Student’s Voice Online: Experiences of PE in Finnish Schools

Abstract

The aim of this descriptive study was to find out how people describe their experiences of physical education (PE) in Internet discussion forums. The data for this study were collected during one randomly chosen week in April 2007 via a Google™ search using the Finnish word "koululiikunta" [school PE]. The first 200 hits lead into nine discussion forums, which were analysed by using qualitative content analysis. These nine discussion forums included all together 356 messages. For searching these discussion forums no criteria about the writers' age, race, class, gender or other were set. The messages were coded with sequential classification and grouped into positive, negative and both positive and negative messages. The results revealed that the messages were positive (12%), both (24%) and negative (64%). In the positive messages the focus was on physical education in general and the experiences were more related to the writer him/herself. In the negative messages the emphasis was on factors external to the writer. The writers' messages, in particular where they reported negative experiences revealed strongly held feelings and emotions. We need to widen our understanding of the relationship between PE and the contents of teacher education curriculum to guarantee every pupil the opportunity to have positive experiences in PE. These, in turn, help to create a basis for life-long physical activity and a positive relation to one's body, the main target of PE. In PE one's own body and feelings are intensively involved at a time when vivid and memorable experiences are taking place for a young person and lasting damage can easily be done. Teachers should listen to students' voices and consider what lies behind them in order to develop PE pedagogy and a safe PE learning environment.

School PE through Internet discussion forums

“…To ensure reliability, the data were coded twice and in case of unclear or ambiguous messages our research team classified them as a team in order to avoid subjectivity. A detailed description of the categorization process is given in Lauritsalo, Sääkslahti, and Rasku-Puttonen (2012).…”

“…In her alienation -non-alienation model, extrinsic factors (teacher personality and behaviour, curriculum, class environment and out-of-school influences) as well as intrinsic factors (ability, self-esteem and student beliefs) combined to yield the meaning the classes have for students . Earlier research that listened to the voices of the writers in Internet discussion forums relating to PE (Lauritsalo, Sääkslahti, and Rasku-Puttonen 2012) showed that negative experiences were more common in that environment than positive ones. We argue that it is important to know more about the extrinsic and intrinsic factors that underlie these experiences and learn from them for the benefit of future teacher education.…”

Satisfaction and preferences of PE students and the head of the PE department: meeting the new curricular expectations

“…PE programs around the world are under strong pressure to demonstrate that their practices are effective in preparing students for successful healthy active lifelong living (Lauritsalo, Saakslahti, & Rasku-Puttonen, 2012). Hungary is no exception.…”

“…Political and societal pressures are placing PE programs under strong pressure to demonstrate that their practices are effective in promoting learning and preparing students for successful healthy active lifelong living (Lauritsalo, Saakslahti, & Rasku-Puttonen, 2012). Ha et al (2004) highlighted that certain curricular changes are aimed at transforming PE from a skill-oriented curriculum to a more comprehensive educational-developmental and health-related curriculum.…”

Participation Styles in Elementary Physical Education

“…Research conducted by Lauritsalo, Sääkslahti, & Rasku-Puttonen (2012), however, outlined some factors that determined both positive and negative attitudes toward PE. This is nothing new.…”