Nikolaos Digelidis

Teaching Physical Education

Professor of the Department of PE & Sport Science in the University of Thessaly and President of the Spectrum Institute for Teaching and Learning. Nikos received his Ph.D. (2000) and M.Sc. (1996) at Democritus University of Thrace and his B.Sc. (1988) at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.     

More than 77 publications in peer-reviewed national scientific journals, 56 publications in international journals, and four chapters in international textbooks. He has more than 170 publications in national and international congress proceedings, while his work has been cited more than 2550 times. He is a member of the editorial board in three scientific journals and has served as a reviewer so far in more than 18 national and international scientific journals.     

He has published six books in PE, alone or together with colleagues. Two of them are the official public books for school PE in Greece, one more consists of about 200 lesson plans for the elementary school, one is about lesson design by using the Spectrum of teaching styles, and one is based on standards-based approach containing lesson plan examples for PE in junior and senior high school.     

For the last ~25 years he has been part of every significant educational reform in Greece. He participated in nationwide programs like the “Olympic Education” (2000-2006) and “Promoting social and gender equality” (2006-2008), new books for PE (2004-2006), the action of the “New School” (2011-2013), the new study program and teachers' guidelines for physical education in the high school (2014-15), and the new curriculum for the senior high school in Greece (2020-23).     

He is a member of several professional organizations such as the Greek Society of Sport Psychology (President 2012-2020), the Hellenic Academy of Physical Education (General Secretary 2016-now), the European Federation for Sport and Exercise Psychology (FEPSAC), and the International Association for Physical Education in Higher Education (AIESEP). He is the President of the Spectrum Institute for Teaching and Learning, Florida, USA (https://spectrumofteachingstyles.org/).    

He has served on several important committees in his department (now serving as Head of the Department since 2019); among them, as member of the departmental committee for the program of study (2002-present), internal evaluation committee (2004-2010) etc. At the postgraduate level, his administrative tasks include master thesis coordinator at the European Master’s degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology. At his university he has served for many years as Erasmus Academic Coordinator and member of the Institutional Committee of International Affairs since 2002 and currently as an active member of the Institutional Center for Teaching and Learning (since 2022).    

Before becoming an academic, he served for eight years as PE teacher and volleyball coach. At the university, he has been supervising student-teacher internships since 1999. His main teaching work is focused on teaching methods in PE, curriculum models in PE, curriculum design and development. Main research interests: learning environments in PE, enhancing motivational climate in PE settings, conducting short-term or long-term school interventions, teaching styles and teacher education.

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