Measuring Perceived Motivational Climate in Physical Education

Abstract

A new instrument of motivational climate in physical education is presented with the goal of measuring perceptions of teachers’ emphasis on mastery, performance–approach, performance–avoidance, and social approval goals. The measure was based on the principle of compatibility, according to which climate perceptions and achievement goals should be compatible between each other in terms of target, action domain, life context, and time. The measure was administered to 928 middle school students alongside scales of intrinsic motivation, amotivation, and satisfaction. The statistical analyses included structural equation modeling, investigation of factor correlations, correlation of this measure with intrinsic motivation, satisfaction, and amotivation in physical education and investigation of intraclass correlations. The findings provide evidence of construct validity for the new measure and suggest that mastery and social approval goals can facilitate intrinsic motivation of students.