Towards engagement: Investigating male physical

education teachers’ pedagogical practices in

promoting physical education in secondary
schools
Stefan Dimeski
Minor Thesis submitted in requirements for the degree of Master of Teaching
College of Arts and Education
Victoria University
Melbourne Australia
September 2018

i
Abstract

Historically, Physical Education has been perceived as a subject in which secondary

students become disengaged and become unwilling to participate in any form of

schooled physical activity. The literature regarding the implementation of traditional

teaching methods indicates that the pedagogies used by most Physical Educators

are outdated and ineffective in engaging students, with the argument being

advanced that a more comprehensive PE curriculum is needed (Gray, Treacy and

Hall 2017). Based on current physical activity guidelines (The Department of Health

2017) recommend that young people aged between 13-17 need to accumulate at

least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity per day, by

incorporating aerobic activities and some vigorous intensity physical activity.

Unfortunately, the data reflects that 80% of children and young adolescents aged 5-

17 do not meet the recommended amount of daily physical activity requirements

(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2018).

This study investigates male Physical Education teachers’ pedagogical practices in

two separate Secondary schools located in the inner western suburbs of Melbourne.

The study found that deploying evidence based teaching methods can be more

effective in promoting engagement with physical activity to increase positive health

outcomes amongst secondary school aged students.

ii
Student Declaration:
I, Stefan Dimeski, declare that the thesis entitled Towards engagement: Investigating

male physical education teacher’s pedagogical practices in promoting physical

education in secondary schools is no more than 20 000 words in length including

quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and

footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in

whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma (excluding

the research proposal for this project which was necessary to undertake this thesis).

Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work.

iii
Acknowledgements
Firstly I would like to send my gratitude and thanks to Dr Mark Vicars, who guided

me and provided me with the support and commitment to help me complete this

thesis. I could always count on Dr Mark Vicars whose door was always open to help

me with my extensive list of questions and concerns that he helped to answer and

relieve me of my never-ending stress. He was consistently steering me in the right

direction and allowed me to get the best out of this invaluable experience.

I’d also like to take this time to acknowledge the schools and interviewees who took

the time out of their day to take part in this project. I hope that it was as valuable as

an experience to those Physical Education teachers as it was to me. Again without

your support this thesis would never have been possible to complete.

A big thank you must also be extended to my family including my mother Betty, my

father George and brother Dejan, whose confidence and unwavering moral support

motivates me each day to complete my goals and set new challenges to fulfil.

Lastly, I’d like to send my gratitude and thanks to all of my friends and extended

family who provided me with encouragement and support throughout the entire year

of writing this thesis.

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List of Abbreviations:

 PE: Physical Education

 AI: Appreciative Inquiry

 NPAG: National Physical Activity Guidelines

 SDT: Self-determination theory

 ACARA: Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting

Authority

 ACHPER: Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and

Recreation

 HPE: Health and Physical Education

 AITSL: Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership

 LAMPE: Learning About Meaningful Physical Education

 MCEETYA: Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for

Young Australians

 PD: Personal development

 PETE: Physical Education Teacher Education

 KLA: Key Learning Area

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Table of Contents

Abstract..................................................................................................................... ii
Student Declaration: ............................................................................................... iii
Acknowledgements................................................................................................. iv
List of Abbreviations: .............................................................................................. v
Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................ 1
Research context: ...................................................................................................... 4
School 1: Jamieson Secondary College (Pseudonym):.............................................. 4
School 2: Stipa Secondary College (Pseudonym): ..................................................... 5
Chapter 2: Literature Review ................................................................................... 8
Connection between ACARA, ACHPER and the NPAG: ......................................... 10
National Physical Activity Guidelines (NPAG): ......................................................... 11
AITSL standards: ..................................................................................................... 13
Inclusive and differentiated practice: ........................................................................ 15
Engaging disengaged students in Physical Education: ............................................ 18
Directions and developments in physical education: ................................................ 23
Summary of literature review: ................................................................................... 25
Chapter 3: Methodology ........................................................................................ 28
Ethical considerations: ............................................................................................. 28
Research Paradigm:................................................................................................. 29
Interviews: ................................................................................................................ 32
Data analysis and reporting: ..................................................................................... 34
Trustworthiness and Transferability:......................................................................... 35
Teacher/ school contexts: ........................................................................................ 36
Case study one: ....................................................................................................... 36
Case study two: ........................................................................................................ 36
Case study three: ..................................................................................................... 37
Data Storage and record keeping: ........................................................................... 38
Anonymity to protect the data given by participants: ................................................ 38
Chapter 4: Teacher experiences with inclusion in engaging PE students ........ 39
Emerging themes: .................................................................................................... 39

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Theme one - Contributors to student disengagement: Facilities .............................. 40
Theme two - Intrinsic/ Extrinsic motivation: Body image, Curriculum and Teachers 44
Theme three - Inclusion in PE: Empowering students by giving them choices......... 47
Theme four - Professional Knowledge, expertise and strategies to encourage PE
participation .............................................................................................................. 52
Theme five - Practical and theory lessons................................................................ 55
Theme six - Assessment in PE ................................................................................ 57
Conclusions: .......................................................................................................... 60
Recommendations for future research: .................................................................... 62
Limitations of the study:............................................................................................ 63
Implications for practice:........................................................................................... 63
References: ............................................................................................................. 65

vii
Chapter 1: Introduction
The study, ‘Towards engagement: Investigating male physical education teachers’

pedagogical practices in promoting physical education in secondary schools’, was

developed with a specific intention. The intention was to identify the different

teaching practices that male secondary Physical Education teachers implement

during their lessons.

During my time in high school and as a pre-service teacher I have witnessed too

many students who would disengage in PE lessons. The rationale for undertaking

this research project is to better understand how students become disengaged in

PE. My examination of teaching strategies that could be employed to motivate

disengaged students, was initially formulated by a professional concern to better

understand how PE teachers utilise pedagogies to sustain high school student’s

engagement in physical activity throughout the secondary phase of education. In

this minor thesis, I have sought to document the professional opinions of male PE

secondary teachers and their experiences in dealing with students who have

become disengaged from participating in physical activity in school.

The report on childhood obesity released by the Australian Institute of Health and

Welfare (AIHW 2007, p. 11) indicates an alarming statistic that, “one quarter of

Australian children and adolescents are overweight or obese”. This trend is rapidly

increasing with overweight and obesity during childhood contributing to a greater risk

of individuals suffering from chronic conditions and death, as well as the secondary

socioeconomic effects on the greater population and economy. Therefore, a better

understanding of the contributing risk factors which lead to students disengaging in

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PE might enable future educators to employ pedagogies which may prove to be

more effective in engaging adolescent students in physical activity at school. This

could potentially decrease the prevalence of future populations suffering from poor

health and wellbeing in later life.

In consideration of PE policy relating to the national curriculum, the Australian

Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA 2016) highlights how

health and physical education is vital in today’s world as young Australians face up

to intricate, sedentary lifestyles. As such, it’s critical that we enable them with the

ability to manage an active healthy lifestyle.

The current trends relating to physical activity participation in high schools infers that

there are many underlying internal and external issues which affect teaching PE in

high schools. Hills, Dengel and Lubans ( 2015) identity issues which contribute to

limiting physical activity promotion in education, these include four components

including: overcrowded curriculum, an emphasis on academic results, limited school

leadership backing in the form of limited funding and resources and low quality

teaching standards.

Male teachers PE practice

In order to understand the most effective methods of conducting inclusive and

engaging lessons for students, Evans (2017) considers the role of the teacher and

the ways in which they may limit the opportunities they provide to their students.

Biases, prejudices and stereotyping often leads to teacher’s unknowingly

encouraging inequality amongst students participating in physical education.

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Wedgwood (2005) highlights the existence of predetermined hegemonic forms of

masculinity which are installed in PE lessons, formed on the basis that male PE

teachers reveal their own masculine characteristics in their class. In a research

article which addresses male orientated physical education activities, Kastrup and

Christa (2016) suggest that in a PE class, male educators tend to focus on ‘male-

oriented’ activities such as games, rather than ‘female oriented’ activities such as

dance. The implications are that in PE lessons there is a continuous focus on

exclusively so called male related activities, which impacts upon gender norms. The

influence of gender in physical education as suggested by Hopper and Sanford

(2005) is that a largely male dominated PE curriculum may become problematic to

females and non-binary students, as they become largely marginalized and

disengaged from PE altogether.

In single sex classes, James (2015) suggests that an increased level of interaction

and understanding between a male PE teacher and his male students, ultimately

leads to higher attainment levels for male students. This has been achieved by

following a list of effective strategies to engage male students, including responding

positively to good behaviour and providing boys with an input into which school rules

should be implanted at their school for them to follow by listening to their opinions. A

study which examined effective teaching methods used by male PE teachers by

Aktop and Karahan (2012) asked the question, which teaching methods are most

effective, from which the most common response by the male PE teachers was the

practice method (43.8%). This method is based on evidence based research in

which educators retain knowledge and information through continuously teaching

students to determine which teaching techniques are most effective. Nind and

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Lewthwaite (2018), outline that this method is based upon educators using reflective

practice to effectively determine whether or not implementing a teaching method has

been effective. Male PE teachers were asked to respond to, ‘which teaching

methods they mostly used’, with command style being the most prevalent response

amongst teachers with (31.3%) of teachers suggesting that they use the command

style. The command style involves student-directed teaching in which the students

receive formal instructions from their educator. Meanwhile the response to the

question, ‘which teaching strategies do you prefer’? indicated that the expository

teaching strategies accounted for the highest ranking amongst male PE teachers

with (34.4%) of teachers reflecting that they found this method most effective, (Aktop

and Karahan 2012). Expository teaching is based upon students developing

connections between their existing knowledge and new found knowledge.

Research context:

This minor thesis seeks to explore male PE teachers’ perceptions of effective and

engaging pedagogy at two secondary schools situated in Melbourne’s western

suburban fringe. Three male secondary physical education teachers across two

schools were interviewed and asked to share their experiences of teaching physical

education to mixed gender classes of adolescents.

School 1: Jamieson Secondary College (Pseudonym):

School 1 has three campuses. The school’s motto, ‘one family, three homes’ was

formed on the basis that the school is a family and therefore aims to be inclusive

towards everyone. The school philosophy is that all students are capable of

4
undertaking learning, if they are provided with and nurtured under the right

conditions. Students should be provided with a safe environment in order to achieve

and fulfil optimal learning.

The student Family Occupation data is collected to highlight the occupations of

students’ parents which are broken up into five categories according to nationally

defined occupations. The five occupational categories can be found on the Student

Family Occupation Fact Sheet page on the Victoria on the State Government

Website. The data from Jamieson College suggests that the students’ family

occupations fall mostly into groups A-C, including a vast majority of tradespeople;

skilled office, service or sales staff and government administration or defence staff

(School Family Occupation Index 2018). In 2017, approximately 64% of students had

a language background other than English (My School, 2018). The school offers EAL

as part of its curriculum. The PE teachers at Jamieson Secondary College have over

30 years of combined teaching experience. The senior campus 2017-2020 strategic

plan encourages a culture of active learning supported by the vision that parents,

students, and staff will work as a collaborative learning community to motivate,

challenge and set high expectations for each other (Jamieson College 2018).

School 2: Stipa Secondary College (Pseudonym):

School 2 has one campus. The student Family Occupation data suggests students’

family occupations fall mostly into groups A-C as previous school, including a vast

majority of tradespeople; skilled office, service or sales staff and government

administration or defence staff (School Family Occupation Index 2018). In 2017,

5
approximately 61% of students had a language background other than English (My

School 2018). The school offers EAL as part of its curriculum. The PE teachers at

Stipa Secondary College have over 40 years of teaching experience. The school’s

2016-2019 strategic plan encourages a culture of active learning and the philosophy

of the school is focused on inclusion with an institutional ethos direct towards,

“developing personal responsibility and maintaining a caring, safe and secure

environment” (Stipa 2015) for “the many different nationalities present in our local

community”.

Research questions:

This dual-site case study sought to gain valuable insight into male teachers’ Physical

Education Pedagogic practices in senior secondary classrooms set against the

contemporary Australian educational context. Semi-structured interviews were

conducted with the following focus questions:

1) Which groups of high school students are least likely to meet the National

Physical Activity Guidelines (NPAG)? Why?

2) How can physical educators construct and develop physical activities to

better engage students who are disengaged from participating in schooled

physical activity? How effective are these activities and pedagogies in

promoting re-engagement?

3) What are the current trends relating to the teaching of Physical Education

or physical activity in high schools? How do physical educators interpret

changes in policy in their classroom practice to maximise and sustain high

levels of student engagement in schooled P.E?

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This thesis is organised as follows:

Chapter 2 provides a review of the relevant literature and Australian policy context.

Chapter 3 outlines the research methodology and details regarding ethics approval,

which was granted from Victoria University on the 9/3/2018 and from the Victorian

Department of Education and Training on 29/5/2018.

Chapter 4 offers a discussion and analysis of the research data and;

Chapter 5 summarises the main research findings and potential considerations for

further research.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
PE policy and curriculum:

Different understandings of the role of Physical Education in educational policy and

the curriculum have increasingly shaped classroom teaching practices. In order to

understand the most effective methods of conducting inclusive and engaging lessons

for students, Evans (2017) has considered the role of the curriculum, the teacher and

the pedagogies employed which may extend or limit the opportunities to participate

in school based physical activity. He suggests that there needs to be a greater

emphasis on creating opportunities for students to partake in physical activity.

Australian physical education curriculum development and classroom teaching

practices have been influenced by the increase in prevalence due to childhood

obesity. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA

2016) highlights how health and physical education is vital in today’s world as young

Australians face up to intricate, sedentary lifestyles. As such, it’s critical that students

are enabled in school with the ability to manage an active healthy lifestyle.

The development of the Health and Physical Education curriculum in Australia has

focused largely on examination in the context of largely theoretical based work, to

the point where Brown and Penney (2017), suggest that movement and the term

physical in physical education has been largely diminished, leading to the

marginalisation of student’s experiences and opportunities. Additionally, this has led

to the Australian and Victorian Government receiving increased scrutiny

(Fitzclarence and Tinning, 1990, cited in Brown and Penney 2017). This scrutiny has

described the senior secondary physical education examination process as

‘ludicrous’ and Laker (2003) outlines that in Physical Education, historically there has

8
been a disconnect between young students and the Physical Education framework

which guides the curriculum. Accordingly, students can become disengaged due to

the fact that they see little relevance in the subject.

Laker’s (2003) research into the Physical Education curriculum developed a proposal

into what he believes will alleviate the current inadequacies of the Physical

Education curriculum. Laker (2003) stresses that the focus of the content should be

catered towards more than just the sport and game based activities but rather take

into account a more holistic approach. This could be achieved by considering and

including fundamental components such as lifestyle fitness, creative movement, daily

physical activity and physical activity in outdoor settings (Laker 2003).

The Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER

2018) provides a breakdown of the Health and Physical Education curriculum into

three categories which are: i) Rationale: summaries positioning and significance of

each learning component, ii) Aims: classifies the different learning areas that

students may exhibit and iii) Organisation of the learning area. ACARA (2016)

outlines two content strands which make up the HPE curriculum area, these are:

personal, social and community health and movement and physical activity. From

these two sub strands, there are an additional 6 sub strands which include: 1) Being

healthy, safe and active 2) Communicating and interacting for health and wellbeing

3) Contributing to healthy and active communities 4) Moving our body 5)

Understanding movement and 6) Learning through movement.

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Connection between ACARA, ACHPER and the NPAG:

The current curriculum recommendations set forth by ACARA and ACHPER

respectively, relate to the NPAG because both specifically outline the curriculum

standards which need to be achieved. Meanwhile, the National Physical Activity

Guidelines or (NPAG) outline the levels of physical activity which need to be met

each day according to each individuals corresponding age demographic.

Following these recommendations are important to ensure that adequate levels of

physical activity are achieved in schools to contribute to greater overall health trends

in the broader community. Though ACHPER caters towards an overall holistic

approach to healthcare, the NPAG relate specifically to physical activity and how

engaging in exercise promotes overall beneficial health trends for the broader

community.

The recommendations and guidelines developed by ACARA inherently impact upon

the NPAG, as schools and teachers, need to develop their lessons and assessments

in compliance to meet the recommendations outlined in the national curriculum and

assessment standards. This can be difficult in practice, particularly in the case of PE,

where class time may be limited or classes may not be specifically catered towards

practical based lessons. The challenge lies in how PE teachers teach all the relevant

content through primarily theory based lessons, whilst also simultaneously trying to

ensure students remain physically active and meet the corresponding NPAG.

10
National Physical Activity Guidelines (NPAG):

The (NPAG) were developed based on a criterion in which Ekelund et al. (2016)

outlined that the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing

developed the guidelines with the expectation for individuals to engage in about 60-

75 minutes of high level moderate intensity physical activity daily. This

recommendation has been found to decrease the risk of premature death related to

sedentary behaviour and provides evidence based research into the importance of

Australian youth engaging in physical activity. In developing the NPAG, (The

Department of Health 2017), the government health officials considered the

prolonged benefits of physical activity later in life and how health could be greatly

affected if children don’t participate in physical activity from an early age.

In response to the obesity epidemic, two health related rationales have been outlined

by Sallis and Patrick (1994) from The International Consensus Conference on

Physical Activity Guidelines for Adolescents, in order for opportunities for adolescent

participation in physical activity to be enhanced. These include: i) The ways in which

physical activity aids in the promotion of both physical and psychological well –

being, and ii) Participating in physical activity at a young age increases the likelihood

that an individual will remain physically active into their adulthood. According to a

series of recommendations put forward by the World Health Organization (WHO

2011) relating to children and youth from ages 5-17, it is advised that:

 Children and youth aged 5-17 should accumulate at least 60 minutes of

moderate – to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) daily.

 Amounts of physical activity greater than 60 minutes provide additional health

benefits.

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  Most of the daily physical activity should be aerobic. Vigorous – intensity

activities should be incorporated, including those that strengthen muscle and

bone, at least three times per week” (World Health Organization 2011).

Spinks et al. (2007) makes a binary distinction between physical activity and

sedentary behaviour connected to the increased rates of childhood obesity, which

have considerably risen over the past few years. He argues that a decrease in

physical activity participation and increased sedentary behaviours are the primary

factors behind the increase rates of obesity. Gebel et al. (2015) have suggested

vigorous physical activity should be promoted in schools and should be a central

focus of the curriculum. This view is supported by Herman et al. (2009) who

suggests that in encouraging physical activity, adolescent children are much more

likely to carry on positive physical education trends into adulthood in order to sustain

a healthy lifestyle.

The role of PE Teachers in promoting healthy living in

schools:
From a public health perspective, the role which PE teachers play in promoting

healthy living is a vital component to ensuring positive health trends throughout

society. McKenzie and Lounsbery (2014) reflect upon recent recommendations

formalised by public health officials, that detail how PE is vital as part of the wider

school curriculum as it enables opportunities for all students to become involved in

physical activity.

Furthermore, McKenzie and Lounsbery also suggest that school PE is also the only

opportunity for students who tend to disassociate from physical activity to get to

12
experience intense physical activity. Pate et al. (2006) outline how PE teachers in

particular are able to implement a platform in schools, whereby the promotion of

positive health behaviours may be instilled into students, which may positively affect

their overall health. Kwan et al. (2005) reflects upon a multitude of examples of the

ways a PE teacher may encourage healthy living in schools including:

 Encouraging students not to smoke

 Encouraging healthy eating amongst students

 Promoting healthy sanitation habits for students

 Surveying students daily nutrition

 Providing and ensuring that physical activity platforms are safe for student use

 Encouraging and making sure every student participates in physical activity

 Following protocols in sport which account for safety measures

Based on interpreting how the curriculum and policies are delivered through the

instructions and delivery of content by male PE secondary school teachers, the

research will now delve into examining the potential of the introduction of National

Teaching Standards. In doing so, the research will consider the role male PE

teacher’s play in attempting to maximise student engagement in PE.

AITSL standards:

The introduction of the Australian professional standards for teachers in 2017 (AITSL

2017), were designed to be interconnected as they overlap one another and are

comprised of three teaching domains: Professional Knowledge, Professional

Practice and Professional Engagement. All teachers, irrespective of their discipline

13
are expected to uphold and include these components in each of their lessons as

part of their ability to make lessons inclusive and engaging for students (AITSL

2017).

Loughland and Ellis (2016) in a study examining the AITSL teaching standards

determined that there are many similarities between the benefits associated between

the teaching standards and their implementation by teachers. Such similarities

include the fact that they provide a mutual language between teachers, increase the

teaching competency of teachers in Australia and provide a clear structure for

teachers to be able to evaluate their development.

A case is made by Sachs (2005), (cited by Loughland and Ellis 2016, p.57) that

supports developmental standards over regulatory standards who suggests that

developmental standards provide a “commitment to teachers improving their

professional knowledge and practice”. The consequence of this is that teachers

become more aware and accountable of their teaching practices and therefore

students are provided with overall more positive outcomes.

Facilitating the development of reflection on these activities is a priority in order for

PE educators to:

 Create the right classroom climate

 Establish routines for the students

 Challenge students to participate in the activities and to take risks

 Develop a rapport with the students

 Raise student’s expectations (Goss and Sonnemann 2017, p. 3).

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The development of the AITSL standards has laid the foundations for teachers to

follow a structured framework where the profession:

 Expresses its capacity to self-reflect

 Engages in ongoing professional learning •

 Provides high-quality teaching and learning experiences

It is imperative physical educators interpret changes in policy in their classroom

practice by making amendments to lessons activities to maximise student

engagement. Jordan et al. (2017), note the importance for educators to follow a

comprehensive, inclusive and differentiated physical activity program, which

researchers have claimed would consequently limit the current trend in declining

physical activity participation (Hills, Dengel and Lubans 2015).

Inclusive and differentiated practice:

A large component of contemporary PE teaching lies in ensuring inclusion and

differentiation for all students is accounted for, regardless of their capabilities or

backgrounds (Stidder and Hayes, 2012). In considering inclusive and differentiated

practice, Croston and Hills (2017) point to three key indicators which PE teachers

should consider when determining effective differentiated practice. These include: i)

whether or not the students are meeting the associated national curriculum level

indicators, ii) whether the students are participating in extra-curricular activities or

sports externally from school and iii) Teachers judgements on whether or not the

students demonstrate any type of special talent.

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Additionally, Laker (2002) suggests that the ability of an individual strongly impacts

upon their experiences and participation in PE and sport and ultimately also

influences the development of the curriculum. The curriculum is influenced because

teachers may need to revaluate their lessons to determine whether or not they are

suitable for their students to complete. In this instance, differentiation should be

accounted for by structuring activities and developing students learning experiences

by considering individual’s needs.

By examining student disengagement in PE, Watt (2013), (cited by McKenna,

Cacciattolo and Vicars 2013) suggests that at the year 7-8 level there should be a

focus on games, sport and physical activity, with an emphasis on Hellinson’s (2003,

p. 23) Personal and Social Responsibility Model. Jones (2012) reflects that the

model is based upon the notion of allowing individuals to take personal responsibility

and ownership of their own wellbeing by contributing to the wellbeing of others. It’s

based on four key values which are respecting the rights and feelings of others,

effort through participation, self-direction and demonstrating care and leadership.

Meanwhile, at the year 9-10 level the emphasis should remain on physical activity

and sport with the consensus being that students are able to incorporate and apply

skills learned into their adulthood.

If the notion behind “inclusive education is to eliminate social exclusion and promote

diversity of opportunity for children with a particular focus upon issues of race, social

class, ethnicity, religion, gender and ability” (Bailey 2010, p.198), then the context of

lessons needs to consider student diversity. A key component in enhancing inclusion

of students in PE is explained by the notion of ‘situational interest’, which plays a role

16
in enhancing the motivational levels of students engaging in PE. Situational interest

has been identified as a key factor to activate engagement through explicit interest

by stimuli Subramaniam (2009). Such interest in stimuli may include environmental

factors such as students taking an interest in a particular task as is outlined by

Schraw, Flowerday and Lehman (2001) who define situational interest as a

temporary and spontaneous interest. Deci and Ryan, (1985) (cited by Beachboard et

al. 2011) pinpoint three critical components which are vital to activating engagement

through internal motivators: i) autonomy, ii) competence and ii) relatedness.

Historically, Cubukcu (2012) suggests that educational philosophers such as John

Dewey whose theories are characterised upon experiential learning, reflect that

students learn best when they drive their own learning which enables experiential,

hands-on, student-centred learning to occur. Cubukcu (2012) goes on to propose

that, “involving the learner in decision making and using student interest to drive

curriculum (p.50) supports a growing body of evidence on equity and inclusion on

educational research into Physical Education, health and sport. Evans and Davies

(2017) have detailed that educational research should interrogate and contest

broader government policies to identify directions towards new beginnings, social

development and overall growth. Most surprising, is the fact that currently there is

little support by governments and Health Education policy makers for the initiation of

motivational theory and practice to be undertaken as a means of research.

The challenge for current PE teachers is in how they must aim to incorporate all

students within their lessons whilst conforming to the current curriculum guidelines in

place. Statistics indicate how 30% of the students between the ages of 11-21

17
reported a disapproval of PE involvement, citing the influence of social environment

on the willingness of students to engage in and participate in PE lessons. School

policies, families’ attitudes and variances in gender all played an impactful role on

the intentions of students to participate in PE (Ruscitti, Thomas and Bentley 2017).

Differentiated practice in the context of PE could be accounted for through the

application of two important findings. Firstly, how the learning process is severely

affected by situational factors and secondly, how teaching styles can be a biased

foundation which hampers effective teaching (Doherty 2010). Meyer (2010) (cited by

Hyde, Carpenter and Conway 2013) outlined the importance a teacher plays in

acting as a facilitator towards ensuring issues of inclusivity and engagement are

addressed. Such issues, Meyer argued need to be addressed by the PE teacher in

order to fulfil the needs of all students, particularly in terms of their overall health

(both mental and physical).

Engaging disengaged students in Physical Education:

When running a PE lesson, there are always students who refuse to participate.

Gray, Treacy and Hall (2017) point to the fact that previous research has focused

towards the teaching of measures and strategies which educators should apply in

order to re-engage disengaged students and a focus towards the redevelopment of

curriculum.

Gray, Treacy and Hall (2017) outline that an alternative approach is needed with the

‘appreciative inquiry’, (AI) which considers components of the failures and successes

in engaging students and how both teachers and students could work towards

18
achieving future goals. This idea proposes that previous efforts to engage students

based on traditional teacher centred methods have been largely unsuccessful with

Goodyear, Casey and Kirk (2014) pointing out that such methods have been

misguided and ineffective methods. They highlight that this longstanding method has

proven to be unsuccessful in engaging students in PE and propose that educators

focus on a cooperative learning style or student-centred pedagogy as it’s applicable

to multiple domains and has also been proven to be more successful in engaging

students. Johnson and Johnson (n.d) back up this claim that a cooperative learning

style is more beneficial by reflecting that it enables students to work in small groups

which enhances their ability and that of their peers to increase their learning.

A study which examined issues and interventions from early childhood into

adolescence relating to PE, (Dollman, Drummond, Drummond, and Abery 2010)

determined that there are a number of reasons contributing towards student

engagement and disengagement in physical education. Situational and

environmental reasons include the influence of parents, sex and age, cultural

backgrounds and socioeconomic status. However, ultimately to attain optimum

results there should be a multi centred based approach deployed in order to sustain

students engagement in PE which considers combining various teaching styles to

ensure student engagement is optimised.

Sustaining student engagement:

In order to sustain student engagement, Healey, Flint and Harrington (2014) highlight

the need to consider a conceptual model which has been created to consider the

19
ways in which students can act as partners alongside their teachers in order to

facilitate their learning based on four primary areas including:

 Learning, teaching and assessment

 Subject-based research and inquiry

 Scholarship of teaching and learning

 Curriculum design and pedagogic consultancy

Learning, teaching and assessment: This component involves what (Healey, Flint

and Harrington 2014) describe as active learning where students are required to

become active participants in their own learning through partnerships formed which

enable them to engage in their own learning. Additionally, Trowler’s (2010) review of

student engagement (cited in Healey, Flint and Harrington 2014) reflects that student

learning is heightened by student’s active participation in their own learning,

collaborative activities such as peer reviews or assessment for example and lastly

student’s contribution to the curriculum design, delivery and assessment.

Subject-based research and inquiry: By engaging students in their learning through

subject-based research and inquiry, (Healey, Flint and Harrington 2014) propose that

adding the discipline, subject or professional area of study for students to research is

a distinct way of enhancing students learning where students are partners in their

learning. Additionally, (Healey 2005; Jenkins, Healey and Zetter 2007), (cited by

Healey, Flint and Harrington 2014) outline that the implementation of subject based

research and inquiry can be a very effective method to enhance the relationship

amongst research and teaching in order to enhance the overall student learning and

satisfaction.

20
Scholarship of teaching and learning: This component is described by (Hutchings

and Shulman 1999; Healey 2000), (cited by Healey, Flint and Harrington 2014) as

involving research and theorising ideas about the ability of students to learn within a

specific discipline and how they’re able to communicate and distribute such findings.

In recent years, (Werder and Otis 2010; Little 2011), (cited by Healey, Flint and

Harrington 2014) highlight two ground breaking studies involving Scholarship of

teaching and learning which outline that students who are partners of this method

are more likely than not involves in the investigation into teaching and learning as

part of their coursework. This is beneficial as students are able to experience

firsthand knowledge on how to make appropriate decision-making processes and

lead the change into becoming evidence based mediators.

Curriculum design and pedagogic consultancy: This component involves what

(Healey, Flint and Harrington 2014) describe as the ability for students to engage

within course evaluations and in departmental committees where students are able

to converse with staff with regards to course and curriculum implementation. Though

it is rare for institutions to go beyond the boundaries in providing students with more

than just the student voice, into a more constructive method of partnerships in

designing curriculum and giving pedagogic advice and consultancy, research by

(Bovill and Bulley 2011), (cited by Healey, Flint and Harrington 2014) reflects that it

is highly beneficial.

In order to increase the active rates of participation amongst students, four key

components should be considered which include providing students with control with

regards to decision making processes, students having choices and influence, tutors

21
forming decisions based on taking into consideration student feedback and lastly

tutors controlling decision making.

In analysing the role the student plays in sustaining engagement, Matthews (2016)

details her experiences in teaching PE in Australia by voicing her disappointment in

the role education institutions play in their attempt to maintain student engagement.

Her critique is largely directed at what she suggests are misconceptions regarding

the participation of students within particular activities, which students believe serve

little to promote their educational outcomes. Matthews (2016) goes on to openly

criticise such institutions in their role of promoting engagement as the learning

outcomes are often disjointed and don’t relate to in-class activities.

This belief is backed up by Barnett and Coate (2005) who reflect on the role the

curriculum plays in keeping students engaged, claiming that students need to

become personally immersed in their learning. It is the role of the curriculum, they

argue, to scaffold physical activity development to aid engagement by convincing the

students of its purpose and rationale. In order to understand how engagement

affects our learning, Beachboard et al. (2011) make reference to the ‘self –

determination theory’ or ‘SDT’, which hypothesizes that the environments which

surround the social connections we form, affect our levels of motivation and

therefore our overall learning outcomes.

Strickland, McLatchie and Rowena (2011) provide a summation of the ongoing

challenges teachers face in providing an engaging learning environment. They do so

by highlighting the need for, ‘developing learning teaching and assessment’, (LTA)

22
which may be fostered by a set of approaches to provide constant engagement for

the students but also challenge the teachers as part of their lesson developments.

They reflect that the development of the (LTA) strategy was developed with the

intention that it could be used as a dynamic strategy. As such, it’s hoped that such a

tool would ultimately lead to an enhancement in the quality of students overall

learning experiences, lay the platform for institutional change and progression to

take place, provide staff with additional support to enhance their own academic goals

and enhance the prospects of academic practice taking place amongst educators.

Directions and developments in physical education:

When considering future implications and developments in physical education, it

should be noted that Siedentop, (1994) (cited by Araújo, Mesquita and Hastie 2014)

highlight that Sport Education provides the appropriate framework to consider

inclusion and equal opportunity for all students. Perlman (2012) highlights how the

Sport Education Model (SEM) developed by Siedentop was designed to be delivered

towards middle and high school students so that they are able to experience a more

pleasurable holistic sporting experience with students taking control of their learning.

In order to promote engagement in a PE lesson Araújo et al. (2014) reflect the need

for future studies to consider what improvements could be made in PE. They

highlight how Sport Education could be driven by suitable interactions between

determining whether or not education opportunities provide the opening for inclusion

and equity participation. They outline that such interactions could help to determine

whether or not the practices involved in Sport Education have been effective in

promoting engagement.

23
Lastly, Van den Berghe, Vansteenkiste, Cardon, Kirk, and Haerens, (2014),

suggested that there should be a shift towards understanding the behaviours which

are aligned closely between students and teachers to understand how facilitating

learning and a sense of connection between the teacher and the students could be

important. Interestingly, in a study undertaken by Sparks, Dimmock, Whipp,

Lonsdale and Jackson (2015), that aimed at investigating the explicit behaviours of

PE teachers which students find to be most relatable and supportive, the

consequences of having a sympathetic PE teacher on student engagement was

determined to be significant. The researcher’s advocated that, such interactions in a

social context provide the opportunity for students PE motivations and inherent

motivations to be directly or indirectly positively affected.

In an analysis of how to ensure a better future for Physical Education, Crum (2012)

identifies a number of issues concerning PE which have been accounted for

worldwide and include:

 Low status of the subject

 Reduction of curriculum time

 Neglect of PE in primary education

 Poor conditions/facilities

 Lack of teacher competence

 Low standard of programs

 Weak Physical Education Teaching Education programs

 Discrepancy between curriculum as text and curriculum in action

 Credibility gap (Crum 2012, pp. 53 and 54).

24
As a way to combat these growing issues in PE, Crum (2012) identified three areas

in which interventions could be applied which include: i) The Physical Education

Teaching Education program ii) the development of curriculum by rewriting and

updating the existing traditional curriculum to updated new teaching standards and

iii) the reality of what takes place within PE lessons through ensuring quality control

of PE classes is looked into.

Summary of literature review:

To be able to understand which methods of inclusive and engaging lessons are most

effective, teachers need to consider the role them themselves play in engaging

students, the role of the curriculum and the pedagogy used. Therefore, more

opportunity leads to greater student participation. The development of the curriculum

needs to needs to consider student satisfaction by incorporating their thoughts and

opinions into the development of lessons.

When considering the various recommendations laid forth by ACARA, ACHPER and

the NPAG, schools should ensure students meet the curriculum standards in order to

achieve more positive levels of health status while simultaneously ensuring that

students are meeting the recommended levels of physical activity under each of the

various guidelines.

25
With regards to the NPAG, endorsing their recommendations has overall benefits not

only to our physical health and wellbeing, but also to our psychological health and

wellbeing, as well as to the fact that students are more inclined to participate and

carry on with the recommended levels of physical activity into their adulthood.

Additionally, though we already know teachers play a vital role in educating students

across all subjects and cohorts, PE itself in schools provides the only avenue for

students to participate in PE. The research reflects upon the various ways in which

teachers may promote healthy living in the school environment and found that they

have a profound effect on student’s ability to participate in physical activity.

The implementation of the AITSL standards is vital as all teachers need to be aware

of the different AITSL standards and how they may incorporate each component in

each lesson. As PE teachers, there needs to be an understanding of the most

current up to date policies in order for any changes in the curriculum documents to

be applied to future lessons.

In combating the issue of challenging each student to be engaged, the research

outlined that a greater emphasis needs to be placed on the aspect of inclusion and

differentiation. Student’s need to be challenged during the duration of lessons in

order for them to sustain high levels of motivation which aim to keep them engaged

throughout the lessons that they don’t disengage from an of the activities. Much of

26
the literature was targeted towards the role educational institutions play in engaging

students and how they may best be served to do so.

In terms of reengaging disengaged students, the literature demonstrated that it’s

inevitable that as teachers, we will always have some students who become

disengaged or are disengaged from the get go. The challenge lies in the strategies

we take to then reengage these students which can be achieved by steering away

from the traditional approaches to more alternative approaches which consider past

failures and successes. This can therefore help teachers to develop future goals for

their students.

Lastly, in terms of future directions for PE, the literature dictates that the Sport

Education Model (SEM) was the most effective method of ensuring inclusion and

equal opportunities were accounted for. It sets the benchmark as the most

constructive models due to its ability to provide a more pleasurable holistic PE

lesson to students. Additionally, this then leads onto the role teacher’s play as the

research reflected upon how having supportive and sympathetic PE teachers

demonstrated effective relationships between teachers and their students.

27
Chapter 3: Methodology

This chapter discusses the methodological aspects of this project including the

collection, interpretation and analysis of data. As outlined earlier, this minor thesis

examines the following research questions:

1) Which groups of high school students are least likely to meet the National

Physical Activity Guidelines (NPAG)? Why?

2) How can physical educators construct and develop physical activities to better

engage students who are disengaged from participating in school based

physical activity? How effective are these activities and pedagogies in

promoting re-engagement?

3) What are the current trends relating to the teaching of physical Education or

physical activity in high schools? How do physical educators interpret

changes in policy in their classroom practice to maximise and sustain high

levels of student engagement in schooled P.E?

Ethical considerations:

Ethics approval to conduct this research was granted by the Victoria University

Human Research Ethics Committee (Application ID HRE16-295), on 22/03/2018

Approval was also granted by the Victorian Department of Education and Training

(Application ID 2018_003699) on 17/05/2018

Ethical considerations are a critical component of undertaking research. Locke

(2014) refers to the importance of informed consent and prior to commencing the

interview process, I provided all participants involved with an ‘information to

participants’ paper’, ‘a plain language statement’ and ‘an informed consent form.

28
Confidentiality and anonymity of research data given by participants forms a critical

component in relation to the privacy of participants. My research safeguards the

disclosure of any information or data from the participants as pseudonyms are used

for both the schools involved in the study as well as the participants themselves.

Research aims and approach:

This research aimed to investigate senior secondary teachers’ experiences in

understanding how to motivate and promote engagement amongst secondary school

age PE students. It also addresses a gap in the literature regarding teachers’

experiences with Physical Education teaching practices from a senior secondary

perspective. As this is a minor thesis situated within a particular context, this

research is not generalizable on a large scale. Instead, a qualitative rather than a

quantitative research method of investigation was chosen.

A qualitative approach is appropriate as this project explores categories and

descriptions of experiences. Small-scale research like the kind undertaken in this

project is intended to produce descriptive documentation of a sample of senior

secondary teachers’ current experiences ‘on the ground’ where policy and practice

intersect, to add to existing research and generate ideas for future investigation.

Research Paradigm:

A constructivist paradigm was adopted for this project, which acknowledges multiple

truths and understandings ‘constructed’ by individuals within various contexts—

applied to the research participants, the researcher and readers. This rests on the

29
assumption that human beings “do not find or discover knowledge so much as

construct or make it” (Schwandt 2000, p. 197).

The role of the researcher was reconceptualised as a subjective interpreter of others’

experiences, rather than as an objective observer (Denzin and Lincoln 1994). An

inductive analysis approach grounded in an ‘a posteriori’ understanding of how pre-

existing observations or experiences (Lash 2009) assisted in the identification of

emergent themes occurring at the commencement of data collection from the

interviews with the participants (Sang and Sitko 2015).

Research methods:

To accomplish the research aims, a descriptive case study approach was

undertaken to study teachers’ experiences to motivate and promote engagement

amongst PE students. A case study was deemed appropriate for this project as it

aims to comprehensively investigate phenomena within real-life contexts bounded by

a specific time or place (Stake 1995). This case study was approached with three

central research questions to address issues at the case study site (Stake 1995, p.

20). The later stages of the data analysis process involved comparisons between the

data and the literature (see Chapter 2).

The use of case study sought to holistically understand the nature of teachers’

experiences across two sites while explicitly distinguishing between participants’

perceived experiences regarding their pedagogical practices. This was adopted so

data could be compared across different sites to see if any significant patterns

emerged.

30
Adopting elements of Stake’s case study (1995) approach, this research explored

teachers’ experiences of their practice and the researcher’s observations and

interpretation of the teacher’s descriptions. Stake (2005, p.443) (cited by Merriam

2009, p.48) suggests that a case, can be a, “single individual, a program, a group, an

institution, a community, or a specific policy”. Thomas (2015) reflects on the benefits

of undertaking case studies and proposes they are beneficial because they enable

us to understand phenomena in its entirety. Yin (2003) (cited by Kohlbacher 2006)

notes that a case study approach is driven by the inclination to comprehend more

complex social phenomena due to the holistic approach which underpins a case

study.

Participant selection and data collection:

This thesis involved 1 x face-to-face interview with three Physical education teachers

across two school sites. Purposive Snowball sampling was utilised where

participants were initially approached through seeking permission from the school’s

Principal. After University and departmental ethics approval, the school’s Principal

was sent an email seeking permission to recruit participants, including a request for

use of the schools’ premises for interviews. Potential participants were approached

where they received ‘Information to Participants’ forms. Interested parties were

encouraged to contact the researcher via his university email address (to retain

anonymity), whereby they received a ‘Consent to Participants’ form and the interview

questions, and could choose the interview time and place.

31
Interviews were recorded on a recording device and occurred during school hours.

Once each interview commenced, the research procedures were explained again to

each participant with each interview taking approximately 45 minutes. A check box

was included on the consent form asking if participants could be contacted after the

interview to check if the researcher’s initial interpretations of the interview were

representative of what the participant intended to express.

Cresswell (2007) outlines the importance of selecting suitable candidates, with

Robinson (2014) considering sampling to be a critical component of conducting

effective qualitative investigations and developed a four point approach for the

process of selecting relevant participants and settings. These are:

1) Developing a sample space by considering which applicants would be

appropriate or not based on a criteria of selection

2) Deciding upon an appropriate sample size based on practical and ethical

considerations

3) The selection of an appropriate sample strategy to suit my research

4) The sample sourcing which would consider any ethics or concerns.

This sampling method applied to the study, was applied on the basis that candidates

were selected on their ability and expertise to identify students who are disengaged

in PE and articulate the challenges and strategies PE teachers face in addressing

engagement in PE.

Interviews:
This thesis is based on pedagogical case studies of three male secondary PE

teachers and used semi-structured interviews as a method of data collection. The

32
data gathered from the interviews was focused on the informants teaching

experiences in relation to the factors which promote or hinder student engagement.

To address this, three semi-structured interviews were considered appropriate for

data collection, gathered via digital recorder over a two week period (July 2018)

following informed consent. According to Jamshed (2014), the purpose of an

interview is to gain insights into others’ experiences and to construct meaning

through dialogue. This was deemed appropriate as this project aimed to understand

teachers’ subjective, constructed interactions with the research questions which can

lead to secondary questions arising further enabling rich contextual data to be

collected.

The participants in the research study were each asked questions which acted as a

guide to explore specific questions and associated topics. The participants were

provided with prompts to elicit their views and opinions. Throughout the interview

process, the prompts used were focused on the following research questions:

1) Which groups of high school students are least likely to meet the National

Physical Activity Guidelines (NPAG)? Why?

2) How can physical educators construct and develop physical activities to

better engage students who are disengaged from participating in school

based physical activity? How effective are these activities and pedagogies

in promoting re-engagement?

3) What are the current trends relating to the teaching of physical Education

or physical activity in high schools? How do physical educators interpret

33
 changes in policy in their classroom practice to maximise and sustain high

levels of student engagement in schooled P.E?

Bloom and Crabtree (2006) suggest that the benefits of semi structured interviews

are that they allow investigation of the deeper social and personal factors. In

conducting semi structured interviews with the participants, I sought to uncover

subjective answers from the participant’s experiences of working with disengaged

students.

Data analysis and reporting:

Data for this project was analysed inductively, meaning that “patterns, themes and

categories” were viewed as “emerging out of the data rather than being imposed on

them” before data collection and interpretation (Patton 1980, p. 306) (cited by

Srivastava and Hopwood 2009).This involved a systematic, multi-stage, ‘back and

forth’ process of thematic coding which drew on Miles and Huberman’s (1994)

approach to qualitative data analysis –involving data reduction, data display and

drawing conclusions. Common categories were identified across different interviews

drawing on the principles of open coding, which (Strauss and Corbin 2007 p. 61)

(cited in Boeije 2009, p. 98) define as, “the process of breaking down, examining,

comparing, conceptualizing and characterising data”. These were then compared to

key theories from the literature.

Following interview transcription, interviews were read separately and memos were

made containing initial ideas about the data. Next, a process of initial coding

occurred, where interview transcripts were re-read one by one and more notes were

34
added, recording emergent categories. The process of open coding involves 8 steps

which are outlined below (Boeije 2009 p. 98):

1) Read the whole document

2) Re –read the text line by line to determine the beginning and end of a fragment

3) Determine why this fragment is a meaningful whole (text which belongs together

and deals with manly one subject)

4) Judge whether the fragment is relevant to the research

5) Make up an appropriate name for the fragment, i.e. a code

6) Assign this code to the text fragment

7) Read the entire document and code all relevant fragments

8) Compare the different fragments, because it is likely that multiple fragments in a

text address the same topic and they should therefore receive the same code.

These eight steps were applied and the task involved moving back and forth

between different stages of coding, data collection and analysis (Miles and

Huberman 1994). Initial interview transcripts and researcher interpretations were

shared with the participants for verification of accuracy and approval.

Trustworthiness and Transferability:

Case-studies have been criticised for not being ‘generalizable’ as they are specific to

a particular time and place (Punch 1998). However, this research aims to explore a

particular phenomenon which acknowledges this does not imply generalisation of

research results. This study strove for transferability by clearly describing the

research design and timeline and being transparent about the process in the

35
Participant Selection and Data Collection and Data Analysis and Reporting and in

the following teacher/ school contexts in this chapter (Stake 1995; Yin 2003).

Teacher/ school contexts:

Case study one:

Case study one is based at Jamieson Secondary College (pseudonym). The

participant in this case study was 33 year old Jason (pseudonym) who has been

teaching for 12 years at different public and private schools across the western

suburbs of Melbourne. Currently, Jason teaches PE and Health at Jamieson

Secondary College. Alongside this, Jason is also undertaking leadership positions,

where he’s in change of both the PE department and a house team leader.

His previous teaching history includes teaching subjects which included psychology,

maths, English and history. His extensive teaching credentials and interest in PE and

health was the reason behind Jason’s selection to be a prime candidate to take part

in the research study. The interview for this case study lasted for a total of 45

minutes and was conducted simultaneously alongside the participant from case

study two. At no stage over the course of this case study did any major issues arise

relating to the interview process.

Case study two:

Case study two was also based at Jamieson Secondary College (pseudonym). The

participant is this case study was 27 year old Jim (pseudonym) who has been

teaching for five years at a range of public schools across the northern and western

suburbs of Melbourne. Currently, alongside PE, Jim also teaches psychology and

36
health, which gives him an insight into the inner workings of the brain in

understanding how students may be better engaged in the context of PE.

Unlike his counterpart at Jamieson, Jim doesn’t currently have any previous

experience in undertaking leadership positions, however does have ambitions to

move into leadership roles in the nearby future. Jim’s enthusiasm and endeavour

towards understanding student’s behavioural issues enables him to be another prime

candidate in understanding student’s desires to disengage or engage in PE. The

interview for this case study lasted for a total of 45 minutes and was conducted

simultaneously alongside the participant from case studies one. At no stage over the

course of this case study did any major issues arise relating to the interview process.

Case study three:

Case study three is based at Stipa Secondary College (pseudonym). The participant

in this case study was 40 year old George (pseudonym) who has been teaching for

17 years and is the most experienced teacher of the 3 case studies, having taught

across both public and private schools in the southern, northern and more recently

western suburbs of Victoria. His teaching background includes having PE and health

as his majors, with a background in science, maths and english. Currently, George

only teaches PE and maths. Like Jim in case study two, George is also currently in a

leadership position where he’s in charge of coordinating the PE curriculum and

makes critical decisions in planning the PE curriculum structure. The interview for

this case study lasted for a total of 47 minutes with no major issues arising over the

course of the interview process.

37
Data Storage and record keeping:
The recordings which lasted for 45 minutes and 47 minutes respectively, were

collected and saved on the IPHONE app called ‘voice memos’, from which they were

transcribed to determine the emerging themes from the participant’s experiences.

Gill et al. (2008) claims that when conducting interviews, it’s essential that all

interviews are recorded and later transcribed which helps decrease the chances of

bias from occurring and offers a permanent recollection of what information was

provided throughout the course of the interview. Electronic copies of interview

transcripts were coded and re-identifiable only to the student researcher. Interview

transcripts were deleted following coding. At no point throughout the duration of the

project was any information published publically or provided to anyone other than the

participants themselves.

Anonymity to protect the data given by participants:

Confidentiality of research data given by participants forms a critical component in

relation to the privacy of participants. Sieber (2008) (cited by Boeije 2009) highlights

the correlation between confidentiality and anonymity in the sense that information

regarding the participants’ personal information, such as their addresses, names,

profession or any other distinctive information shouldn’t be connected to the data as

it poses a threat to the participants’ privacy. My research safeguards the disclosure

of any information or data from the participants as pseudonyms are used for both the

schools involved in the study as well as the participants themselves, making it

virtually impossible to identify where the interviews have taken place as well as the

participants involved in the study

38
Chapter 4: Teacher experiences with inclusion in engaging
PE students

This chapter will analyse senior secondary teachers’ discourses regarding their
experiences with understanding how to motivate and promote engagement amongst
PE students.

Emerging themes:
Six key themes emerged from the interviews with the participants. These were

ranked from most important to the least important in terms of the participant’s

perceptions of their understanding of how to promote student engagement in PE:

1) Contributors to student disengagement: Facilities

2) Intrinsic/extrinsic motivations: Body image, Curriculum and Teachers

3) Inclusion in PE: Empowering students by giving them choices

4) Professional Knowledge, expertise and strategies to encourage PE participation

5) Practical and theory lessons

6) Assessment in PE

39
Theme one - Contributors to student disengagement:
Facilities
This theme relates to the key factors that the participants identified as the primary

reasons which lead to student disengagement in the context of PE education. The

important influence of school facilities on student disengagement was articulated by

George, who stated that students at his school would be more inclined to participate

in physical activity if the facilities were up to standard. He suggested how PE staff at

his school recognised the importance of providing fit for purpose PE facilities:

Of course any student is likely to want to participate in physical activity if they

have facilities which are state of the art. We as school are trying to constantly

improve our entire school’s facilities, not just the PE departments.

Additionally, Jim also endorsed the assumption that good facilities can lead to an

increment in PE participation amongst students and suggested how:

Governments need to take more leadership and provide greater funding to

schools Physical Education facilities as it will lead to a decrease in student

disengagement.

He stated that students are more inclined to participate in PE lessons and physical

activity if they have access to better facilities, a perception echoed by Finkelstein,

Petersen and Schottenfeld (2017) who suggested how improved PE facilities can

empower children to participate in physical activity. Jason, the second participant

also reflected upon the importance facilities play in engaging students and stated

how:

You see these kids coming from private schools over in the Eastern suburbs

and obviously families that have a lot of money there, they’re prone to having

the best facilities and best equipment that they can possibly can have which

means they have a greater possibility of potentially becoming professional

athletes. Our school makes the most of what it has: Obviously it’s not the same

40
 over here but I think in order to maximise participation I think we have all the

resources which we need, however obviously being a public school, we don’t

have that much funding.

The interview data indicated that higher quality indoor facilities, maintenance and

modernization should be considered as critical components for engaging students in

physical activity at school, as well as ensuring that the curriculum standards and

requirements are updated. The participants suggested PE facilities play a large role

in engaging students acting as a key motivator for student participation in physical

activity. The participants noted how the facilities a school has is likely to impact what

sorts of sports and games a teacher may plan for the students to participate in, as

well as impacting on student’s perceived likelihood to want to participate in physical

activity. George outlines the importance of facilities and highlighted what they have

access to at Stipa Secondary College:

You know we do have a lot of kids at this school and sometimes we may have

up to seven groups running at the one time, so we base it off what areas we can

use so if the synthetic is available or if we actually get the gym and we structure

our choice around what area we can use. With the seniors yes we do give them

the choice. We say ok we’ve got the courts and we can do a court code sport

such as basketball, netball etc. and we give them a choice there on what we

can participate in.

He also goes on to reflect upon his own experiences in high school

where he suggests:

The school I went to had quite poor facilities and I know myself I always use to

comment why are we doing this here, this place is falling apart. Our equipment

wasn’t the best. So yes, I think it’s quite important to have good facilities.

The literature regarding facilities backs up the general consensus of the participants

that facilities inherently effect student’s inclination to partake in physical activity. This

41
is highlighted in a study by Jenkinson and Benson (2010), where elementary

teachers in Canada had identified facilities and equipment a school has access to as

one of the primary institutional barriers affecting the curriculum and the impact it has

on a student’s ability to meet the national HPE guidelines - equivalent to the NPAG

in Australia. Having good facilities was regarded as a significant factor by the

participants for engaging students in lessons during class, but was also regarded as

important for student participation external to scheduled PE classes, such as before

school, after school, recess and lunch. George reflected upon the importance of

facilities for students to partake in extracurricular physical activity outside regular

school hours:

It’s about giving students choices. So the recreation unit for students in year 9

gives students in year 9 choices about where to go and what to participate in

and I think it’s awesome because we are actually giving them options about

how to be physically active outside of school and they keep physically active

once they leave school.

Morton et al. (2016) determined that a shortage or out-of-date equipment/facilities,

did indeed contribute to negatively associated outcomes in relation to physical

activity. Additionally, he suggests that poor physical infrastructures in the school

environment can lead to an increase in the likelihood that students would have fewer

opportunities for physical activity to occur. Morton et al. (2016) cited how poor

equipment could contribute to student inactivity and poor facilities would

inadvertently affect student’s intrinsic motivational levels to participate in physical

activity. Morton et al (2016) note how within the school environment, a lack of

adequate PE facilities could prevent opportunities for active behaviour. There was a

general consensus by the participants that the facilities do indeed play a role in

motivating students to be physically active. The influence of school facilities was

42
identified through the interview process in which the interview participants

consistently raised issues/concerns about the impact that poor facilities may have on

affecting the likelihood of student’s participation rates in PE. Clearly articulated was

the observation that having PE facilities which were of a high standard was likely to

extrinsically motivate student’s participation and motivation levels in PE.

Balfanz, Herzog and Iver (2007) outline how high school is a critical component in

extrinsically motivating a child’s physical development. Based on my findings, the

consensus of the participants was that the larger proportion of contributing factors to

the disengagement in PE was centred upon facility issues. The sports and games

which are played during a PE lesson are highly dependent on a number of factors

relating to the facilities available. Factors which were considered by the participants

included: class size, the weather, availability of facilities appropriate for the intended

sport/game and equipment available. Bevans et al. (2010) asked PE teachers to

respond to a number of questions relating to their relative satisfaction of the facilities

made available at their school. Jason summarised his relative satisfaction of the

facilities available at Jamieson by suggesting:

I have worked at a couple of different schools in the western suburbs and I think

that this school has everything that we need for PE lesson.

Meanwhile, at Stipa Secondary, George outlines his personal views on the facilities

available at his school:

I think on a lovely day the facilities here are awesome, we’ve got plenty of room

outside, we’ve got a synthetic oval, and we’ve got a synthetic soccer pitch, a

double green court and four basketball courts. If it’s a day like today where the

weather is cold or raining, we don’t have the areas to run the curriculum and

that’s where the curriculum is affected.

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Bevans et al. (2010) identified that the management of the facilities hinges on the

ability of the combination of federal, state and local government authorities to provide

funding for maintenance and newly built facilities. The participants highlighted that

maintaining the facilities surrounding the school environment would ultimately lead to

enhancements in proposed opportunities for students to participate in physical

activity. As the participants reflected upon their experiences in struggling to motivate

students to participate in PE they noted how as educators they are aware of the

external and internal factors which hinder student’s intrinsic motivations to want to

participate in physical activity and of the importance of applying a range of teaching

strategies to overcome these in their classrooms.

Theme two - Intrinsic/ Extrinsic motivation: Body image,

Curriculum and Teachers

Students lack of enthusiasm and student isolation was connected to issues of

intrinsic motivation that were regarded by the participants as being closely related to

body image issues which tended to be gendered . George outlined how:

One or two of the girls are a little bit disengaged and body issues account for

the girls feeling like they’re not as good as some of the other classmates.

Jason outlined that the bigger the body size of students tends to be a factor in

disengaged behaviours in PE and noted how:

Yeah probably bigger people and again it comes back to the fact they think

they’re not as good as others, body issues and they’re the two main ones. They

have a low skill within that PE class and not as likely to participate and they

might shy away from getting involved, particularly in game situations.

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From an intrinsic viewpoint, the participants noted that students were more inclined

to be motivated to complete an activity or partake in a lesson because of external

factors such as the curriculum activities which they enjoy. In accounting for these

activities, Jason outlined how intrinsic motivation was notable as a significant factor

in student’s participation in extracurricular activities:

We take a lot of interschool sporting teams out with Jim being very prominent in

the soccer teams whereas I focus on the AFL and basketball side of things, so

when we’ve been training our groups, Jim started off at the start of the year and

he offered not training but just an extra-curricular Tuesday evening timeslot for

kids that were really interested.

Student participation in physical activity was considered to be significantly affected

by the sports and games which they chose to play and in consideration of the

curriculum standards Jason outlined that Jamieson Secondary was well equipped to

cover a multitude of sports which would extrinsically motivate students to participate:

We have everything from covering traditional sports to traditional team sports

but also cover non-traditional team sports especially in year 9 and 10 where

kids are less prone to that sport such as lacrosse, European handball,

tchoukball and sports that they haven’t been brought up playing which we have

all the different equipment for to keep them active.

Accordingly, teachers need to be able to plan their lessons based upon the limited

facilities they may have available to them at the time of teaching. Based on the

sports and activities covered as part of the curriculum, George states:

We can’t fit 7 seven classes inside the gym, so we need to improvise and I think

as a school we have because we’ve purchased a lot of different games that we

can play inside such as in classrooms. Games like a Swedish game called

finska, we’ve got another game called corn hole, we’ve got bocce, we’ve got

Frisbees and I think all these games gives us flexibility on how we can engage

kids when we are lacking in facilities.

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Additionally, extrinsic motivators to participate in PE is how the teacher engaged with

students and relationships were seen by the participants as influencing a student’s

inclination to be involved in PE as George outlined:

It’s really dependent on the teacher I believe. If you’re really enthusiastic about

teaching the topic, then you can really convince the kids to be engaged as well,

so I think teachers really need to lead by example and push both theory and

practical lessons.

The participants in the interviews reflected the need to reconsider which

sports/games and activities that are implemented could promote engagement in a

school context. The participants noted the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic

motivation for student participation in physical activity or for students becoming

disengaged from PE altogether. Jim reflected upon the significance of providing

extra-curricular activities to students and how the opportunity to play sports outside

of regular school hours extrinsically motivates students:

I think offering extra-curricular sporting activities to add to their current PE time

is definitely essential and the kids definitely know who the teachers are that take

the time out of their day to do more for them. It definitely builds rapport,

increases their physical activity time and they’re more likely to enjoy school,

because they want to be there, especially the kids that can’t really concentrate

during their mainstream classes such as English, maths and science.

Jim outlines a story of a girl in one of his PE classes who suffered from a lack of

intrinsic motivation and how he tried to encourage her to participate in his class:

One of the girls really springs to mind because she really lacks the enthusiasm

each PE lesson and I’ve had a word with her very early on because I noticed

she wasn’t participating in very easy games. I asked her what the problem was

and she shut me out straight away and I had to sit down with her but she

wouldn’t really let me know what was going on. She said that this had been the

case for the majority of her high school and I said look it needs to change

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 because I need everyone to be active in my class, obviously because it’s going

to improve health benefits; you know mentally, physically, emotionally etc.

From this evidence, it can be concluded that relationships, an increase

in physical activity time and intrinsic motivations all contribute to

engagement.

Theme three - Inclusion in PE: Empowering students by

giving them choices
The key emphasis to increase participation amongst the students was enabled by

providing them to have a say in their lessons, by deciding what games or activities

they participate in, and getting students to co design curriculum. Throughout the

interviews the notion of ‘inclusion’ was repeatedly referenced with participants

suggesting that students were more engaged in lessons if they had a say in the

activities conducted in PE lessons. George advocated for the right for students to

have a say in lessons noting that:

Students now obviously want to have a choice in what they learn. Giving those

choices to especially senior students is very important.

Jason was also a firm believer in allowing students to voice their opinion

when it came to choosing games to play or the activities the class

participated in and he remarked how:

I think it’s important to allow the students to choose what activities or games

they get to participate in from time to time, particularly in a subject like PE. All

too often they enter a class and the work and activities are all predetermined so

PE is a subject where there’s room for flexibility.

Tannehill, MacPhail, Walsh and Woods (2015), underline the importance that the

voices of young people need to be heard in order to understand and comprehend

their underlying beliefs and reasoning behind their inclination to participate in

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physical activity. Such reasons include an understanding of the obstacles that stop

student participation which could vary from students being lazy or not liking the

activity to a host of other reasons and barriers in the natural physical environment

which affect student’s participation such as poor infrastructure or poor lighting

George was an advocate for students to have a say in their learning and he reflected

how:

To give students a choice about what to learn and some input into discipline is

important and following that is the point that everyone respects each other. So

that’s something that should always be defined in a classroom. Get to know

your kids and what they like and what they enjoy the lesson.

Jason also advised how:

I think it’s important to listen to your students and develop an understanding as

to how best they learn and what you as the teacher can do to help

accommodate their needs in order for them to successfully meet their desired

outcomes.

Baldwin (2015) highlights that there were a number of common characteristics which

are explicitly identified as common success factors, identified as influential for

educators to be able to teach students from diverse backgrounds, cultures and cater

for the notion of inclusion when considering student learning. These include PE

facilities, the corroboration between staff and the students themselves. George

reflects upon the importance and role of the PE Key Learning Area meetings in PE

and the collaboration where inclusion is demonstrated not only for students but also

staff as he recollects:

Our KLA meetings are very important as they enable all members of the PE

teaching team to have their say on important matters and how we can

overcome any issues or problems by developing new strategies to solve any PE

problems.

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The participants responses indicated how teacher’s professional knowledge and

teaching expertise are key factors in designing lessons that allow for student agency

and voice to include students which are most at risk of not meeting the NPAG and

how student voices were a key strategy for promoting positive reinforcement and

engaged learning behaviours. George reflected on the implementation of the school

wide positive behaviour support and its role in accounting for inclusion in PE:

School wide positive behaviour support where it’s all about positive

reinforcement and not negative reinforcement where you should praise the kids

that are doing the right thing because you know out of 25 kids, you might get 5

that are doing the wrong thing, but you still have 20 kids that are doing the right

thing, then they should be praised for that.

As outlined earlier, there is a strong association between professional expertise on

strategies to encourage PE participation’ and PE educator’s knowledge and

expertise to determine what strategies could be applied in the context of a PE lesson

in order to ensure inclusiveness for the students. The participants noted how they

prompt the students about the different strategies they may use to solve a problem

and base their lessons on overcoming problems by allowing students to solve

problem related tasks through catering to the student’s individual learning needs. Jim

outlines how:

In the year 10 curriculum we’ve got outdoor education, but we’ve also tried

catering to the needs of the other students, where students who aren’t that

physically active but are shown to be leaders can participate in the leadership

class where they actually learn how to teach others, so that’s catering for a

different type of year 10 student.

El-Sherif (2014) in a study examining students choices and participation in the

context of PE suggested that even though teachers are giving students what we

believe they need in terms of relevant tasks and activities for them to fulfil, we often

49
don’t meet the student’s expectations. He suggested that a more holistic approach

should be considered, whereby the student’s opinions and desires relating to the

relevant PE tasks and activities be heard and fulfilled. The participants felt that high

school PE programs provide the perfect environment as a means of collaboration to

take place where student’s intrinsic motivations are considered. Currently, there is a

large degree of interest in the fitness trend related to students and Jason highlighted

how his school had drawn on this to support student’s interests and create more

significant learning practices:

So a common trend that we have at our school is the teaching of fitness through

all year levels from 7-10 as year 10 being an elective, as fitness is a trend that a

lot of people are currently engaging in, we actively support this trend to the kids.

We ensure that we teach the kids the right ways to be physically active so that

they can then continue that in their own time and be educated in the right ways

to be active.

El-Sherif (2014) reflects the need to allow students to have an input in the activities

students partake in which would steer clear of the currently implemented teacher-

directed curriculum. The inadequacy of the current implementation of an outdated

unreliable teaching curriculum is reflected by Jim who suggests that:

There are a small percentage of students around say 25% that probably overall

are doing well in all subjects, so it’s assumed that they would be doing well in

PE as well. However, I feel that there is a larger lower order with low results in

our classes, due to purely the way the subject is being taught.

The participants noted how students or groups of students who are less likely to

meet the NPAG can be better engaged by allowing them to choose their own

activities or games to be played and that teachers may get the students to form in

class discussions about their ideas relating to the relevant PE tasks or activities that

they may want to participate in. The key point here would be that the students have a

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voice where they may express their ideas in the format of a forum. The participants

also noted how PE teachers need to observe any radical changes to policies relating

to inclusion and keep up to date with information regarding strategies to evoke

student participation and engagement. Considering different strategies which may be

applied to boost the individual intrinsic motivations of each student to stimulate the

students PE experiences was seen as vital to the development of best practice in PE

education.

Li et al. (2008) determined that in order to intrinsically stimulate the students to

participate in PE, the practice of teaching may be improved through a consideration

of applying a number of empowering strategies that would allow students to promote

their own independency and autonomy. This in turn provides students with

opportunities to make their own choices with regards to activities based on previous

experiences and outcomes, allows students to fulfil and share leadership roles and

lastly allows students to express themselves and be heard.

In reference to the specific data acquired during the interview process regarding

inclusiveness, the participants noted that students need to be given choices and

alternatives to curriculum mandated activities as outlined by (VCAA 2018) such as

active play and minor games, challenge and adventure activities and lifelong

physical activities which are all mandated activities. Instead lessons need to be

developed to cater to the individual needs of each student. By providing students

with the freedom to choose which games or sports they play, Tenoschok (2016)

outlined how students may fulfil their individualised developmental needs, their

cognitive skills and gross motor development by using a wide range of skills in a

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variety of different games. Additionally, they may also deprive themselves of a

developmental need if they don’t experience the others.

In consideration of the sports and activities students want to participate in, it was felt

by the participants that it would likely boost students intrinsic motivation to want to

partake in PE lessons if they activities selected were activities students like with Jim

describing that:

New sports that are coming up those kids are really interested in; things that we

can change to the curriculum next year to again engage students more in the

curriculum.

Theme four - Professional Knowledge, expertise and

strategies to encourage PE participation

In considering strategies to promote student participation in PE, the participants

discussed how including lifestyle PE to promote active and healthy has implications

for students engaging in PE:

Having students participating in physical activity is essential for their overall

health and wellbeing. We know that participating in regular physical activity has

many overall benefits to our health and so we consistently encourage students

to participate in physical activity, whilst simultaneously discouraging them from

sedentary behaviour.

Jason acknowledges that PE is a subject in which student’s rapport with their

teacher is key to engagement and therefore it is important for educators to harness

the opportunity to advocate student’s participation in PE:

They realize that they we’ve got this keen PE teacher that’s offering outside of

their own time soccer classes in which we can be physically active and if any

students are in Nick’s classes in future, they’ll think you know we’ve got a really

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 good teacher. You know he goes out of his way to offer these classes, they’ll

respect him more as a person and they’ll succeed in those PE classes.

There was a general consensus that improvising lessons and activities for students

to participate in could be used as a strategy to encourage PE participation.

Therefore, teachers should come to lessons knowing that they may need to

improvise their lesson and come up with appropriate activities on the spot which

relate to students being physically active.

Based on the professional expertise of the educators in this study including Jason,

Jim and George, they suggest that having an effective PE programme in place may

be beneficial to develop methods of engaging students in PE. Such programmes

may consider improving students ‘speed, agility, reaction time, balance, coordination

and basic movement patterns’. In addition, The American Heart Association (AHA,

2010), (cited in Brubaker 2011) refers to the recommendation that children and

adolescents will have greater life expectancies if they engage in positive behavioural

patterns in terms of their diet and physical activity, which would lead to a decrease in

the likelihood of individuals acquiring diseases in future.

Faber, Kulinna and Darst (2007) suggest six key pedagogical strategies which

should be considered in order to promote PE. These strategies include:

1) Teacher cooperation: Involves teachers and school wide personal working

alongside one another.

2) Community involvement: Involves teachers and local community partnerships

working alongside one another to create and encourage physical activity programs.

3) National Resources: Involves the support of teacher in their ability to promoting

physical activity through the use of national resources. It’s an organisation which

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enables students with the opportunity to track their own levels of physical activity

patterns through an online process which provides students with the incentive to

increase their participation.

4) Develop an incentive program: Involves teachers creating legitimate incentive

program to encourage physical activity amongst students for students to be able to

complete their daily required levels of physical activity outside of school hours.

5) Journal logs: Involves teachers keeping track of students work and assigning

students extracurricular homework tasks to facilitate in class activities.

6) Modelling: Involves teachers acting as positive ambassadors and role models to

encourage PE participation.

Based on Jason, Jim’s and George’s comments, they highlighted a multitude of

strategies which could be applied in the context of a PE lesson to reinvigorate

student’s willingness to participate in physical activity. Such strategies included:

grouping students by ability, repetition of teacher’s instructions by the students,

giving students a say in activities and reinforcing positive reinforcement. George

outlines the effectiveness of repetition when he suggests:

I think especially at a junior level, year 7’s and 8’s repetitively saying something

that’s definitely important is very effective and the kids won’t forget. So that’s

just been my experience

The most frequently repeated strategy discussed in the interview amongst the

participants was that grouping students was the most effective strategy. Grouping

students is a simple method where students are placed into groups accordingly

which can be separated in a number of ways including random groups, groups

selected on similar or shared interests between students or grouping students on

skill levels to name a few. Jason outlined the importance of this component by

highlighting his personal stance on the matter:

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 I think grouping is especially important in PE and that might take time from

actually not grouping them in PE class, but it might have to be outside of it. So I

might have to plan groups the night before, or 20 minutes prior to a lesson,

because I think grouping is especially important if they have a role they need to

fulfil, generally they’ll feel more valued as part of a team.

Theme five - Practical and theory lessons

The PE teachers interviewed spoke of their ability to engage students in both

practical and theory lessons and focused on identifying whether or not practical PE

lessons are necessarily more engaging for students than theory based lessons. Jim

suggested that:

We as a faculty, have chosen that doing the practical component is more

important for kids to participate in as mentioned earlier, to engrain in their minds

that physical activity is very important and a lifelong lifestyle choice that we want

them to have. So we’ve chosen to use that time to promote physical activity as

opposed to teaching a lot of theoretical stuff which we now start to know put into

that practical session.

Greer and Heaney (2004) reinforce how traditional methods of theory based learning

where information is distributed to students through lecture material, is a method

where passive learning takes place with little interaction or opportunity for

discussion. The general consensus of the participants in the research is outlined by

George who states:

So in regards to engagement I think again year 9’s they can’t stand theory and

we always try to push theory out because we know they only have two periods

a week. Some of the theories they go through in theory are I feel quite

important. They go through the training methods, they go through

understanding their own body, assessing their own fitness testing results and I

think it’s quite important to have that balance.

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Sheeran (2002) notes that implementing teaching models and lessons on active

learning or practical based lessons where students are able to have questions

answered, actively participate and challenge their mind through critical thinking and

cognitive reasoning are more beneficial engaging students. George highlighted that

there is an assumption or stereotype by students that PE is all practical based:

It’s hard for us to bring the kids up all a bit higher, because we aren’t teaching

the subject with the theory in there, so they aren’t able to actually apply and

demonstrate their learning to us on paper. Where the higher order kids can

probably do that just purely because they are higher order and they’re better at

applying their knowledge on paper and so I think like the question was, we do

tend to get lower results in PE due to the mindset that PE is a practical class.

Jason promotes the opportunity for engagement by reflecting the need to have both

practical and theory based activities and suggested:

I think there needs to be a nice balance between theoretical and practical to get

the best out of students especially in PE and kids need to understand this if they

want to do PE later on in their schooling in years 10, 11 and 12.

Kinchin (2011) reflects the notion that practical lessons require dynamic and active

movement and so can’t be taught in the classroom, and Yong (2012) stipulates that

there is a need for scholars to identify how practice and theory could be applied in

conjunction with one another. The interview discussions centred upon the theory and

practical components of PE and the participants noted that when planning a lesson,

student’s misconceptions were consistently persistent as students understanding of

what is involved in learning PE based on lesson outcomes can be misconstrued.

Therefore, many students believe PE is a strictly practical subject as Jim reflects by

outlining how:

In our school PE is seen as a subject where you just do sport and skill based

activities and so forth, so when we do introduce some written component, I

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 believe that students do struggle with that, due to the way we have been

teaching the subject. Now we are having to assess the kids theoretically and

through written components which is unlike how we have taught the subject.

George commented on how he promotes variety in activities/assessments:

I think a straight practical assessment isn’t always the best approach in PE,

even though our unit is of a practical nature, I think you need to have some

theoretical aspect in the assessment.

The Practical and Theory component is critical as noted by the participants who

reflect that it is a key aspect that should be considered by all teachers on levels of

engagement in physical activity by students and was a key factor that was

considered in delivering appropriate curriculum content whilst maintaining student

interest.

Theme six - Assessment in PE

The participants noted how components of assessment conducted in relation to the

VCAA curriculum require the need to assess practical and theoretical components.

As outlined earlier, there is a strong correlation between student engagement and

‘Practical and theory lessons’. Jason reflects upon the link between

practical/theoretical content and assessments by implying:

All of our assessments are theory based obviously, however what we are

starting to do is, add formative assessment tasks along the way, which includes

writing as well to test learning, prior to the actual assessment task. In the past I

have used vocabulary worksheets just quickly in class, 5-10 minute written

tasks that tests students learning. So then I can guide my future teaching

towards the assessment task, to modify what I am doing in class.

In contrast, George highlights how his school aims to implement both

theoretical and practical content in assessments:

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 There needs to be a combination of both theoretical and practical assessments

as it would be biased to have only theoretical assessments or only practical

assessments. Of course this is a challenge in itself as many students come to

PE with the unrealistic expectation that PE is purely practical.

The participants noted how a teacher may design the assessments to cater to each

individual learning task, and Jim outlines how both forms of assessments are

incorporated to provide a balance:

In one semester of teaching PE, we have one assessment task that is more

practical and one assessment task that is more theoretical.

George noted that:

We need to find the balance between engaging our students whilst also giving

them the appropriate forms of assessments to help them achieve their

outcomes in the form of practical and theory relates tasks/assessments.

Tolgfors (2018) describes the different components related to what is dubbed,

‘Assessment for Learning’, whereby, Black and Wiliam (2009) reflect the need for

‘Assessment for Learning’ to be included in the curriculum. This ensures that the

teaching is individualised to meet the student’s individual needs, which can be

accomplished through various platforms including peer and self-assessment.

Tolgfors (2018) highlights that the overall findings of ‘Assessment for Learning’

outline that it stimulated a number of processes in the student , including, increasing

autonomy, helping students reach their goals, helping students and staff to follow the

criteria and lastly helping the overall group to develop through participation. The

participants noted how assessments in PE could be developed in order to be

individualised for each specific students and reflected how teachers could develop a

number of differentiated assessments in consideration of the type of activity or game

which is played.

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The theme of assessment itself is a critical component in promoting engagement in

PE, as outlined by Wiggins and McTighe (2011) who reflect the need for good

assessment and evaluation to be considered throughout the development of the

curriculum at the teaching/instructional stage. George reflects upon the need to keep

such assessments consistent:

As for assessment, we follow the same guidelines in which the VCAA guidelines

haven’t changed. We try to keep it consistent between all the teachers. We try

to have the same consistent approach where we have the same game. So for

each assessment we have a game that assesses the kids and in that game we

try to have consistency with each teacher so that each teacher assesses each

student in the same way as another teacher would.

George considers the importance of assessments for engaging students by

indicating:

I think when you look at the curriculum, they’ve got their skill as a component

that they’re assessed on, they’ve got teamwork and fair play. So it is fair and

there’s a point where they are assessed on improvement, so it’s not all about

the best student in class that can throw a ball or kick a ball or getting a mark,

there’s other areas that they are assessed on.

Consistency amongst assessments and how to keep assessment fair and unbiased

were seen as key to promoting and maintaining student participation in PE.

Assessment connected to inclusion was also considered important as the two

components overlap when taking into account engagement (and how educators

ensure students are participating in lessons) whilst simultaneously meeting

curriculum standards through assessment.

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Conclusions:
The intention behind this thesis was to investigate the role male physical education

teacher’s play in promoting engagement amongst secondary high school students. In

undertaking the study, the research data proposes that the pedagogy for engaging

students in PE has to be revised in accordance with the situated context in which

lessons are being delivered. As such, there are many overlapping themes which

impact upon students overall ability to stay motivated and engaged in PE. The

pedagogical approach to combat issues of engagement and inclusion shouldn’t

solely focus upon one method or theme, but rather consider a more holistic approach

which recognises the need to implement and apply the six emerging themes. These

themes were determined to found to be effective in promoting engagement and so

should be considered by educators.

Based on the participant’s narratives, the findings outline that the most at risk groups

of students who are unlikely to meet the recommended NPAG are those students

that are conscious of their body image and students who suffer from a lack of

intrinsic motivation. Therefore, the implication of the research is that PE teachers

may inherently positively affect student participation rates in PE by adapting their

pedagogies. Methods which educators may choose to implement include giving

students a say in what type of activity or games they’d like to play, having PE

facilities and equipment which are up to date and limiting the amount of in class

theory related activity and replacing them with practical based activities.

Based on current policy trends and how PE teachers interpret such policy changes in

order to sustain student engagement, there was a general consensus that accessing

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the policy documents was a relatively complex task and the participants reflected

that they didn’t really have the time to be examining policy documents as they had

other work which had to be completed and so this wasn’t their primary task.

Therefore, it can be suggested that there needs to be a larger emphasis placed on

the communication amongst policy developers and teachers, enabling the policy

documents which are passed at a federal level to then be passed onto the state and

local governments so that educators have the most recent up to date information

regarding effective teaching methods.

In consideration of the six emerging themes outlined in this thesis, the implications

for PE practice is that if the government and educators may fail to consider the

factors that impede participation in schooled physical activity the likelihood that

students will disengage from PE will drastically increase. Listed below are the six key

emerging themes:

1) Contributors to student disengagement: Facilities

2) Intrinsic/extrinsic motivations: Body image, Curriculum and Teachers

3) Inclusion in PE: Empowering students by giving them choices

4) Professional Knowledge, expertise and strategies to encourage PE participation

5) Practical and theory lessons

6) Assessment in PE

Based on the data, it was found that there wasn’t one clear theme to follow which

would lead to improving the overall engagement of high school students in the

context of PE. Instead, educators should combine a number of key components from

each theme in order to successfully account for issues surrounding engagement,

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inclusion and differentiation. A holistic proactive approach should be considered in

which more than one theme is used to combat potential disengagement issues from

occurring.

It is an important role of the PE teacher to promote a learning environment whereby

student’s interests and learning outcomes are placed at the forefront. The difficulty in

writing this thesis was acknowledging that there is no one correct method of

engaging students in the content of PE. Instead it’s clear that a combination of a

variety of teaching methods is the most effective method of ensuring students are

able to learn to their maximal potential and are therefore sufficiently challenged.

Perhaps in future research, this may be explored further by identifying why certain

students learn more effectively when challenged, while other students give up

altogether. How do we draw the fine line between challenging students appropriately

whilst simultaneously keeping them engaged?

Recommendations for future research:

Recommendations to consider in future research studies would be to examine the

differences between past and current teaching curriculums in the context of PE. This

would enable us to understand how the PE curriculum can be modified to make it

more reflective and connected to young people’s interests and preferences for being

involved in physical activity.

Future research could be conducted to determine whether or not the data and

research findings based on the Australian curriculum are the same or at least similar

in another region in Australia, or what changes or trends could be identified.

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Another recommendation for future research would be to gain a perspective of the

students themselves in order to identify what intrinsically motivates their ability to

engage in schooled physical activity.

Limitations of the study:

As part of the limitations which accompanied the research study, there was a small

scale sample group consisting of only 3 participants. This meant that this report may

have not accurately depicted the range of issues which male PE teachers face in

their day to day lessons over the course of their teaching tenure. This could be for a

number of reasons including the inability for the participants to have disclosed

particular information which could have potentially been of significance to this report

and the limited nature of the research due to its small sample group.

Implications for practice:

Based on the overall findings of this research project, the themes identified which

considered implications for future PE practice suggest that the Sport Education

model was the ideal model to consider issues such as inclusion and equal

opportunities as well as the application of the cooperative learning style or student

centred pedagogy. In addition, the research highlighted that having teachers who are

supportive, sympathetic and able to converse and collaborate with students

contributed to greater engagement in class.

With regards to the delivery of the PE curriculum the research signified that in the

context of high school, the characterisation of the six emerging themes identifies that

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student’s inclination to participate in PE are affected by a number of reasons. These

include: the facilities a schools has access to, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations such

as student’s body image, the curriculum and their teachers and lastly whether or not

the notion of inclusion is considered. Though the interview data in this research

suggested both schools had adequate PE facilities, it should be noted that overall,

there should be a greater emphasis placed on the PE facilities at schools. This is

because facilities contribute to the intrinsic motivation levels of student’s

participation in PE.

Furthermore, students need to be provided with a greater opportunity to seize control

of their own learning which can be achieved through undertaking various sporting

roles which accompany a specific sporting game. This may include students acting

as coaches, referees or players and enables all students to participate regardless

including students who may be injured for example. Additionally, where possible,

educators should be granted the opportunity to make logical based changes to

implement based on individual circumstances such as changing the roles of the

students if they’re struggling in a particular role or assisting them to help them

understand what’s required in that role.

64
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