Adolescents Perceptions of Physical Education and the Relationship with Lifelong Physical

Buckley, Charles

Adolescents’ perceptions of physical education and the relationship with lifelong physical activity

Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, University of Warwick, 6-9 September 2006

Abstract

Understanding children’s attitudes towards sport and physical education, especially in childhood and adolescence, is becoming increasingly important. This paper reports on aspects of a longitudinal study following a group of children to gain insights into the way they view physical education and the relationship between this perception and their decisions about physical activity.

A section of the research findings is presented which characterises the interactions between gender, identity, the media and school-culture. The developing framework produces a model representing the ways in which decisions about the value of physical activity are mediated. Additionally, the interactive relationship between these key constructs that serve to contour adolescent girls’ and boys’ behaviour is highlighted as they move into adolescence.

This paper highlights some of the implications for curriculum planners in Physical Education and the need for more qualitative studies which focus on children’s experiences and decision making processes, especially when they are young and attitudes are being established.

Conference paper: presented at BritishEducationalResearchAssociationAnnualConferenceWarwickUniversity6-9th September 2006.

Introduction

Factors affecting children’s attitudes towards physical activity and physical education are complex and mediated by a range of variables such as social class, gender and race (Azzarito and Solomon, 2005); body image (Duncan et al, 2004) and physical identity (Garrett, 2004). This, together with the concerns about the decline in girls’ physical activity after the age of 11 (Sproston and Primatesta, 2003) means that understanding children’s attitudes towards sport and physical education, especially in childhood and adolescence, is becoming increasingly important. Despite this, there is relatively little qualitative research which explores the way in which children’s attitudes towards physical education change as they move into adolescence.

Early learning experiences are recognised as being crucial to continuing involvement in physical activity, although not all sections of the population have opportunity to access quality experiences in schools and sport clubs (Kirk, 2005). In this way, developing insights into children’s individual experiences and thoughts about their physical education experiences is crucial to allow a more informed approach to providing quality physical education and encouraging lifelong physical activity. This paper reports on aspects of a longitudinal study following a group of children to gain insights into the way they view physical education and the relationship between this perception and their decisions about physical activity. Implications for curriculum planners in Physical Education are considered.

Methods

A combination of observations and unstructured to semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted with a cross-sectional sample of 54 children from the north and north-west of England aged 7-12 years between 1994 and 1995. A sample of 15 children were re-interviewed in 2002 and 2005 to determine their reflective thoughts on their passage through adolescence. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using a grounded theory approach (Glaser, 1978, 1992) to develop a number of emergent categories which served to explain the ways in which physical education shaped their decisions about sport and physical activity. Glaser’s approach was adopted in favour of the methods recommended by Strauss and Corbin (1998). With this approach the researcher is encouraged to remain passive and allow the children to speak for themselves, allowing childhood concepts relating to their idiosyncratic culture to emerge and reduce the potential bias of adult interpretation and influencing of answers (Buckley and Waring, 2005).

Results

A section of the research findings is presented which characterises the interactions between gender, identity, physical education and school-culture. The developing framework produces a model representing the ways in which decisions about physical education and physical activity are made.

Core category:

The first stage of this study (1994-1996) generated a substantive theory based on the core category which “accounts for most of the variation in a pattern of behaviour” (Glaser, 1978, p.93). ‘Interpreting Myself: The Identity Profile Continuum’ produced abstract labels based on observed phenomena found in the data, rather than descriptive labels referring to types of children. (see diagram 1).

The data from the original survey indicated a number of issues which are of importance for curriculum planners who have a responsibility for physical education which I have documented elsewhere. (Buckley, 1998). These include: Innovators: their conceptions of health tend to be much broader than other children in the continuum as identified in interviews and using a draw and write technique. In addition, they enjoy organising and have a strong sense of moral character with high expectations of other children in the playground and to a lesser extent PE lessons. They respond to open-ended tasks where they can challenge themselves and test their movement potential. Other differences were identified between children in parts of the continuum in the way they valued physical education and representing teams out of school and the strength of desire for external reward.

Reflections on adolescence and physical education

The main themes which emerged in relation to children’s perceptions of physical education were:

Lack of time devoted to Physical Education in the secondary school
Limited choice and having activities based on longer blocks of time.

I think I became less involved because at primary school you did activities that you were made to change so, for example, you would do rounders one week and then tennis the next instead of doing something every term and at primary school it was less competitive than here, you know you have got the really good people at sport haven’t you.(Steph, aged 14)

Increased level of competition was mentioned mainly by girls and the clear distinction in PE lessons between those who played for the school team and others.
For most children when asked to distinguish between sport and physical education, taking part in physical activity outside the school environment was perceived as being more important:

Sport tends to be something you pick to do outside of school which is for your own, you know, your own benefit in a team and PE was something that it was compulsory to do but I think you did enjoy it and you opted sometimes to do it. (Abigail, aged 18)

Erm, on the education bit which means like, it seems to have taken the fun out of it really, you just relate it automatically to school and erm we have just been taught to do things and everything which seems to kind of drag on sport really. Sport is meant to be just fun, just do whatever you want and let loose. And then PE is where everything is controlled and you have got to do this a particular way and everything so, yeah it’s pretty different really. (John, aged 14)

However, it was found that these attitudes were most influenced by mediating factors which emerged from the data to generate the core category with its related sub-categories, the grounded theory.

The follow-up study indicated that the core category was still a crucial aspect influencing children’s perceptions of sport, physical education and physical activity although this process, whilst having both temporal and contextual dimensions was found to be less ephemeral as children passed through adolescence. New categories emerged as accounting for most of the variation in the children’s attitudes with noticeable differences between young females and males. (see diagram 1)

Diagram 1 Core categories for stage 1 and 2 of the longitudinal study

Core category:Negotiating and maintaining my network of affiliations

Negotiating and maintaining a network of affiliations was found to be the most important factor in determining children’s attitudes towards physical education, sport and leisure. The importance of friendships in influencing children’s engagement in physical activity has been acknowledged by other researchers (e.g. MacDonald et al., 2004). Furthermore, peer interaction and friendship have been shown to be at the heart of most young people’s lives (Adler and Adler, 2001; Harries 1995). In addition, Bagnall, Longhurst and Savage (2003) have stressed the importance of social capital and social involvement in the lives of children. Affiliation networks applied to both young men and women. A number of sub-categories serve to mediate this process: ‘Being like and liked by others’: Role models for adolescent children tend to be people who they are close to, very often these are family or close friends and personal qualities are identified such as perseverance or altruism, rather than media stars who characterised answers when the children were younger. Although family relationships seem important and are acknowledged as the source of original inspiration for involvement in sport and leisure, they take second place to close friendships which form the basis of rationalising attrition or involvement in physical activity and sport. ‘Having a purpose and responsibilities’: This sub-category relates to the way in which children make judgements about the relevance of sport participation based on the purpose it serves. As they get older, in particular, they judge whether sport participation has any value for them. In addition, the purpose of the activity must be powerful enough for them to justify having to juggle this with their new responsibilities which involve helping the family and preparing for their future career. In relation to the value placed on Physical education and extra-curricular sport, the balance shifted to representing outside clubs as children progressed through the secondary school. A third mediating sub-category is that of ‘Realizing the intimacy and priority of friendships’. This applies to both males and females and relates to the notion that friendships take the priority in decisions about activity although as children get older and their independence increases they might still go to the gym or club alone and rationalise this on the basis of it having the purpose of staying healthy or practising for the club. Friends were seen as much more important for initiating and maintaining sporting activities than the school, in addition, friendships become more important than the sport itself:

“I think my friends have been more important encouraging me to do sport than anyone at school” I can’t say anything that happened at school really motivated me to go and play sport” and… I can remember being small again, not knowing everybody, and saw sport as an opportunity to make friends” (Martin, aged 19)

Emerging and sub-categories for females

Many of the females were not involved in organised sport and consequently perceived themselves as non-sporty, even though some were regularly active in physical activities. The emerging sub-categories were: ‘Changing friends with different priorities’ and ‘Avoiding the discomfort of humiliation’. Feelings of discomfort and humiliation even for those children who had originally been classified in the original study as ‘sporty participants’ characterised an important inhibiting influence throughout secondary schooling and beyond.

Changing friends with different priorities

Relatively early on at secondary school age there seems to be a move toward increasing the value attached to friendships which play a key role in determining activity behaviour and decisions and this is tied with a perception that their priorities and that of their friends is changing as they move through adolescence. One of the main reasons cited by many of the females for starting to attend a club or maintaining their interest in activity was because a friend went or introduced them to it.

It was one of my friends who wanted to go and I sort of said yeah I will come along with you because she did not want to go by herself and she stopped and I just carried on and I really liked it… and I ended up staying sort of seven, eight years and she packed it in. (Abigail, aged 18)

Friendships which were found to be sometimes fickle in primary school start to become more established and stable. In addition, the activity of choice is always with friends whereas activity with parents tends to be through their feeling of responsibility to having to spend time with their parents. Part time work at weekends was cited as inhibiting the opportunity to go to the club and continue involvement:

‘Avoiding the discomfort of humiliation’

Those with continued participation into late adolescence cited the notion of competence as being crucial in their reasons for continuing and being able to stay within a zone of comfort. For nearly all the girls interviewed however, the gymnasium was perceived as creating a pressure to conform and brought very negative comments from interviewees, even those who were positive about their ability and had originally been classified as sporty participants. The gym was seen as a place where there was a pressure to conform to a set of normative behaviours. Humiliation at the gym was mentioned by a number and there were parallels with having to perform in front of sneering boys in dance classes in early secondary school. Physical education which was something that ‘you were made to do’. The consequences of these early negative experiences for girls in physical education classes are highlighted by Azzarito and Solomon (2005) “Girls’ circumscribed or negative experiences in physical education can, in fact, limit girls’ learning and their physical activity across the lifespan” (p. 28) Older girls cited the gym as a very public place where they felt that they were being watched (local authority owned)

“No, I just don’t like doing it in front of other people. I just feel uncomfortable with loads of other people being there. I know they’re all doing the same thing and they don’t care; They’re not watching me or anything but that’s how I felt”… “I hate the feeling of like if I do really badly there’s going to be loads of people there. Not lack of confidence or anything, don’t want to do it while there are loads of people there but I’d quite happily do it with just me and my mates and a teacher and like do the training” (Phoebe, aged 18)

This category was also especially evident in girls most of the girls who perceived themselves as non-sporty and saw the move into secondary school as a polaririazion of competent and less competent players in PE classes.

I was never any good at hockey and they have a really good hockey team who won the nationals and good players and they all seemed to be in my year so they are really good and you feel quite bad(Steph, aged 14 ).

This subcategory also reoccurs regularly throughout the interviews for females. Feelings of being ostracised and excluded from certain activities appear early when girls are divided for PE lessons into those who play for the school team and those who do not. Related codes include ‘only improving’, ‘not being in the team’, ‘Being outclassed by others and feeling bad’, ‘It’s only for the good ones in teams’. At the lower end of the secondary school there appears to be a polarisation of children towards defining themselves as sporty or non-sporty and this is partly dependent on whether they are chosen for the school team. The increased emphasis on competition in secondary school PE and emphasis given to the kudos attached to being on the school team seems to reinforce this notion of polarisation.

I was involved in it up to year 11 but after that there’s not really much open for you unless you are actually quite good that you are going to go to English schools and compete for England.(Abigail, aged 18).

Emerging and sub-categories for males

Being who I should be

Young children tend to offer media stars as their role models whereas older girls in the group cited people who were close to them, in particular family friends. It might be that the changing media coverage of sporting stars and the decline of the hero in the traditional sense (Lines, 2001) has impacted on the longitudinal nature of the study.

Notions of displaying traits commonly associated with masculinity were seen as very important by males. E.g. “Being male, I only liked the physical contact games and the ‘manly’ games such as badminton, tennis and other ball games” and “If I was asked to play a sport that was seen more directed to females it would be seen as soft to do it. So I stayed away from doing that to save myself from being ridiculed” (Nathaniel, aged 19). For many children in the study, there seemed to be a tendency to conforming to a gendered habitus which becomes recognised as physical capital (Brown, 2005) which in turn, qualify and pre-dispose the child for entry into future fields of physical activity and sport. For females in the group, their role models embodied personal qualities they perceived as important, whereas for boys, sporting and personal qualities such as drive, determination and resolve were found to be a priority. They would cite personal qualities as a priority although those involved in teams would still refer to high profile media sporting heroes such as Beckham and Ronaldo. For all boys in the group the meaning of skill becomes more specific to sport whereas when they were younger skill had a much broader definition, Importantly, for this emerging category the notion of doing it for others becomes important. When asked when skill is most important, Jack relied: “When it’s used to entertain people” John, aged 13)