PLANNING FOR MOTOR LEARNING

THE CASE OF 5-8TH GRADE STUDENTS’ AND THEIR TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCES

Abstract

The traditional approach to teaching motor skills in physical education
(PE) has been criticized for overemphasizing technical execution and physi-
cal attributes of children. What and how students’ gain from PE experiences
plays a central role in the value they place on physical activity.
The purpose of the study was to compare and contrast 10-–14 year-old
students’ PE experiences and goals with those of their PE teachers and
statements of the National Core Curriculum. Data were gathered from all
state primary schools from in and around Eger city, Hungary (N=13). Alto-
gether we collected 1.073 open-ended questionnaires from 5-8th students,
interviewed the head Physical Education teacher from all schools (3 hours
each), and analyzed the National Core Curriculum (NCC). Questions were
focused on PE experiences as related to content, process, learning, goals, and
hopes. Qualitative and statistical analyses showed that open-ended skills
(e.g. ball games) were a significantly more popular in all aspects in both
teachers and students than closed skills (e.g. gymnastics).
Although both National and local curriculum state that PE, among others,
should focus on students’ skill level, enjoyment, and interest, students’ ex-
periences, ideas and hopes didn’t play a significant role in teachers’ planning
for learning.
The results suggest that students don’t have sufficient ownership in the
teaching-learning process and have a little chance to become active partici-
pants in goal-setting.