The study examines the association between students' level of physical fitness and experiences of being "seen" by their physical education (PE) teachers, by interviewing 26 high school students (13 with low physical fitness, and 13 with high physical fitness). The analyses indicated that being seen in PE seems to be related to experienced opportunities for students to display their skills, teachers' caring behaviors, feedback from teachers, and the quality and tone of dialogue with teachers. The results showed that, whereas all 13 students with a high level of physical fitness experienced being seen by their PE teachers, only six students with a low level of physical fitness had the same experience. These findings suggest that PE teachers possess a limited narrative of their students with a low level of physical fitness. The results may also indicate the prevalence of a pedagogical approach, according to which teachers focus more on physically-fit students. Overall, teachers seem to play a key role in determining whether students experience being seen. The results have important implications for both teacher education and PE education in schools.

No abstract

The term relative age effect (RAE) refers to age differences between athletes within the same cohort, and is frequently found within a plethora of sports. Less clear than the actual occurrence of the effect has been the strength of the effect across, and within, different sports, and also variations across sex, age, and skill level. In this study, we analyzed birth dates among the fifty top ranked alpine skiers in the World Cup system over the last twenty years. The analysis included both male (n ¼ 238) and female skiers (n ¼ 235) grouped into either a speed group (downhill and Super-G) or a technical group (slalom and giant slalom) based on World Cup points. The results show an RAE among the male skiers in the speed disciplines. No significant RAEs were found in men specializing in technical disciplines, and none at all in women. This finding demonstrates that the RAE can vary across subdisciplines within alpine skiing at the elite level.

The Relative Age Effect (RAE) can be described as the advantage of being born early after a certain cut-off date within a group of selection. The effect has been found across a wide range of sports and is particularly evident in pre-elite sports and team sports with a high selection pressure. At the absolute top level in team elite sports, the advantage of being relatively older has been reported to disappear, and even reverse, so that the relatively younger athletes are advantaged. In order to further examine such a reversal of the RAE, we investigated the performance of the overall top 50 skiers each year in the alpine World Cup, over a period of 20 years, among men (N = 234) and women (N = 235). The data indicated that the relatively younger male athletes at the absolute top level had accumulated, on average, more World Cup points compared to the relatively older skiers. No such effect was observed among the female skiers. This finding suggest the existence of a reversed relative age effect in male elite alpine skiing.

Students' views on the purpose of physical education in upper secondary school.Physical education as a break in everyday school life -learning or just fun?Previous research shows that students have a widespread understanding about the purpose of physical education (PE), including learning about movement, health and also PE as a break from other school subjects. The present study aims at examining more closely the break perspective in light of interview data from 26 students, whose statements in interviews that focused on PE in upper secondary school in Norway, reveal that the view of PE as a break from other school lessons is also a valid understanding among students when they are approaching the end of PE in their schooling. We have asked what kind of learning the students' views on PE as a break from other school subject are, or may be, in light of the Norwegian curriculum in PE in upper secondary school and to changes in the 2012 curriculum, which aimed to reduce performance stress and too much hunt for good grades. We present two interpretations of the interview texts -PE as 'the movement moment' in everyday school life, and participating in fun activities together with good friends, and a third interpretation, which we describe as a relatively invisible view of knowledge goals among the students about training and lifestyle and critical awareness about sport cultures in the society. We argue that a view of PE as 'a movement moment' in everyday school life contributes to modifying the view on PE as a break from other school subjects and to seeing it as a relevant learning perspective. On the other hand, a modified break-perspective should be merged with knowledge and critical lenses on training, health, lifestyle and sport cultures in society, so that the students' views on the purpose of PE all in all contain important knowledge and reflections they should have, according to the Norwegian curriculum in PE.