Subject areas and teaching certifications of selected Georgia hich school football coaches.

Abstract

This study surveyed the teaching certifications and subject areas of Georgia high school football coaches. There are 358 high schools in the Georgia High School Association. These schools are divided into four classifications. These classifications are AAAA, AAA, AA, and A, and are determined by the average daily attendance. There are eight geographic regions in each of the four classifications, or 32 regions. The population sampled included one high school from each of the 32 regions. Twenty-nine (90.6%) of the 32 schools participated in the survey, and 210 (85.5%) of the 235 coaches at these schools filled out and returned the questionnaires. The questionnaire was subjected to a pilot study using the 17 coaches on the staff at LaGrange High School in LaGrange, Georgia. The form was designed to construct a profile on a sampling of coaches to ascertain their teaching areas and teacher certification. In final form the instument was three pages in length, contained 17 questions, and required 31 responses. To aid in the accuracy, reliability, and validity, each coach was asked to include his daily teaching schedule, which was cross-referenced with several of the questions. Data were collected and analyzed, results were put into frequencies, and percentages were derived. It was found that the Teacher Competency Test (TCT) has contributed to the inability of Georgia high schools to maintain adequate numbers of new or beginning teacher/coaches to replenish the coaching force. Conclusions of the study found that (1) coaches and administrators have almost exhausted all possibilities for employing coaches certified to teach physical education only, (2) there was an overabundance of teacher/coaches with certification in physical education, driver education, and social studies, and (3) it is not realistic to look for new or additional coaches in the high school teaching ranks. It was recommended that certifying institutions look into approving course work in anatomy, biology,