Attitudes toward and motivation for PE: who collects the benefits of the subject?

Abstract

Background and purpose: Due to attitudinal and motivational aims in the national curriculum, and to lack of research on adolescents' experiences with physical education (PE) in Norway, the purposes of this study were to (1) attain data on attitudes toward PE and self-determined motivation for PE among a representative sample of adolescents (N = 2010) in middle school (grade 8–10/age 13–15) and high school (grade 11–13/age 16–19) in Norway, and (2) to explore the relationship between involvement in movement activities outside school and self-determined motivation in PE.

Findings: The results showed that 43% of the adolescents were not happy with how PE is taught in Norwegian schools, and that the variance in motivational regulations among students was substantial. Females reported a less positive attitude toward PE compared to males, and positive attitude tends to decrease with age for both sexes, both of which go against the intentions stated in the Norwegian core curriculum and in the PE-curriculum. However, the results showed that adolescents who reported involvement in organized competitive youth sports outside school reported significantly higher scores on attitude to PE and on self-determined motivation for PE compared to those who were not, even when eagerness to be involved in movement activity was controlled for. The results indicate that it is not gender per se that differentiates females from males with regard to self-determined motivation in PE, but rather their experience with competitive youth sports.

Conclusions: The study concludes that PE in Norway seems to favor students, and female students in particular, who are involved in competitive youth sports. Based on the results, it is hypothesized that PE coincides with the logic of competitive youth sports, that youth sport participants reap most of the benefits of PE, and thus, that PE may produce social inequity in health. In accordance with proposals from Van den Berghe et al., the results on motivation in particular are integrated in a broader pedagogical discussion. It is claimed that PE is experienced in context, and that research on adolescents' experiences of PE, and thus development through PE, should be approached from a relational developmental systems perspective.