“You don’t have fun if you are not with your friends.” What students say about participating in physical education. Stuart Forsyth, Senior Lecturer Physical Education; David Rowe, Reader Exercise Science; Nanette Mutrie, Professor Sport & Exercise Psychology; Jim McNally, Professor Teacher Education. With support from: Ruth Lowry, Senior Lecturer Exercise & Sport Psychology..

The Problem?

Three Related Studies/One High School StudyAims 1To measure students’ autonomous motivation in relation to their participation in physical education. 2To listen to student voices with the purpose of investigating experiential and other issues surrounding engagement in physical education for a group of high school students. 3To create a pedagogical intervention that is informed by student voices and to test the intervention’s effectiveness in a quasi experimental design.

Participants 18 male and 18 female high school students; Age range 14 – 15; Six focus groups, two of single gender and two of mixed gender; All participants completed Study 1 questionnaire; Three groups of high motivation, three with low motivation.

Method All discussions were recorded using a digital voice recorder; The first author transcribed all recordings with pseudonyms used to identify students. In broad terms the analysis process drew on interpretivism (Bryman, 2008); Open coding was used to transform the raw qualitative data into themes within each of the five topics;

Topics & Research Questions What are students’ experiences of physical education? What are barriers for students to participation in physical education? What are facilitators of participation for students in physical education? What do students view as benefits of participation in physical education? What are students’ aspirations for physical education? What is the evidence of gender differences in each of the previous questions?

Experiences of PE. “What has your experience of physical education been like?”

Experiences: Sample Student Responses “It’s like a break from other subjects. You learn to do sports you have never done before.” (Female student, high motivation); “I like the amount of activities you get, it’s not just….there is something for everyone.” (Male student, high motivation); “I have hated it.” (Female student, low motivation); “Em, yeah, I like competing against people but I think it is a laugh an all, so aye, I do enjoy it.” (Male student, low motivation).

Barriers to Involvement in PE. “What makes taking part hard for you in physical education?”

Barriers: Sample Student Responses “Why can’t we wear like whatever like as long as it fits me.” (Female student, high motivation); “You make a mistake, you are playing in with people who are really competitive, they are on your back constantly about it. It puts their confidence right down and things like that.” (Male student, high motivation); “You don’t have fun if you are not with your friends.” (Female student, low motivation); “Yeah like I hate it if someone gets annoyed at me…….cos I didn’t do very well…….” (Male student, low motivation);

Facilitators of Involvement in PE. “What is it about physical education that makes joining in good for you?”

Facilitators: Sample Student Responses “Someone who understands your thoughts and who knows where you are coming from; people like can understand the pupils’ point of view.” (Female student, high motivation); “Yeah, at first we were all allowed to choose what group we could go into and most likely you go with your mates.” (Male student, high motivation); “Having PE late in the afternoon.” (Female student, low motivation); “…people that don’t take part in English or Maths would probably quite like to take part in PE. It’s a more active thing.” (Male student, low motivation).

Perceived Benefits of PE. ”If you always took part in physical education, what benefits would there be for you?”

Benefits: Sample Student Responses “It’s like a break from other subjects.” (Female student, high motivation); “Yeah, it’s just like you get to interact with people as well so it benefits you that way.” (Male student, high motivation); “We are not really getting exercise in PE. We get more walking to and from school every day.” (Female student, low motivation); “Fitness, you just enjoy it and it makes you happy.” (Male student, low motivation).

Aspirations for PE. “What would make physical education good for you and help you join in every lesson?”

Aspirations: Sample Student Responses “Do away with colours and you would try harder…..”(Female student, high motivation); “Have indoor courts or something so if it is raining like that you can have your sport inside.” (Male student, high motivation); “If they did more than stand, like they just stand there and not do anything. If they got involved.” (Female student, low motivation); “….wouldn’t nag at the pupils and give the pupils what they wanted to do.” (Male student, low motivation).

Previous Research? Some students enjoy PE and other do not, Dyson, (2006), Lake, (2001); Students value the social benefits of physical education, Dyson (2006); Brief acknowledgement of the Fitness Benefits that physical education can provide. In previous studies this was found to have more importance for students in physical education, Dyson, (1995), Hohepa et al, (2006), Tjeerdsma, Rink & Graham, (1996), Wilson et al, (2005); Only one student, a male with high motivation, felt that Skill Development was a Perceived Benefit of Physical Education. This is not consistent with the findings of other researchers who found that students who enjoyed sport, enjoyed physical education when they were taught about skills and tactical awareness, Tannahill & Zakrajsek, (1993), Tjeerdsma et al, (1996), Walling & Duda, (1995).

What does this research tell us? Four key issues that surround engagement in physical education for high school students stand out. 1. Being with friends; 2. The teacher; 3. Having a say in the selection of activities; 4. Institutional issues that the school controls.

Gender Findings also show that gender is influential on how physical education experiences are interpreted; In the main male students regardless of their level of motivation to participate find physical education enjoyable; In contrast to this, in the main female students regardless of their level of motivation to participate find physical education unenjoyable.

PE Kit Another gender difference that is a Barrier of Involvement in Physical Education to many female students’ participation and at the same time an Aspiration for Physical Education for many female students, is PE kit; Females with high and low motivation dislike wearing mandatory school colours and want to be able to choose what to wear for physical education; This is not an issue for any male students in this study.

And…. Some male and female students with high motivation value physical education and as such find it a Break from Other subjects; There are many Barriers to Involvement in Physical Education; When male and female students with low motivation believe students have A Lack of Ability or Confidence, they find taking part hard due to an emphasis on Competition; A key barrier for many female students is Male Student Behaviour during physical education classes.

Next Steps? The recommendation of this study was to test the success of a pedagogical intervention that was based on the student needs identified above; This provided an assessment of the effectiveness of student voices in improving student motivation to participate in high school physical education classes.

End of Presentation Questions?