Adoption and fidelity of Sport Education in Spanish schools

Abstract

The main objectives of this study were to determine the percentage of teachers applying the Sport Education (SE) model in a central region of Spain and to identify the features these teachers perceived they were using when applying it. As a secondary objective, an attempt was made to respond to the differences in the application of the model depending on the educational stage and gender, and to determine any differences between the curriculum features of teachers applying SE and those who follow other methodologies. One hundred and ninety-nine physical education (PE) teachers participated in this study and a survey research design was used. The results reinforce the notion that PE teachers apply SE in a contextualised and pragmatic way. A significant percentage of teachers (64.8%) reported using SE in their curriculums, which demonstrates the success in expanding this instructional model in this region. Teachers also perceived that they applied a high percentage of the SE elements, although there was low fidelity to most of those elements that were considered to be central to the model such as extended units and permanent teams. Results are discussed based on literature about which goals are achieved and which ones are not based on the degree of fidelity to the central elements of the model. Implications for teacher training and future research are provided.