Wellness Competence of Future Teachers: Strategies for Engaging and Motivating Primary School Students in Physical Activity

Abstract

The article is devoted to the pressing issue of professional training of future teachers to engage and motivate primary school students for physical activity through innovative methods and forms. The study provides theoretical substantiation of the essence of the teacher’s wellness competence as an integrative formation grounded in the concept of holistic well-being (wellness), and analyses certain components of their professional readiness to engage students in physical activity. The authors consider this competence not only as the ability to design one's own healthy lifestyle and maintain physical well-being, but also as the ability to effectively apply these strategies to foster students’ value-based attitudes toward their health (physical, mental, spiritual, and social). As part of the research and experimental work, a survey of Ukrainian undergraduate students (future teachers) was conducted, which revealed their level of interest in this issue and their professional focus on activities with primary school students aimed at stimulating their motor activity. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that, using methods of mathematical statistics (Pearson’s x2 test, Cramer’s V coefficient), the nature of the relationship between socio-demographic factors and professional orientations of future teachers in the field of physical activity was identified for the first time. It was established that the territorial affiliation of future teachers has a statistically significant but weak influence on the formation of their professional goals, which actualises the need for universal methodological strategies. The authors proposed pedagogical cases aimed at developing future teachers’ wellness competence and their readiness to motivate students to engage in regular physical activity. Emphasis is placed on the use of Digital Health Pedagogy, gamification, integration of movement into neuropedagogy, and differentiation of the educational process based on interests through the implementation of elective variable modules in professional teacher training.