Importance of Providing Additional Choices in Relation to Pupils' Happiness, Mastery, Well-Being, Contentment, and Level of Physical Activity in Physical Education.

Stian Oldervik,Pål Lagestad

doi:10.3389/fspor.2021.599953

Abstract

Previous research points to the importance of providing support to autonomy in PE, because it has a particularly positive effect on motivation in PE. However, previous research has not examined the association between autonomy and the variables; happiness, mastery, well-being, contentment and activity level in PE. This study examined how increased self-determination affects happiness, mastery, well-being, contentment and activity level in PE. The study is an intervention (cross-over study) with one control group (one class) and two intervention groups (two classes), using questionnaires and accelerometers among 88 tenth graders (41 boys and 47 girls). The three classes included approximately the same number of boys and girls. The intervention groups included, respectively, 30 and 29 pupils in each class, and 29 pupils' in the control group. The pupils' experiences of happiness, mastery, well-being, contentment was measured three times–after a month with, respectively, ordinary PE, teacher-directed PE, and self-organized PE (autonomy), and the activity levels (accelerometer) was measured during the 24 lessons that took part in the period of teacher-directed PE and self-organized PE. Factor analysis, repeated measures ANOVA (mixed method ANOVA design) and paired sample t-tests with Bonferroni correction were performed, in order to look at differences in happiness, mastery, well-being, contentment and activity level during periods of; self-determination, teacher-directed PE and ordinary PE. The results show that self-determination in PE gives the pupil a significant increased experience of happiness, well-being and contentment, and also a higher activity level in PE. The results indicate that increased self-determination in PE can positively affect lower secondary school pupils' happiness, well-being, contentment and activity level in PE, and that teachers should strive to encourage self-determination among pupils in PE. Further research should be based on intervention studies studying self-determination over longer continuous period, in classes with both older and younger pupils.

Highlights

Physical education (PE) at school provides structured and regular physical activity (PA) for almost every child around the world (Fairclough and Stratton, 2005a; Long et al, 2013; Chen et al, 2014; Calahorro-Cañada et al, 2017), and is an important arena–taking the decline in PA during adolescence into account (Bélanger et al, 2009; Kolle et al, 2012; Lagestad et al, 2018)
The analysis showed a significant change in the groups, over time (Figure 2), in the perception of having choice (F2,166 = 5.65, FIGURE 2 | Perception of having choice among the pupils after three periods of ordinary PE, teacher-led PE and self-determined. *Significantly greater perception of choice in self-determined PE, compared to ordinary and teacher-led PE (p < 0.05). †Significantly lower perception of choice in the control group, compared to intervention groups 1 and 2 (p < 0.05)
Post-hoc tests with Bonferroni corrections showed that both intervention group 1 and intervention group 2 reported a significantly higher perception of having choice, than the control group, but there was no significant difference between the two intervention groups (p = 0.968)

Summary

Introduction

Physical education (PE) at school provides structured and regular physical activity (PA) for almost every child around the world (Fairclough and Stratton, 2005a; Long et al, 2013; Chen et al, 2014; Calahorro-Cañada et al, 2017), and is an important arena–taking the decline in PA during adolescence into account (Bélanger et al, 2009; Kolle et al, 2012; Lagestad et al, 2018). PE can help to make children and young people more physically active, helping to bring them the health benefits of this (Loprinzi et al, 2012; Meyer et al, 2013). Children and adolescents who engage in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) are at lower risk of developing chronic health issues (Janssen and Leblanc, 2010). A study by Kalajas-Tilga et al (2020) concluded that to enhance adolescents’ daily MVPA, special focus should be put on increasing their intrinsic motivation toward physical education. Delextrat et al (2020) concluded that activity type could be associated with the intensity of PA in PE

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion