OPINIONS OF TEACHERS ABOUT USING ALTERNATIVE METHODS IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT

Within the Romanian education system, through the initiatives taken at the central and local levels, various educational alternatives have been introduced since the 1990s, such as Waldorf, Montessori, Jena Plan, Freinet or Step-by-Step methods. The social and cultural evolution has also brought changes in the existing educational approaches, providing solutions to teachers, parents and children in organizing and conducting the training activity. The aim of this paper is to highlight the teachers' opinions about the implementation of alternative pedagogy in physical education lessons in the mainstream education. To obtain valuable information on this topic, the research method used was an online survey questionnaire administered via Google Forms. The participants in this study are 212 teachers from the pre-university level, who teach different school subjects with more or less knowledge about the alternative methods. The results highlight new perspectives and also limitations regarding the use of alternative methods in physical education lessons: the level of knowledge about the alternative pedagogies, the teachers' availability to participate in training programs or some possible challenges in implementing alternative methods. The conclusion of our study reveals new directions in approaching physical education lessons and provides teachers with information on how to use various alternative methods. (C) 2018 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.UK