Young women's experiences of physical education

Abstract

Some New Zealand research had found that girls had less favourable attitudes towards physical education than boys and that their level of participation was noticeably lower. I felt that motivating girls to participate in physical activity and maintaining their interest may be a problem that teachers need to deal with. I also shared the concerns of education and recreation professionals that girls were not being provided with equitable opportunities in physical education and physical recreation. My research investigated the feelings, beliefs and knowledge which fifth form girls had about physical education and the factors which influenced their experiences of it. I observed physical education lessons and conducted in-depth interviews with fifteen students from three types of school: an urban co-educational school, an urban girls' school and a rural co-educational school. In my discussion of the findings of my research, I chose to concentrate on the issues that emerged as being most important to the respondents. These were: physical education uniforms, the attitudes of students towards each other, co-educational or single sex classes, self-confidence, and the influence of teachers. All or some of the aforementioned issues contributed in some way to physical education being either a positive or negative experience for the respondents. These findings have implications for teachers of physical education: there is much that concerned teachers can do to ensure that their female students gain maximum benefit and enjoyment from physical education.