Students’ Attitudes Toward Assessment in Physical Education

Abstract

Despite the recent increase in attention on studies focusing on different types of assessment of student participation in physical education (PE), there is little research concerning students’ attitudes toward the PE assessment process. This study aimed to investigate students’ attitudes toward assessment procedures in PE by developing and validating a quantitative instrument concerning crucial areas of pedagogy such as curriculum, teachers, grading, and fitness tests. It further investigates important attitude determinants such as grade level and gender differences. The scale was distributed to 1,403 students in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 10th grades. Principal components analysis showed an eigenvalue factor greater than 1, which accounted for 47% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded satisfactory indices that confirmed the unidimensional model with high internal consistency (α = .84). A two-way analysis of variance revealed a significant difference between the 7th and 10th grades. At the same time, students expressed a high level of positive attitudes toward the different aspects of assessment procedures. The study examined various aspects of students’ attitudes toward assessment and resulted in a reliable, valid, and easy-to-use quantitative instrument that can be used by educators and researchers to assess students’ attitudes toward assessment in PE.