Background:Many adolescent girls have low levels of physical activity and participation declines with age. This review identifies recent correlates of physical activity in adolescent girls.Methods:Systematic review of papers published 1999 to mid-2003. Papers (k = 51) reporting a measure of physical activity and at least one potential correlate of physical activity in adolescent girls were analyzed.Results:Demographics related to physical activity were female gender (–), non-white ethnicity (–), age (–), and socio-economic status (+). Psychological correlates positively associated with physical activity were enjoyment, perceived competence, self-efficacy, and physical self-perceptions. Behavioral correlates showed that smoking was associated with lower and organized sport involvement with greater activity. Physical activity was associated with parental and family support but we found no consistent trends for environmental variables. Effects were small-to-moderate.Conclusions:Modifiable correlates for adolescent girls clustered around “positive psychology,” organized sport involvement, and the family.

The purpose of this paper is to consider four pedagogical applications within the Sport Education model to examine the ways in which a young person can become a literate sports person and develop ethical behaviour through engagement in physical education and youth sport. Through a systematic review of the Sport Education research literature we present evidence to suggest that although notions such as inclusion, responsibility and ownership, personal and social development and social justice are part of the architecture of this pedagogical model, our findings show that rather than simply being caught, ethical conduct must be taught. Consequently, in the final part of the paper, we present four pedagogical applications within Sport Education that physical education teachers as well as youth sport practitioners and administrators may find useful to promote ethical development: (1) ethical contracts; (2) sports panels; (3) modified games; and (4) awards and rewards

This article focuses on the effects of pupils' social involvement goals and the peer culture on behaviour and participation in physical education (PE). The extent to which sport education (SE) disrupted peer power relations and reconfigured dominant social groupings is examined and the potential of SE to establish a culture in PE where pupils of both genders value participation in PE and sport is discussed. The article draws on data gathered during a seven-month case study with Year 7 pupils (age 11-13 years) in mixed and single-sex PE classes in one secondary school in the East Midlands as pupils followed their traditional PE curriculum for a term and followed an SE season for an additional term. It explores how peer interaction, acceptance, and rejection contribute to the development of team affiliation. Analysis of the data suggests that the social goals pupils bring to the PE class are important determinants of participation in PE, and that over the course of an SE season the salience of particular goals were gradually modified.

The discourse of competitive sport is, and has been, a defining feature of physical education for many years. Given the privileged and dominant position competition holds in physical education curricula, it is concerning that competitive physical education remains steeped in traditional pedagogies and that these pedagogies are constrained by teachers' everyday philosophies rather than any explicit understanding of pedagogy or the needs of pupils. This in turn affects pupils' experiences of physical education and specifically the type and form of activities that are offered to pupils. Physical education teachers' biographies generally show a profound attachment to sport, and in particular competitive sport, and the value of competitive sport is significant in the lives and identities of physical education recruits. However, there is a paucity of research specifically in relation to in-service and pre-service physical education teacher's beliefs about competition and its place in physical education. It is well documented that the implicit theories that pre-service, beginning and experienced teachers hold influence their reactions to teacher education and their teaching practice, with their beliefs acting as a filter through which a host of instructional judgements and decisions are made. Thus, it is important to understand pre-service physical education teachers' (PSTs') beliefs about competition. Thirty five (16 men, 15 women, 4 unknown) PSTs completed a reflective journal alongside their participation in a University-based module focused on models-based practice. The data generated were analysed using the procedures and techniques of grounded theory which revealed five major themes grouped in the discussion under the sub-categories of: (1) defining competition; (2) learning through competition; (3) competitive physical education and the sporting pathway; (4) competition needs to be got out of children; and (5) a little competition. The discussion challenges how we transform traditional views of competition and the competitive practices that alienate some young people from physical education.

While sport education has the capacity to develop competent players, different levels of teacher guidance and learners' instructional responsibility are necessary when teaching tactics.