Factors Influencing Physical Education

Analysing different factors which can affect the enjoyment of Physical Education lessons in school boys aged 11-16.

Introduction

More and more increasingly attendance in Physical Education lessons is declining, specifically in boy’s lessons (Jimmy H 2003). This is becoming more and more of a problem because the government are continually trying to stop this from becoming more of a problem by first making the Physical Education lessons part of the core curriculum and by increasing the amount of hours each week. It is seen as a growing problem in the United Kingdom because obesity in children has reason and Physical Education is seen as having a direct influence on reducing this problem in children with such concepts as the cult of athleticism

They educate the children in how to have a balanced diet, help them to sample different sports and ultimately help them to have a more rich and fulfilling life in sport after school and when they leave at the end of year eleven. It is important for the children to learn the complex components in their body that are involved in fitness in order for them to become more active in and out of school and more aware of the positive effects physical exercise can have on the body and help to tackle childhood obesity. It is important to discuss what makes a PE lesson fun and increase the attendance in lessons to help them to become more active and healthy outside of school life.

There have been many other previous reports on the matter of enjoyment in schools due to the actual importance of researching the topic but most are carried out in the United States of America so must be looked at differently as they have a different school system to the United Kingdom and have different curriculums. This is why it is important to consider the impact of

The main primary research undertaken in studying the enjoyment of PE was observation. According to Robson (2002) there are two main types of observation techniques. Participant observation, which involves the person observing a group to have a role in the practise which is being observed and structure observation, which is carried out by a ‘detached’ observer. The main type of observation undertaken in this report was detached observation, where notes were taken whilst watching PE lessons being delivered and noticing the responses of children and also, as importantly, the attendance and reasons given for not attending. Participant observing, however, was also undertaken from time to time to get a broad understanding and knowledge of the subject. There is, however, problems with both types of observation which can question the accuracy and reliability of the findings, specifically in this type of report where the enjoyment of something is being noted. For example, detached observation is very opinion based and must define before beginning the observations what constitutes as enjoyment and how to distinguish whether or not a pupil is enjoying a particular lesson. A very obvious problem with participant observation is that it could easily be influenced by the participant (Jorgensen D 1989). While a