School Directors

6. Teach elements of behaviour change during physical education classes

Physical education programs have the responsibility to teach skills that students will need to participate in physical activity outside of the physical education class and skills they will need for a lifetime of physical activity. Skills learned in physical education class transfer to skills used in a child’s play. From the kindergarten-age child playing tag, to the second grade child jumping rope, to the older child playing a game of kickball, the skilled child is more likely to participate in physical activity. If a child is confident in his or her skills, there is typically no hesitation to play; however, the low-skilled child, especially in the upper grades, is less inclined to take part in group activities for fear of failure and peer ridicule. Students need skills to be participants in physical activity.

Good physical education programs take the time to teach children activities they may do on their own. Examples of these are jump rope chants, nonelimination tag games, hopscotch, Four Square, tetherball, and basketball activities such as Horse and Around the World. Including these activities briefly in a physical education class and then encouraging children to play them on their own is likely to promote more physical activity on the playground and in their neighborhoods.

Another role of PE programs is to encourage and motivate children to be active. There are many ways to do this, including promoting community activities, assigning physical activity homework or home fun, showing an interest in the out-of-class physically activity in which children participate, and leading by example

Learning Objective

The learning objective of this step is to give school directors the knowledge and skills how to use sport to initiate and support behavioral change in students. This step is to show school directors sport can be a means to tackle on the one hand problems with behavior (like violence in school) and on the other it can be a means to be used for the building of social and other necessary competences in students.

Online Resources

• The Role and Responsibilities of the Physical Education Teacher in the School Physical Activity ProgramAn article that suggest specific activity from the PE teacher in terms of developing additional skills in students, in addition to the motor and other PE skills.
• Approaches to physical education in schoolsThe document reviews different approaches to PE programs in schools and the skills and knowledge they give to students.
• Behavior change: Physical (in) ActivityThe report provides an outline of the challenge of enhancing levels of physical activity.
• Physical Activity Behaviour: An Overview of Current and Emergent Theoretical PracticesPhysical activity research has been dominated by traditional cognitive rationale paradigms utilized within other domains. Though this approach to physical activity behavior has greatly enhanced our understanding of the key determinants, it has done little to eradicate the health problems we currently face. In order to achieve lasting change though, multilevel interventions may prove more effective.
• Motivation, Disciplined behaviour, Equal Treatment and Dispositional Flow in Physical Education StudentsThe purpose of this study is to analyse the possible relations between dispositional goal orientations, perceived motivational climate, discipline, coeducation and the flow state in physical education students.