Preliminary psychometric properties of the CFTIndex in Greece: the perspective of physical education

Abstract

The promotion of creativity has been proved a necessity in the education process. The research on creativity in physical education though is very limited worldwide and there is a lack of multilingual evaluation instruments. In the current study, the Creativity Fostering Teacher Index (CFTIndex) was translated and culturally adapted in Greek and further checked for its stability and internal consistency. The final version of the Greek CFTIndex (Gr-CFTIndex) was assessed for items stability, sub-scales and total instrument internal consistency using a sample of 220 primary physical educators. Items stability was measured with Kendall's τ_c and was found to have a moderate positive significant correlation (+0.3 < τ_c  > +0.8, p < .01). Exploratory factor analysis yielded six factors and their Cronbach alpha coefficients varied from .695 to .897. The total internal consistency of the Gr-CFTIndex was high (α = .92). All sub-scales’ inter-correlations were positive and significant.

Keywords:

• teachers’ perceptions
• teachers’ behaviours
• creativity
• physical education
• classroom environment

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to all physical educators who voluntary participated in all stages of the study. The present study is part of a larger one which was funded for the first author's Ph.D. fulfilment from the Greek Secretariat of Sports (decision 38400-28/08/2007).

Notes on contributors

Elisavet Konstantinidou has served as a research and teaching assistant at the Department of Early Childhood Care & Education of Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki and a public employee of a Greek local authority. She has participated and is currently participating as a research assistant (external partner) in funded international and national research projects, for early childhood and physical education. She has participated in the translation and writing of books and has published papers in scientific national and international journals and proceedings of conferences. She has numerous scientific presentations and has participated as a keynote speaker at international training seminars.

Vasiliki Zisi is an Assistant Professor of physical activity in the elderly in the School of Physical Education and Sport Science at the University of Thessaly, Greece. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in international journals, in the areas of exercise psychology, motor learning and school physical education, and has participated in more than 15 research projects funded by the Greek Government and/or the European Commission. She has served as a reviewer for international journals. She is a member of several international scientific associations and also serves as an international judge on rhythmic gymnastics. Areas of her interest are physical activity and cognitive function; psychological health; quality of life; physical activity patterns in the elderly; promoting exercise and other health behaviours, mainly in adults and adolescents; motor control and learning; individual differences and elite performance in sport and especially in dance and rhythmic gymnastics.

Maria Michalopoulou is a Professor of the School of Physical Education and Sport Sciences of Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. Her area of expertise is the ‘Skill acquisition in physical activity and sports’, and her sector is ‘Sports Management’ and ‘Physical education in schools’. She has published numerous research papers in peer-reviewed international journals and has many presentations at national and world conferences. She has been extensively involved in National and European Research Projects as a coordinator and member. She has translated and edited the Greek version of many well-known international books for motor learning.