The Reality of Cognitive Competencies of Physical Education and Sports Teachers in Providing First Aid: An Exploratory Descriptive Study in the City of Chlef

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the reality of cognitive competencies among physical education and sports (PES) teachers regarding first aid provision and the management of acute school-related injuries at the secondary school level. The researcher adopted a descriptive exploratory approach. A validated digital questionnaire, composed of 16 items categorized into demographic profiles, training backgrounds, and core first-aid scenarios (e.g., fractures, epistaxis, and syncope), was administered to a purposive sample of N = 30 PES teachers across various secondary schools in the city of Chlef, Algeria. Data were statistically processed using JAMOVI (Version 2.4). The descriptive results revealed a critical deficiency in the teachers' overall cognitive competencies: 36.67% scored "Médiocre" (below average) and 26.67% scored "Faible" (weak), whereas only 13.33% demonstrated an "Acceptable" level of knowledge. Furthermore, inductive statistics using Pearson's Chi-Square (χ²) proved a significant correlation between the source of prior training and competency levels (p = 0.005), while Spearman’s correlation showed that teaching experience does not prevent cognitive decay (p = 0.556). These findings highlight an urgent need to integrate mandatory, certified first-aid modules into the university training curriculum for PES students, particularly at the local university level.