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You dont 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.
• .

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The Problem?
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Three Related Studies/One High School
Study Aims
1 To measure students autonomous motivation in relation to their participation in physical education.
2 To 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.
3 To create a pedagogical intervention that is informed by student voices and to test the interventions effectiveness in a quasi experimental design.
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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.

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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

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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?

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Experiences of PE. What has your experience
of physical education been like?
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Experiences Sample Student Responses

• Its 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, its
  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).

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Barriers to Involvement in PE.What makes
taking part hard for you in physical education?
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Barriers Sample Student Responses

• Why cant 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 dont 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 didnt do very well. (Male student,
  low motivation)

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Facilitators of Involvement in PE.What is it
about physical education that makes joining in
good for you?
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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 dont take part in English or Maths
  would probably quite like to take part in PE.
  Its a more active thing. (Male student, low
  motivation).

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

• Its like a break from other subjects. (Female
  student, high motivation)
• Yeah, its 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).

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Aspirations for PE.What would make physical
education good for you and help you join in every
lesson?
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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)
• .wouldnt nag at the pupils and give the pupils
  what they wanted to do. (Male student, low
  motivation).

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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).

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What does this research tell us?

• Four key issues that surround engagement in
  physical education for high school students stand
  out.
• Being with friends
• The teacher
• Having a say in the selection of activities
• Institutional issues that the school controls.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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End of Presentation

• Questions?