Teachers' perceptions of physical education content and influences on gender differences

Abstract

Boys and girls do not show the same interest in physical education classes. Teachers are the architect so that such participation can achieve the educational and social benefits purported by physical education. The aim of this study was to analyze whether teachers perceive that some contents are more appropriate for boys, excluding girls' participation. The methodology combines two instruments: a questionnaire and a semistructured interview. Participants were 18 Spanish secondary education teachers (14 males and 4 females) of physical education. Teachers think there is still a masculine approach to physical education classes. The boys prefer sports and physical fitness contents, whereas the girls prefer expressive contents, especially dancing. Teachers' suggestions to improve girls' participation are provided that most girls usually grant less importance to the more competitive physical education contents, whereas the majority of boys are more participative and they hardly help the girls. This means that teachers should present the benefits of physical activity in such a way that fulfills their educational purpose.

Influencing factors on planning decisionmaking among Spanish in-service Physical Education teachers.A population-based study

“…Nevertheless, these types of studies usually report results based on qualitative data, and in this above commented study, the results did not mean that male and female teachers planned in a different way, but that they reported different explanations for their planning. Moreover, in studies centered on the preferences of particular contents in the PE of teachers and students, differences were found regarding gender showing that males and females preferred sports and expression contents, respectively (Castejón & Giménez, 2015). The CIPEF questionnaire does not detect differences in the type of content planned by PE teachers, but in the factors that could influence in the planning of it (content or any other element belonging to planning that are not specified in the questionnaire).…”

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“…Curriculum proposals are therefore often anchored to stereotypes and the idea that sports have to be proposed as they are socialised (Fisette, 2013;Castejón & Giménez, 2015;Kirk, 2014). In school, cultural transmission, interconnected with current culture and leading values, including the idea of gender (Biemmi,2015) reflects on the hidden curriculum (Musi, 2015).…”

“…This aspect implies the responsibility linked to negative experiences , in PE, as predicting a sedentary lifestyle linked to motor inadequacy of self-efficacy. There is growing consensus on the necessity of curriculum negotiation in a way that girls can take part in the social construction of gender through PE (Castejón & Giménez, 2015).…”

“…Using a language that gives values also to female experiences means leaving the androcentric vision that has characterised sports until today (Musi, 2015;Talbot, 2010). This is true for both verbal and non-verbal language, including for instance preferences given to male students to show abilities to the class, game time (del Castillo et al, 2012), the use of machines, the time and channel of communication, and also more time for kinaesthetic communication (Fisette, 2013;Castejón & Giménez, 2015;Kirk, 2014). These practices carry messages in favour of one gender.…”

Identification of High School Physical Education Teacher Assessment Model

“…These results can help physical education teachers plan different lesson classes. The same thing expressed by Castejon in the implementation of physical education sometimes boys are more likely to like sports and physical, while girls prefer expressive content, especially dancing [5]. This means that teachers are required to be more creative in presenting physical activity.…”