A motivational analysis of a season of Sport Education

Abstract

Background:The Sport Education curriculum model with its goals to develop competent, literate and enthusiastic sportspersons has been gaining popularity across the globe. To date, studies have yet to investigate the objective motivational climate of Sport Education. Aims: The purpose of this study was to measure and describe the objective motivational climate of a Sport Education season conducted in a Russian school. Method: The participants in this study were 21 ninth-grade Russian students (12 boys and 9 girls) who did not have any previous experience with Sport Education. The teacher in the study was a Russian native who had 4 years of experience teaching and researching Sport Education in schools and colleges across the USA and Russia. The study took place in a public coeducational school located in a city (population 300,000) in the central part of Russia. Classes met three times a week for the entire academic quarter (6 weeks) for a total of 18 lessons, and each lesson was scheduled for 40 minutes. The TARGET (task, authority, recognition and evaluation, grouping and timing) motivational climate variables were collected by analyzing the video of every lesson. The data collection protocol included identifying and coding 'mastery', 'neither', and 'performance' variables of each TARGET structure. The computerized software, BEST, used in data collection allowed recordings of multiple and overlapping frequency behaviors as well duration behaviors. Following the protocol of Morgan and colleagues, the mean percentage of 'mastery', 'performance' and 'neither' teaching behaviors were calculated for each of the TARGET categories individually in each phase of the Sport Education season (skill practice, practice competition, formal competition) as well as the total for the entire season. The mean percentages of frequency of coded behaviors for task, recognition/evaluation, and timing were calculated, whereas mean percentages of duration of coded behaviors were calculated for the authority, grouping and time structures of TARGET. Results:The results of video analysis demonstrated that this Sport Education season had more mastery-oriented and less performance-oriented teacher behaviors. The objective motivational climate of skill practice and practice competition phase had more of a mastery-oriented climate, while performance TARGET behaviors in the competition phase were more prevalent. Conclusion: The overall objective motivational climate of this Sport Education season was neither mastery-oriented nor performance-oriented, but rather an intermingling of the two approaches. Consequently, teachers must be cognizant of the motivational climate and understand which elements in Sport Education contribute to the mastery climate and which to performance climate. Since a mastery climate is positively related to a range of positive student outcomes, it is crucial to stay true to the model when teaching, Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 17:25 22 December 2014recognize the elements that contribute to performance orientatio...

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“…These researches assessed the impact of SE on PSTs' autonomous instruction (89) and daily motivational climate (103) . Additionally, the studies by Alexander and Luckman (1) , and Kinchin, Wardle, Roderick, and Sprosen (59) were based on data collection in one sole moment in time (post-participation).…”

“…The impact of SE on enthusiasm has been tested empirically mainly in reference to motivational outcomes. These studies have been primarily focused on measuring the perceived and objective climates of SE seasons (e.g., 103,119) and motivational changes that take place over a SE season (e.g., 102,106,116) . Some research has compared students' motivation within SE and in direct instruction/multi-activity units (e.g., 73,82) .…”

“…From the pre-post test data collection protocols centred exclusively on SE, the main part evaluated performance and knowledge outcomes (skill development, game play, and tactical understanding) (e.g., 26,52,69,74) and students' motivational responses (e.g., 50,102,119) . A few other studies focused on the effects of SE on participation in leisure-time physical activity (116)(117)(118) , social values development (e.g., 27) , participation and game involvement (e.g., 41,117) , students' role-playing (referees) (65) , physical activity levels (54) , and PSTs' autonomous instruction (89) .…”

“…These measures included pre-post test inventories (e.g., perceived autonomy support (118) ), surveys (e.g., examining the autobiographical memories of students' experiences of three years of participation in SE (104) ), questionnaires (e.g., basic psychological needs and sportsmanship (73) ), or used the situational intrinsic motivation scale (95; e.g., 102,106,119) .…”

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“…Furthermore, teachers must be cognizant of the motivational climate and understand which elements contribute to the mastery climate and which contribute to the performance climate because climate is positively related to positive student outcomes (Sinelnikov and Hastie, 2010).…”