Abstract
Physical education (PE) can be a context in which students are ‘educated through the physical’, which includes the possibility to learn social inclusion as an important life skill and contributor to the greater good of society. A key goal in the Norwegian educational system is that such positive life skills become internalised in students. The aims of this study were to understand students’ experiences of and behaviour towards social inclusion – such as passing the ball – in team activities and how the teacher facilitated the learning of social inclusion. We use Dewey’s pedagogical perspective on education, and Johnson and Johnson’s cooperative learning model to discuss possible consequences and implications of our findings. The participants consisted of two secondary classes from two state schools in Norway, where one class was investigated in depth. Methods comprised written narratives, interviews, observation and video recordings of PE lessons. Data creation was triangulated, and thematic analysis was conducted. The results highlighted a paradox between students’ experiences of and behaviour towards social inclusion in team activities. Students disliked socially exclusive behaviours, but they often provided positive feedback when the behaviour was seen as successful in the context of a game; furthermore, students could themselves behave in a socially exclusive manner. Although the teacher could ‘teach by telling’ the students to pass the ball or by having rules, passing the ball did not become internalised in students. We discuss a model of ‘learning through experiences and reflections’, according to which students may learn to become socially inclusive beings.
Highlights
There are different ways of thinking about physical education (PE)
To understand the students’ experiences and behaviour concerning social inclusion and social exclusion that we present first, we focus on the following themes: the positive feedback given in team activities, the paradox between students’ experiences and actions of socially exclusive behaviour, and how social inclusion was learned in team activities
Physical education can be a context in which students are ‘educated through the physical’, which includes the possibility to learn social inclusion as an important life skill and contributor to the greater good of society
Summary
There are different ways of thinking about physical education (PE). For example, PE can be thought of as ‘education of the physical’ and as ‘education through the physical’ (Anderson, 1997; Goudas, 2010; Laker, 2000). Life skills include aspects such as ‘behavioral (communicating effectively with peers and adults) or cognitive (making effective decisions); interpersonal (being assertive) or intrapersonal (setting goals)’ (Danish et al, 2004: 40). As such, this definition of life skills includes social skills, and PE might be an important context for learning such skills (Bailey et al, 2009). Goudas M (2010) Prologue: A review of life skills teaching in sport and physical education. Johnson DW and Johnson RT (2009) An educational psychology success story: Social interdependence theory and cooperative learning.
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