Promoting physical activity in secondary schools: Growing expectations, 'same old issues?
There are growing expectations on schools to promote health and physical activity and helping schools to effectively do so is considered a priority. This paper reports on selected findings from a research project that was concerned with supporting secondary schools in the effective promotion of physical activity and establishing their needs in this regard. Specifically, the paper explores secondary school teachers’ experiences of and perspectives on promoting physical activity. The study involved an online survey with secondary schools across the United Kingdom, plus interviews with teachers from eight schools from d...
Source: European Physical Education Review - October 16, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Cale, L., Harris, J., Duncombe, R. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Integrating key competences in school physical education programmes
The objectives of the present study are: a) to describe the strategies used most frequently by physical education teachers to incorporate key competences in their programmes; and b) to identify the profiles of teachers and schools that promote the inclusion of key competences in their physical education programmes. Data were collected via a questionnaire administered to a sample of 2051 physical education teachers in primary and secondary schools in Spain.
The results show that while teachers include key competences in their programmes, they do not usually do so explicitly. The competences most frequently included are: soc...
Source: European Physical Education Review - October 16, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Lleixa, T., Gonzalez-Arevalo, C., Braz-Vieira, M. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Has the London 2012 Olympic Inspire programme inspired a generation? A realist view
The organisers of the 2012 London Olympics have endeavoured explicitly to use the Games to inspire a generation. This is nothing short of putting the main claim of Olympism to the test, but surprisingly the Inspire project has received virtually no scholarly scrutiny. Using an educationally-informed view of inspiration, this paper interrogates the official evaluations of the London 2012 Inspire programme from a realist evaluation perspective and asks what are the theory, mechanisms and outcomes of the programme. It also considers the relationship between evidence, research and policy making in the context of the Olympic Ga...
Source: European Physical Education Review - October 16, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Girginov, V. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Ecological correlates of Spanish adolescents physical activity during physical education classes
The public health benefit of school physical education (PE) depends in large part on physical activity (PA) provided during class. According to the literature, PE has a valuable role in public health, and PA levels during PE classes depend on a wide range of factors. The main objective of this study, based on ecological models of behaviour, was to analyse what personal, psychosocial and environmental factors were associated with moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) during PE lessons. The sample consisted of 189 adolescents (60.8% girls; M = 16.3 years, SD = 0.7) from nine high schools. PA was assessed by accelerometer. Differenc...
Source: European Physical Education Review - October 16, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Molina-Garcia, J., Queralt, A., Estevan, I., Sallis, J. F. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
'You are just an idiot for not doing any physical activity right now: Pre-service Health and Physical Education teachers constructions of fatness
This study explores how a group of pre-service Health and Physical Education (HPE) specialist teachers from an Australian university construct fatness discourses. Taking a Foucauldian perspective, focusing particularly on the concepts of surveillance and normalisation, this paper explores the dominant discourses that pre-service HPE specialist teachers construct about fatness. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews (three interviews per participant) were conducted with 14 students (11 females and three males) aged between 18 and 26 at the time of the first interview. The results of a content analysis of the interview data su...
Source: European Physical Education Review - October 16, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Varea, V., Underwood, M. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Influence of a purposefully negotiated season of sport education on one teacher and his pupils
A small body of previous research suggests that teachers who purposefully negotiated the physical education curriculum empowered their pupils and enhanced the quality of their experience. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of one purposefully negotiated season of sport education (SE) on one teacher and his 18 male eighth grade pupils. Data were collected by employing seven qualitative techniques. These included extensive non-participant observation and formal interviews with the teacher and pupils. Data were coded, categorized, and reduced to themes using standard interpretive techniques. The purposefully n...
Source: European Physical Education Review - October 16, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Wahl-Alexander, Z., Curtner-Smith, M., Sinelnikov, O. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Professional socialization experiences of early career urban physical educators
The purpose of this research was to examine how three physical education (PE) teachers’ professional socialization programmes influenced their early careers in urban schools in the US. Using cultural relevance theory and occupational socialization theory, three early career PE teachers were observed and interviewed for a period of six weeks each. Data were analyzed using constant comparison and inductive analysis. Three major themes emerged from the data, including a lack of coursework in sociocultural issues, a curricular emphasis on team sports, and varying exposure to urban schools and communities during physical ...
Source: European Physical Education Review - October 16, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Flory, S. B. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Two sides of the same coin: Student physical activity levels during a game-centred soccer unit
Despite the advent of game-centred approaches (GCAs) to teaching sport games (e.g. teaching games for understanding (TGfU)), traditional direct instruction approaches remain prevalent in physical education. Moreover, the latter have tended to produce high levels of student inactivity. What remains unclear is whether and how much GCAs aid in students reaching the UK and USA recommendation of 50% of lesson time being spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Participants for this study were 85 students (41 girls) from three separate physical education classes (n = 23, n = 26, and n = 36) at one middle school in...
Source: European Physical Education Review - October 16, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Harvey, S., Song, Y., Baek, J.-H., van der Mars, H. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
'...because theres nobody who can just sit that long: Teacher perceptions of classroom-based physical activity and related management issues
Classroom teachers are increasingly called upon to help increase pupils’ physical activity (PA). Grounded in Guskey’s model of teacher change, this study was part of an intervention that provided classroom teachers with training for implementing classroom-based PA (CBPA). The study examined teachers’ attempts to implement CBPA and focused on their self-reported practices (number of CBPAs implemented and management routines used) as well as their perceptions of this process. Participants (N = 13) were teachers from a U.S. primary school. Data collection included self-reported number of CBPAs implemented (i...
Source: European Physical Education Review - July 12, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Stylianou, M., Kulinna, P. H., Naiman, T. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Gender and corporal expression activity in physical education: Effect of an intervention on students motivational processes
Grounded in Self-Determination Theory and Achievement Goal Theory, the objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an intervention programme on a series of motivational variables in a corporal expression teaching unit. An analysis was also conducted in terms of whether the impact of the intervention would be effective in boys and girls, given the social stereotypes inherent to this type of expression activity. A sample of 224 students, with ages varying from 12 to 14 years old (105 boys, 119 girls) participated in 10 sessions. A quasi-experimental design was carried out, dividing the total sample into two gr...
Source: European Physical Education Review - July 12, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Sevil, J., Abos, A., Aibar, A., Julian, J. A., Garcia-Gonzalez, L. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
High school physical education: What contributes to the experience of flow?
This study seeks to identify factors that promote positive experiences in high school physical education (PE). The study combines elements of Self-determination Theory (SDT) with the theory of flow. Special attention is given to gender differences. The study sample consisted of 167 Norwegian senior high school students (78 females and 89 males) who completed a questionnaire after having participated in a PE class. The majority of the students reported having flow experiences, although this was more true for boys than for girls. Those who had experienced flow also tended to be those who had experienced the fulfilment of bas...
Source: European Physical Education Review - July 12, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Stormoen, S., Urke, H. B., Tjomsland, H. E., Wold, B., Diseth, A. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Setting and within-class ability grouping: A survey of practices in physical education
Within the United Kingdom and internationally, the practice of separating pupils by ability endures as a characteristic feature of mathematics and science classrooms. Although there is extensive international research literature on ability grouping within classroom-based subjects, limited research exists in the context of physical education (PE). The purpose of this paper is to explore ability grouping in PE in North East of England schools. Specifically, the paper examined the prevalence of setting and within-class ability grouping in PE, the contexts of its use, how sets and within-class ability grouping were established...
Source: European Physical Education Review - July 12, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Wilkinson, S., Penney, D., Allin, L. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
The disciplinary and pleasurable spaces of boys PE - The art of distributions
In taking heed of the so-called ‘spatial turn’ in social theory this paper explores how the spatial intersects with boys’ performances of gender and (dis)pleasures in school physical education (PE). In particular, the paper aims to contribute to our understanding of how the organisation and implementation of physical and social spaces in PE can be seen as enabling or restricting boys’ participation and enjoyment in this subject. The research setting was a multicultural single-sex boys’ secondary school in Auckland, New Zealand which is widely known for its strong focus on sports and especially...
Source: European Physical Education Review - July 12, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Gerdin, G. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Exploring the relationship between student grades and assessment for learning in Norwegian physical education
The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between student grades and assessment for learning (AfL) in physical education. In educational literature, the focus on formative assessment has grown dramatically, partly because research indicates that good AfL is one of the most effective instructional tools to drive student learning forward. Therefore, a positive influence of AfL on students’ grades was hypothesised. The study employed a questionnaire of 1454 PE students (aged 15–19 years) from six upper secondary schools in Norway. Based on theory and factor analysis, a construct to map the experien...
Source: European Physical Education Review - July 12, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Leirhaug, P. E. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
The impact of occupational socialization on physical education pre-service teachers beliefs about four important curricular outcomes: A cross-sectional study
Most national Physical Education (PE) curriculums worldwide are based on a variety of outcome goals. The most important are physical activity and fitness, self-actualization, motor skill development and social development. Capturing PE Teacher Education pre-service teachers’ beliefs toward these outcomes may offer a useful insight into the process of identifying and understanding prospective teachers’ decisions and actions. The aim of the current study was to compare PE pre-service teachers’ beliefs regarding four important outcome goals, according to year in university, athletic background and occupation...
Source: European Physical Education Review - July 12, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Adamakis, M., Zounhia, K. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
