Designing a model of barriers to professional development of school physical education teachers based on interpretive structural modeling

The purpose of this study was to design a model of barriers to professional development of physical education teachers in the country, based on interpretive structural modeling. The present study is an applied research that was conducted in the field and by mixed research method. The statistical population in the quantitative section, including officials and experts of the Physical Education Office of the Ministry of Education, officials of the Physical Education Department and the head of the Physical Education Department of the provincial education departments, was equal to 80 people and in the qualitative section 18 experts. Due to the limitations of members, the statistical population was equal to the sample. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire containing 18 barriers to teacher development, the validity of which was confirmed by 7 professors of university sports management and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha test (α = 0.85). Experts' opinions, frequency percentage and interpretive structural modeling method were used to level the barriers. The results showed that there are 18 obstacles to the professional development of physical education teachers in Iranian schools. Barriers to managers' lack of attention to scientific goals and strategies to improve teachers and inefficient training systems and programs were also placed at the infrastructure level. Therefore, officials should focus on the scientific strategies of teacher development and change the system and educational content, to professional development of teachers' skills.