports students report more stress due to practical exams, the standard period of study and restrictions due to the pandemic in the interviews of the qualitative study. The results are discussed in the light of the university’s options for developing higher study satisfaction perspectives for all students.