Who gains? Sociological parameters for obtaining high grades in physical education

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to investigate factors contributing to higher grades in Swedish physical education (PE) by analysing register data from the Swedish National Agency for Education for all students graduating from compulsory school in 2014 (n = 95,317). The results show that the chances of gaining a high grade in PE are affected by (in decreasing order) migration background, parents’ education, attending an independent or a municipally operated school and gender, and that this also holds true after controlling for the other background factors. The results also show that PE grade differences between boys and girls are bigger in the group that moved to Sweden after school start than in the group that had lived in Sweden since school start. In addition, the results point to substantial inequalities between students with a combination of the highest odds and those with a combination of the lowest odds. Bernstein’s concept of the pedagogic device is used to discuss ways of understanding what knowledge becomes valued in PE and which groups have better possibilities to assimilate this valued knowledge.