THE PE TEACHERCREATED CLIMATE AND ITS

1
THE PE TEACHER-CREATED CLIMATE AND ITS
IMPLICATIONS FOR STUDENT INVESTMENT AND
WELL-BEING Duda Joan (University of
Birmingham, United Kingdom) School-based
physical education provides an important context
in which the physical and mental health benefits
linked to regular physical activity can be
promoted to large numbers of children and
adolescents. The quality of physi-cal education
holds great implications for public health and it
is therefore important to understand the factors
influenc-ing students motivational processes
within this domain. Grounded in contemporary
achievement goal frameworks (Ames, 1992 Dweck,
1999 Nicholls, 1989) and recently drawing from
Deci and Ryans (1985, 2000) Self Deter-mination
Theory, research has pointed to the importance of
the motivational climate created by PE teachers
to stu-dents optimal investment and experiences
of well-being in physical education classes. In
this presentation, the major findings of this
line of work will be highlighted. Comment will be
made on the current conceptualisation and
mea-surement of the PE teacher-created social
environment. Future research directions on the
implications of physical education for the
adoption of a healthy lifestyle will be
pro-posed. The applied implications of this body
of work will be briefly discussed. Keywords
Physical Education, Motivation, Physical
Activ-ity and Health 12thAnnual Congress of the
ECSS, 1114 July 2007, Jyväskylä, Finland I