Determinants of Competency Development in Physical Education: The Mediating Role of Motivation and Engagement

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Objectives. This study tested a serial mediation model examining how pedagogical feedback and prior sport experience are associated with the development of perceived competencies in physical education (PE) through the sequential mediating roles of motivation and engagement. Materials and Methods. Participants were 248 undergraduate students (Year 1: n = 91; Year 2: n = 92; Year 3: n = 65; 125 males, 123 females) enrolled in a Bachelor’s degree program in Physical Education and Sport at the École Normale Supérieure of Martil, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Morocco. Data were collected via an online, cross-sectional questionnaire comprising five eight-item Likert scales measuring motivation, perceived pedagogical feedback, engagement, prior sport experience, and perceived competency development, all self-reported by participants. Internal consistency was excellent for all scales (Cronbach’s α > .91). Two serial mediation models were tested using bootstrap resampling (5,000 iterations, 95% percentile confidence intervals). Results. Both perceived pedagogical feedback and prior sport experience were significantly associated with perceived competency development. These relationships were partially accounted for by motivation and engagement (67% and 47% of the total association, respectively). Engagement emerged as the mediator most strongly associated with perceived competency development in both models. Notably, the indirect association through motivation alone was not significant for prior sport experience. No substantial differences were found across academic years, whereas prior competition participation correlated significantly with all five self-reported constructs. Given the cross-sectional, self-report design, these associations should not be interpreted causally. Conclusions. Motivation and engagement operate as sequential, partially distinct mediators of the association between pedagogical feedback, prior sport experience, and perceived competency development. These findings offer important theoretical and practical implications for physical education teacher training, particularly regarding feedback design and differentiated support based on students’ competitive backgrounds.

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