Effectiveness of Physical Education Training Programs in Primary Schools - Essay Example

? Research Proposal Inserts His/Her Inserts Table of Contents Review of Research 3-5 2) Rationale for thestudy 5-6 3) Research Objectives 6-7 4) Research Question(s) 7-8 5) Research Design and Procedures 8 a) Research design i) Secondary Sources 8-9 ii) Primary Sources 9 b) Sample 9-10 c) Procedures 10 d) Data Gathering and Analysis 11 e) Ethical Considerations 11 f) Resources 12 Appendix References Title: Effectiveness of Physical Education Training Programs in Primary Schools Word Count: 2,512 Review of the Research In recent years the term training has come into common use with sports coaching. This term is associated with enlightened and good practice which aims at developing coaches’ knowledge and skills in a given sports (Bompa, 2000). But it will be realized that in other disciplines the concept has come under sharp criticism in respect of its positive claims which are largely unfounded. For example, Colley not long ago concluded that existing research evidence scarcely justifies mentoring use on such a massive scale, and the movement has not yet developed a clear theoretical base which underpins policy or practice (Colley, 2003). Further, Colley considers most models of training to have been based on what can be described as crude and simplistic concept of empowerment. Thus the mentor is viewed as the most powerful member, thanks to his or her greater age or experience, and the trainee as relatively devoid of power, in anticipation of delegation and trust from the trainer (Colley, 2003). For Colley this conceptualization is problematic because it views power as a commodity possessed and passed on by individuals. Additionally the use of quantitative methods to research physical education training activity has led to highly simplified analysis and eventually category creation (Colley 2003).Thus it impossible to understand how training relationships actually develop. More so, it provides a limited view of what tends to happen as opposed to the endowed possibilities of what can happen (Colley 2003). Despite its notorious potential and the willingness of many to indulge into its accompanying rhetoric then, clarity in relation to the concept of teaching physical education at primary schools and what it actually it takes in practice continues to be limited (Ward & Doutis, 1999). When history is considered it is realized that successful physical education programs have one thing in common and that is that they all use history as a learning process. Example those who prepared and developed the modern physical education programs in the US have benefited from teaching philosophies of Europe (Fromyhr, 1995). Universally, the first modern efforts in order to train contemporary physical education teachers started in the 18Th Century in Europe and in the USA (Armour & Yelling, 2007). In the Ottoman Empire, the subjects of physical education entered the Curriculum in 1846 under the name of Gymnastics (Tiwari, 2007). Therefore Selim Sirri Tarcan attended the Heyet-I Ilmiye which was assembled in 1923 and succeeded in integrating one year long the was termed as physical education teachers school into the government program (Tiwari, 2007). These efforts for training sports instructors or tutors continued by the assistance of three instructors, one woman, two men; Inge Nerman, Ranger Jonson and Sven Alezanderson who were called from Sweden and with the 3,5-9 months lasting courses of physical education teachers during the years (Horne, 1921). From 1932 to1933, a three year long physical education department was commenced at the Gazi Education Institution in Turkey to train teachers for secondary and high school levels. It was the only institution until 1966 to1967 (Zeigler, 1973). A majority of studies have shown the positive influence that physical activity has on students’ academic performance and these are measured by improved grades and standardized test scores (Maher, 2006) . In a research brief published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2007), 11 of 14 published studies between the year 1967 and the year 2006 found a positive relationship between regular participation in physical activity and improved academic performance. In a 2003 longitudinal study which compared self-report data from the California Healthy Kids Survey with several standardized measures of academic performance, it was discovered that the California schools with high percentages of students who never participated in regular physical activity experienced smaller subsequent gains in SAT-9 test scores than those schools with more active students (Trudeau & Shephard, 2008) . This simply means that schools with students who reported the highest levels of physical activity also displayed the greatest gains in standardized test scores. Even though it is not vivid if several of these studies controlled adequately for socioeconomic status (Maher, 2006) (Thomas et al., 2008); (F & PJ, 2008) some actually did (Trudeau & Shephard, 2008), thus suggesting the association between physical activity and academic performance is not due merely to differences in socioeconomic status of the pupils. Rationale for the study The rationale for the study is to explore the effectiveness of the current programs that apply at majority primary schools. One of the main the purposes of this research is to find out to what extent the physical education teacher training programs that are presently used by those higher institutions are effectively and successfully training and preparing physical education teachers to teach at primary schools. It is important to appreciate the fact that the Physical Education Teacher Education programs for eight-year mandatory primary schools are monitored and constituted through the Department for Education (Armour & Yelling, 2004). On the other hand, the physical education curriculum for educating teachers are administered centrally and monitored by the Department for Education (Armour & Yelling, 2004). It is mostly thought that currently most physical education teachers are ill prepared to successfully teach physical education courses at the primary schools (Woods et al., 2000). To this end, special programs for improving the quality of physical education and training sports teachers to teach high level physical education and sports subjects at 8-year compulsory primary education schools are needed (Stodolsky, 1993). Education is defined as planned and programmed process aimed at bringing about the desired changes in behavior of pupils. The basic elements of education are the student and the teacher. In addition to lecturing, the role of a teacher should be directed mostly towards guiding and advising the pupil. The same applies when it comes to teaching physical education and sports. There is a need for Physical Education teachers to guide students according to their interest and skills. In order to achieve the desired social, mental, psychological and psychometric development, the sports tutor needs to be creative and develop important student- specific tasks to improve individual creativity of various age groups of pupils (National Association for Sport and Physical Education , 2005). Importance must be given to the programs that deal with children at early stages of life. Hence, there is a need for modernization of the programs to improve both the ability of teachers to teach effective physical education subjects and the effectiveness of program tools which will be used in this process. Research Objectives The research is intended to achieve the following objectives 1. To bring to the attention of the stakeholders the importance, value and the need to appreciate physical education lessons 2. To explore the existing training programs available for sports instructors at primary schools 3. To identify the shortcomings of these programs 4. To explore alternative training programs 5. To identify the effectiveness of these programs 6. To conclude whether improved physical education training of instructors translates to improved performance of primary school students at physical education 7. To conclude whether or not improved performance of primary school students at physical education translates into improved mental performance as measured by test scores Research Problem/ Questions The problem in question is to identify, explore and describe the relationship between improved physical education training of instructors and improved performance of primary school students at physical education. For this purpose the following research questions have been framed: 1) Do primary schools have trained sports tutors? 2) What are the resources required to effectively train a sports tutor? 3) Can non trained sports tutors effectively conduct Physical Education lessons? 4) Do primary schools find it necessary to hire trained sports tutors? 5) What is the impact of effectively trained sports tutors on the performance of primary school students in Physical Education? For the quantitative analysis the hypotheses to be tested shall be as follows: 1. Primary schools have adequate trained sports tutors. 2. Untrained sports tutors cannot effectively teach physical education. 3. Physical activity when initiated during the primary level results in ongoing physical activity throughout the life of the individual thereby enhancing that pupils’ health in adulthood. 4. A Physical Education class in primary school improves the pupils’ emotional and mental health. Research Design and Procedures: Research Design The research is both descriptive and causal in nature. In the descriptive part, the research shall identity the findings of previous researchers regarding the effectiveness of training physical education tutors in guaranteeing improved performance of primary school students at physical education. After the descriptive analysis, the research shall establish a link between the how strongly related training of sports tutors is with performance of primary school students at physical education and what other factors might be possible causes of enhanced primary school students’ performance at physical education. Both the primary and secondary sources will be used which are detailed as follows: Secondary Sources: The purpose of the desk research portion of the study is to gain hard data on pre-existing sports tutor training templates and their known outcomes, in real-life educational environments, to gain an understanding of how the training process is implemented and how students have historically responded to these methodologies. Additionally, this secondary research effort will improve understanding of what drives motivational responses in primary school student populations, based on physical education performance criteria laid out by primary schools. During the course of the research, alternative methodologies other than training sports tutors, designed to build better physically educated students, will be explored. It will act as the foundational knowledge necessary to approach fulfilment of the study’s objectives and build an appropriate primary research design strategy (Nargundkar, 2003). The procedure will entail consultation with appropriate journals and textbooks that describe performance-related phenomenon in the primary school academic environment (Smith, 2008). Hard data uncovered in this process, either in the form of statistics or case studies, will be presented in the study’s literature review as foundational knowledge. Primary Sources: Primary data can be seen as a reliable set of data because its source is validated as it was done by the researcher herself (Bryman & Bell, 2007). The primary data for this research shall be collected using surveys (questionnaires and interviews) and focus groups (of 6-8 respondents each). The details are mentioned under ‘Procedure’. Sample Keeping in view time and budget constraints, a representative part of the population (that is, a sample) shall be chosen in order to test the hypotheses set out. Once the results have been obtained, the hypotheses shall be generalized for the entire population and linkage with relevant theory shall be defined. For qualitative analysis the sample will consist of approximately 50 sports tutors and parents respectively .10 different primary schools shall be selected ( using Random Number table) to gain a cross-section of attitudes and methodologies related to student performance on physical education. For quantitative purposes, the total sample size shall be 160 (80 sports tutors and 80 parents). Since 10 primary schools are chosen, the sample size would be 8 sports tutors and 8 parents respectively from each school. Non probability sampling will be used since the intention is to survey a particular segment of the population; that is, sports tutors and parents of ‘primary schools’. Stratified sampling will be used by dividing the sample into strata or clusters; that is, the total number of units on the random number table shall be divided by the respective sample sizes for obtaining the number of sports tutors and parents to be selected from each cluster (Sarndal et al., 2003). Procedures For this research effectively the focus groups and survey techniques (questionnaires and interviews) shall be deployed. The focus groups shall be conducted first in order to provide important insights that help frame questions in the questionnaire for the survey (Krueger & Casey, 2009). There shall be two focus groups: one of the instructors and the other of parents of primary school students. Respondents will be given a questionnaire template consisting of closed-ended questions related to attitude and motivation towards physical education and the effectiveness of current training programs for sports tutors. Questionnaires shall be both self administered and otherwise. The first half of the questionnaire shall be directly related to the topic and the other half shall include questions on demographics of the employees such as age, gender, income level. A 15- 20 question survey will be designed with a simple 1-10 ranking scale related to performance, motivation and attitude; however, ratio scales shall be used in obtaining personal information such as age and income level. “Ranking scales provide researchers with signs and symbols that mean something rather than fractionalizing or limiting human capacity” (Schindler & Cooper, 2006). Interviews shall be conducted via the telephone and email with sports tutors and parents of primary school students. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques shall be used; however, due to nature of the research (behavioral) the qualitative research shall be used extensively. Data gathering and analysis Gathering of primary data shall take a maximum of two weeks whereas gathering of secondary data would be a continuous process throughout the research. In order to determine the rigor of the research in question, the analysis shall begin with a check for reliability of data for which the Chronbach’s alpha shall be deployed for which the split-half method shall be used. To this end, the dimensions of ‘effective training’ shall be accurately and operationally defined. The SPSS software shall be used for statistical analysis of data. Since this is more of a behavioral research than otherwise, the statistical analysis shall include mean, median, mode, standard deviation, histograms, correlation, regression analysis and co efficient of determination. Basic econometric analysis including the test for dummy variables, R-square, F-test for restrictions shall be computed. Computer tabulation shall be used. Ethical Considerations During the research it will ensured that there are no ethical issues. There shall always be an informed consent while primary research is conducted; it will be ensured that no sensitive information is extracted from the interviewees and survey-takers. A statement of confidentiality shall be given in each questionnaire so that respondents are encouraged to give the correct responses rather than those that are socially desirable. There may be response bias coming from parents who do not want to expose their true views regarding the primary schools as well as sports tutors who resist leaking sensitive information. For this purpose, it shall be ensured that questions are not loaded and are kept as simple and straightforward as possible. All the research material that has been taken through secondary sources shall be cited properly though the Harvard referencing style. I also understand that plagiarism is illegal; therefore, it shall be ensured that all work is properly cited and that due credit is given. Resources The Gantt chart for the activities of the research is given in Appendix 1. The research design is expected to achieve the research aims and objectives stated at the beginning of this chapter. The research shall begin after approval of initial submissions including the proposal. Appendix Task Id Task Name Week 10 Wk 11 Wk 12 Wk 13 Wk 14 Wk 15 Wk 16 Wk 17 Wk 18 Wk 19 Wk 20 Wk 21 Wk 22 Wk 23 Wk 24 I Research Planning II Library Research III Planning for primary research IV Gathering of primary data V Analyses of primary data VI Draft copy of dissertation VII Final Dissertation submission Key Tasks: Milestone: References Armour & Yelling, 2004. For Professional development and professional learning bridging the gap experienced physical education teachers. European Physical Education Review, 10(1), pp.71-93. Armour & Yelling, 2007. Effective professional development for physical education teachers. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, , 26(2), pp.177-200. Bompa, T.O., 2000. Total training for young champions. Champaign: Human Kinetics Books. Bryman, A. & Bell, E., 2007. Business Research Methods. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Colley, H., 2003. Mentoring for Social Inclusion: A Critical Approach to Nurturing Mentoring Relationships. London: Routledge. F, W. & PJ, V., 2008. Self Esteem and Cognitive Development in the era of the Childhood Obesity Epidemic. Obesity Review, 9(6), pp.615-23. Fromyhr, 1995. Ready to teach? A study of influences of the readiness of generalist primary teachers to teach a specialist area. Thesis. Queensland: Queensland University Queensland University. Horne, H.H., 1921. The philosophy of education: being the foundations of education in the related natural and mental sciences. New York: The Macmillan company. Krueger, R.A. & Casey, M.A., 2009. Focus groups: a practical guide for applied research. New Jersey: Sage Publications. Maher, C.A., 2006. School sport psychology: perspectives, programs, and procedures. New Jersey: Haworth Press. Nargundkar, R., 2003. Marketing Research-Text & Cases. 2nd ed. New Delhi: Tata Mc Graw-Hill. National Association for Sport and Physical Education , 2005. Physical education for lifelong fitness: the Physical Best teacher's guide. Champaign: Human Kinetics Inc. Sarndal, C.-E., Swensson, B. & Wretman, J., 2003. Model assisted survey sampling. New York: Springer-Verlag Inc. Schindler, P.S. & Cooper, D.R., 2006. Marketing Research. New Delhi: Tata Mc Graw-Hill. Smith, E., 2008. Using Secondary Data in Educational and Social Research. New Jersey: Open University Press. Stodolsky, S., 1993. A framework for subject matter comparisons in high schools. Teaching and Teacher Education, 9(4), pp.333-46. Thomas, K.T., Lee, A.M. & Thomas, J.R., 2008. Physical education methods for elementary teachers. 3rd ed. New York: Human Kinetics Inc. Tiwari, 2007. Health and Physical Education. New Delhi: APH Publishing. Trudeau & Shephard, 2008. Physical Education, School Physical Activity, School Sports and Academic Performance. The International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity, 5, pp.1-12. Ward & Doutis, 1999. Toward a consolidation of the knowledge base for reform in physical education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 18(4), pp.382-402. Woods, Karp & Escamilla, 2000. Pre-service teachers learning about students and the teaching-learning process. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 20(1), pp.15-39. Zeigler, E.F., 1973. A history of sport and physical education to 1900. New York: Stipes Pub. Co. Read More