ter tio

FEMALE PARTI CI PAT I ON IN PHYSICALEDUCATI ON CLASSESIN A SELECTEDNUMBEROF NEWFOUNDLANDAND LABRADORHIGH SCHOOLS

by

JOSEPH DEVEREAUX, B.A., B.Ed.

A Thesisprese ntedto

theDepartment of Educational Administration Me morial Un i ve r si ty of Newfoundland

in partial fUlfillment of th e requirements for the degree of

Masterof Educatio n

Auc"~st, 199 0

1+1

SibliOlhCqucnaliOnale du Ca~a

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The pur po se of thisstudywa stoexamine the phenomen o n of why so few fema les,compare dto mal e s , enro l e dinPhysical Ed uca tio n2100 and/ or 3100in theschoo lsof Newf o undla ndand Labra dor. Six co-educat iona l highschoolswi tha pop ul a t i o n of at le ast400 duri ng th e 198 9-19 90 school year we rerandomly se lectedto take part inthisstudy. From eachschool , sixty seucerresfrom Le ve l s II and/ o r III were chose naccord i ng to th e followi ng criter ia: fiftyperc ent ma les, fifty percent fe ma les ,30pa r t ic ipants , and30non-p ar tic ipa nt s . This tot al sampleat 339 was adminis t e reda ques t ionnai r e to ascertain theiratti t Ude s, pr ob l ems, andopin io ns regardi ng physic al educ at ion r-the i r sc hool s. Four t e e n individual and small group inte rv ie ws were also cond uc ted to broa den the perspectiveofferedby th equ e s t i on n a i re.

Ten re s e arch questions were designe d to investigate whe the r any of the themes gleaned from a rev iew of curren t literatur e onthe topic had a sign ifica nt bea ri ngon why fewe r femalesthanmales tookphys ica l ed uc a tion. The te n researc h area s were : e- • .f'ac tors, teaching meth odo l ogy,curricu lum co nt e nt, aWe"r,·'..:of benefit s, lack ofrolemode ls, hygi e ne factors,previo us phys i cal educ a t ionexperie nc e, co n f licti ng timetables , and facilit i e s-equ ipmen t.

Analysisof va ria n cefor each ar e a showed thatsocial fa c tors , embarrassment, few rolemodels, and hygienefac tors werethe most sig nifica nt reasons whyfemales didnot take

i i

physica l educat ion as compared to ma les. When a mUltiple regressionwas appliedto thevariables of the study, it was illustrated that females perceived that social factors , embarrassment, and lackof role models were themajor reasons why the y did not take physical education.

The recommendat i ons derived fromthe stud y were: that there be more specialized teacher training to ensure that teachers areta ug h t aboutth e prob lemspertinent to females L;e•sexstereotyping;that in-serviceprogramsbe instituted to impr ove teaching methodology and curr iculum content be changed to reflect a r ecoqnit.Lcn of the probl.ems faced by females; that anaffirmativeactionprogram be de ve l ope d to attract more female teache rs to the field of physical education; tha t extra money be put into pro v id ing more equi pmentand betterfa c il it i e s; that schoolsbe informedof the difficUl ty tha t sche d ulingcauses femaleswho wishto take physical education ; and that the prob lems be ing experienced by fema lesbegivena higherprofile, and morecr e dence. It is fur thersuggested th at moretime and effort be put in to fi nding a so l utio n to reverse the trend of low fema le part icipat ionin physical educationat thehigh schoollevel.

iii

ACJtNOWLEDGEKEl'rI.I

Thereare a number of individualswhose assistanceand cooper ation was inst.rumenta lin thecc e prect cnofth i sthe si s. The resea rche r extends his deepestqr a t i t ude f.:'lrthe ti me, dedica tion, guidance, and encourageme nt of hi s supervisor, Dr. George Hickman,and commi t t e e members Dr. Denn isTreslt.ln, froID. the De pa r tment of Educ ational Administration and Dr. Maureen Connolly , fromthe Schoolof Physica l Educa tio nand Athleticsat He mori al un ive rs ityofNewf o undla nd.

In addition, theresearcherextends hi sgratitudeto the following: the supe r i n t e nd e nts, principals , teachers , and stud e nts fronlAscens ioncollegiate ,Bay Robe rts; Cla renv ille Hig hSch ool,Clarenvi lle ; Gander Colleqiate , Ga nder;Be othu ck Coll egiate, Ba ie Verte; Labrado r City Colle gia t e, Labr a do r City ; and St. Michael Is Hi gh School , Gra nd Fa lls who par ticipa t ed in the int erviews and comp l e t ed the questio nna ires. Witho uttheirinpu t, th i s the sis wo uld not have be en possibl e.

iv

Tabl e of ConteDts

Pa g e Abs t r a c t 0••0.0 .00.0.000.0.00 000000.000000 0 0.00000 .0 000 ii Acknowledgements 0000•0000•000000•0•00000••000•0••00•000 iv TableofCon t en ts••00•000•00••• ••••••00•

o .

ListofTa b l e s00•00000••00000000000•00000 0000•00000•000 ix Li stofFigures.000000000•••0000••0•00•00•000•000000•00xiii

CHAPTERI INTRODUCTION

Statementof th e Problem •00•000000000000;,00000000

Rationale00 0.0• •000 0••000000• •00 0. 000000000 0.000

Purpose of the Study0000•00••000•0• •• ••00• •00•000 10 ResearchQuestions 0.0 00000•000000•00•0•••000•00•• 12 Delimi'l:ations 00'0000000.00.0000.0

o .

CHAPTERI I

REVIEWOFRELATEDLITERATURE

15

17 Introdu c t i o n •••0• •000•000•00•0•0•00••• ••00•00•••0 17 Socialization •000••000 000000.000 .0• ••00000• •00 00 0 18 PerceivedCompe t en c e andPersona l Attributes••00" 22

Awarenessof Benefits and Importanc eof

physicalEducation...•... .•. . .. .... .... . . .. .... •. 28

Program Content/MethodologyandSc h eduli ng.. . ... 29

Facilitiesand Equipment. ... ... . .. .. 31

Influenceof Family, Peersand Significantothers... .. . .•.•... ... ... . ... . . 32

Sex-RoleStereotyping ... • •.... ... ... 39

Summary CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 43 45 Introduction... .. . . ... . ... ... .••... 45

Sample... . ... ... . .... .. ... 45

The Instrument ...• •....• •.. . ... ... . . ...•... 46

Interviews ...•... .. .. ... ...•.... 48

Procedure•...•. •. .... .. . ... .. .. ... . . . .. .... 48

pilot Study.. . ... ... . ... . . ... ... ... 50

Ana lysisof Data •.. ••• . . . .... •. .. . . ..•. .. . ••..••. 51

Summary ... . . . .. . . ... . .. .... ... . 52

CHAP T ERIV ANALYS I SOF DATA 53 DemographicData... • •....•. . ..•. . .... ... ..• ... . 56

One -wayAnalysis of VariancQ.. .. . ... ... . .• ... 60

Social Factors .•...•..•.•.... . .••... •.• • •..••. . . 61

Teaching Methodology•....•.•.. . ... ...•..•.. . ••• . .. 64

vi

curri culumccrrtent;... . . •... ... ... ... . .. 66

Awa r e n e s sof ;~ e n e f its.. ....•... .. .. . .... . . ... .. ... 69

Ernbarrassmeo c .•...•. ... ... .. • . ••.•.•• ....• •.. 69

FewRo l eMel,.t.s...• ...• ....•. ....• .... ...• ... . ..• .• 73

Hygiene Factors... ... ... . . .. .. . .. . ... ... . .... 75

PreviousPhysicalEducationExperience 79 TimetableConflicts. ... .... ... ... . ... .... . 79

Facilities and Equipm~nt... . .. .•.... ....•... ..•...• . 81

MultipleRegression... ... ... ... ... .... . .. .... 84

Summaryof QuestionnaireResult s ... .. ... ... ... 102

In-depthComments ... .. ... .. ... ... . . .... ... 103

Interviews.. ... ... ... .... ... 107

Summaryof the QuestionnaireDa t a ... .. ... III CHAPTER V SUMMAR Y, RECOMMENDATIONS,AND CONCLUS IONS 114 Gender... ... .... ... . .. •. .•. ... ... . . .. . 116

Participation... .... . •.. . . ... . . .. . . ... ... ... .. 117

Grade Level .• .•.••.. .. . . ... ..•... . • . •.... .•.• •. .• •. 118

Type of Program . ... . ... . . . .. ... . ... ... tre Co mpul sory/ No n-compu lsor y ... . . 118

Conclusion andRecommendations. . ... . 119

Hygiene... ... . . . ... .. .•... ... .. 119

Embar rassment... .. .. . ... ... ... . ...•... •. .. . 120

Soc i a l Factors... ... . ... .... ... .. . 121

RoleMod~ls••. .. . •. .... . .. . ...•. . ... ••... ... 122

vii

Particip....nts and Non-participants!

Teaching Hett.odoloqy...•...•...• ... . ..• •• .. 12 2- Par ticipantsandNo n-participa nts!

curri c u l u m Content . . ... ... . . . .. ... .. .. ... ... 123

partic i p ants andNo n-pa r tici pants! Time t able Confli ct s .. .. ...•... ... ... . ... . 124

Parti c ipantsandNon-pa rticipants ! Facilitie sand Equi pmen t ... ... .. ... . ... 124

Gra deLeve ls ... ... ... ... . . • .... .• ... . .. • 125

Summary .. .... ... .. .... .... ... ... .. ... . ... . .. 125

necc eeeneeete ns for Furth er Study... .. ... . .. ... 126

REFERENCES .•. •.•...••.• .•• •.•..•.. ...•...•. 128

Append i xA- Questi onnaire ....•.. • •..•. ...• . • ... .... 134 - rneerv t ev Questions ... .. .... . . .•. . ... 144

Appendi xB-corre s ponde nce .•....•.•. •. .. ...••.. . ... .. 146

viii

Lis t ""f Tables

Table Peg!

RelatedQuestionsin the Survey.•...•... •. • 52 summaryof Participation Returnsby School ... . . . 57 Studentsparticipating inphys i c a l Education

~~y.•••••• ••••••••••••••• •• • ••.••••••••• •••• 58 Stud e ntsparticipatingin the Surveyin Each Level... . ... .... . . ... . .. .. . 58 Activit iesEnjoyed Mostin PhysicalEducation Cla sses... ... .. ... ... .. 59 one-wry Analysis at Variance ofSocialFactor s on Physi calEducationparticipati onby Se x 61 Mean SocialScores by Sex , . . .. .. .. . 62 One-wa y Analysis ofVa r i a nc e of Social Factors on

physicalEducation by participation... ... .. . 63 Me a n Social Factorsscor-e>hy Parti cipation . ... .. 63 10 One-wayAnalysisofva r i a nc e of Tea ching

Methodology on PhysicalEducationby

Participa t ion ...•... . .... ... •... .. .. 64 11 MeanTeachingMethodologyScoresby

Participation... .• •.•.• • ••.• ..• ...••. 65 12 One -wayAnalysis ofVa r i an c e of Teaching

Methodologyon Physical Education Participationby GrlldeLevel ..••.. .•. .. •.•••• •••• • ••• •••..•.•.• ••. 66

13 one-way Analysis of. Variance of Curriculum Content on PhysicalEducation by Participation.. ... 67 14 Mean CurriculumContentScores by participation ... 67 15 one-vev Analysis of Variance of curriculumContent on Physical EducationParticipationby Grade Level••.. 68 16 One-wayAnalysis ofVa r i a nc e of Embarrassment on

Physical Education by Sex.. .. . .... . ... 69 17 Mean znbarrasement; Scores by sex... . . ..•. . .. 70 18 One-wayAnalysisof Variance of Embarrassment on

Physical Educati onby Participation... .. ...•. .. .. 71 19 MeanEmbarrassment by Participation.. ... ... 71 2:' One-way Analysis of Variance of.Embarrassments

on Physical Education Participation by Type of Program•.•.. ..•. ...•..•. . .•.. .•... ... ... . .. .72 21 One-wayAnalysis of Variance of Few Role Models on

Physical Education participationbySe x... .. . ..• ... 7J 22 Mean of Few Role Models by Sex... ... . .. . 7J 23 One-wayAnalysisof Variance of Few Role Models

on physical Education participation by Grade Level. 74 24 One-wayAnalysisof Variance of hygiene factors

on PhysicalEducation participationby Sex.. .. ... 75 415 Mean of HygieneFactors by Sax... .... . . ... 76 26 One-wayAnalysisof Variance of Hygiene Factors.... 77 27 Mea n Hygiene Factors by participation... ... 71 28 One-wayAnalysis of Varianceof Hygiene Factors on

Phys i c a l Educationparticipation by Grade Level... 78

29 One-wayAnalysisof varra n c e of TimetableConflicts on Physical Education by Partlcipatl.on.•.. . . . ..• . . 79 30 MeanTi me t a ble Conflicts Scoresby Part icipation ... 80 31 one-vev Analysisof varianceof TimetableConflicts

on Physical Educationparticipationby Gradetevc _. 81 32 One-wayAnalysisofVa r i a n c e of Facil ities-Equipment

on physica l Educationby Participation. ...•.... 82 33 Mean Fa ci l i t i efJ-Eq u i pme n t Scores byPa r t i c i p atio n.. 82 34 One-wa y.'na l ysi s ofVa r i a nc eof Facilities-

Equipment onPhy s i ca l Educationparticipation by Grade Level... . .. .. ..• . ... . •. . ... .•. 83 35 One-way Analysisof Variance ofFac i lit i e s-

EquipmentonphysicalEducation participat ionby Type of Program. ...• ...••..••.••...•...•... .. 84 36 MultipleRegression

SocialFactors•. . ... ..•. •.. .•. .••.. .. " ...••... 86 37 MultipleRegressio n

Teaching Methodology.. .•. ....•... •.... ... .. 88 38 Mu l t i pl e Regressio n

curriculum Content...•..• • •..• •.. ...••... .... &9 39 MUl tipleRegression

Embarrassmentbyparti cipation.... ... ...•.. •.. " 92 40 Mul t i ple Regression

FewRoleMode ls•.•• • • • •. . ... . _..•. ...•••...••.. 95 41 MUltipleRegression

Hygiene Factors... . . ... ...•....••. .•• •• •.. •.•• 96

xi

42 MultipleRegression

TimetableConflicts •••.. .•.•.... ... . • .. . ..•.. ... 98

43 MUltipleRegressi on Fa c i l i t i e s-Equ i pmen t... . .... .. ... .... . •...•. . .• ~9

44 StudentsIn-de p thComments... ...• 105

44 St ude nt s Tn-depthccanent.s..• .••.• . ... . . ..••• ..•.106

45 Summar yofFindings.... ... . . ... .. .. .. .... •. ... .. 112

xii

Pag e Li s t of Fiqures

Figure

Physical Education statistics

studentsRegisteredin1988.• •••••.•.. •.••.... .•.. physicalEduca tio nstatistics

Level 2&3Male / Fe male ... . ... .... . .... . 11

3 (A) School s with Adeq uateEqui pment... ... 33

3 (B) Sc hoo l s wit hAdequate Equipmen t ... .... . ... . .. 34

Soc ia l Fac t ors by Ge nder. ... ... . . .... .. . 86

Soc i a l Factors byParticipa t ion .. .. ... ... ... 87

Teaching Me t hodo l ogy byPa r t i c ipat i o n ... .... • BB cur r icul umConte nt bypa rticipat i on 90 Curricu l umContent by Compu l s ory.. . .... ... . .... 91

Embarrassmen tbyPart i cipat i o n... ..•. . .... . .... 92

10 Emba r r assment byGend er... ...• ... ....•...•. 93

11 Emba r r a s s me nt by Compulsory... ... . .. 94

12 Fe wRoleModels byGende r . .... .... . .. ... 95

13 Hyg ieneFa c t orsby pa rtici pa tion.... .. . . ... . . . . 96

14 HygieneFactors byCompulsory•••.•• ...••.•.•... .. 97

15 Timeta bleConflictsbyPart icipat ion..•...•.•.... 98 16 Fac il i t i es- Equ i pmen t by Grade Lev el... ... 100 17 Facilities-Equipment byProgram. .. .... .. .. ... 101

xiii

CHAPTERI INTRODUCTION

Over the past quarter of a century, Canadians havebe come more cognizant of the fact that physical fitness is vitally important to the attainment and maintenance of good health.

In ever increasing numbers men and ....omen are walking,jogging, SWimming, skating, and performingot he r activitiesdesigned to improve their levels of physicalfitne ss. Both federal and provincialgovernmentshav e devised programs that encourage cit iz e ns to improve their levels of physicalfitness (Bailey et at , 1982). These programshave given needed impetus to physical educators to expand their prograrJS and make them attractiveto greater numbers of students.

For decades, menha ve promotedspo r t s as amaledomain in which females have not been welcomed. Physical activity has been depicted as sweaty.dirty. unhygienic and all those things that girls and women are supposed to think ar e abhorrent. These arguments were reinforced by male doctors and physica led uca tionspecialistswho were guided by beliefs that womenne e de d to save all the energy they could for their re pr od uc t ive processes to which sports activities could be harm1ul (Kidd , 19 8 3 ) . This adher-es to the traditionally~

held,ins t i t ut i o na li z e d tenets that women should only concern themselveswithta ki ng care of their homes, their childrenand their husbands (Clausen,1968).

Even ccda y the soc ia l and cultura l expectations for females and males va r y tremendously, and the reason s they participate in physical ac t i v i t y are fashioned by divers e fac t o r s (Hale, 1983). Sex stereotypingisa ma jor culprit in di scour a g i ng females from getting inv o lve d in physical acti vityto the same degreeas males. Physical acti vity is the acceptednorm for the healthyyoung male,but per cept i on s of femal esdepict them as inac t ive ,we a k , quie t,and helpless (Da hl g r e n 1988). societydoes not con s c io us l yste r eo t yp e, and many of its members , if accused, would deny this.

stereotyping is more insidi ous than th a t ; it is pa r t of the whole system inwhichwe live. Itispassedonbyfa mily, peers, teachers , media, and social ins ti t utio ns. Until the ear l yse ve nties,the study of womenand sp o r t hadbeen ignored by sociol ogists and, therefore, it has only been in the la s t two decades that females andth e i r involveme ntinspo r t s have been the subject of research V.ce e nd o r f e r, 1978). Such research haslooke d at the generalfactorsinfluencingfemale pa r t ic i pa tio n in sports and factors influen c ingtheir non- participation.

Factors th a t may influence participation in physical activity are: economic status, loc a t ion , ethnic origin, religious and cultura l beliefs. There are many individuals who cannot afford the travel expense nor the clothing and footwear costs for structuredphysical activityprograms.

There areotherswho do not live within commuting distance of

appropriate facilitie~. The n again , there are some vno s e ethn icorigin, religious and cultura l background predi s pos e themtonon-pa r tic i pa tio n. The s easide,thereare addit i onal ext e rnal fa ctor s wh i ch inf l u e nc e fema les' awa r en e s s ot th e benefitsofphysicalactivit y by convi nci ng the mthat they ar e incapable of ac h i e vi ng suc c e s s in physic a l end e avo r s ; that many ofitstorms areunfeminine andbeca u s e this isso,they shoul d no t become involved insucheffor ts (Dahlgren, 1988). There a l pr ob lemmaynot lie in phys icalactivityitself, but in the varie t y offered. Females sho u l d be exposedto many different possibilit ies so the y ca n choose something suitedto the m,to theeffor t they are wi lling to expend,and the achievements of goalsthey setfor themselves. Putting this in the Newfoundland pers pecti ve, it is not e wor t hythat there are more varied Ine ee -sc nco r competit i o ns in high schoo l sfor male s tha nfor females.

Winter (1983) notedthat when females ente r scho o lthe y lack the basicskills ne e ded to feel comfo r t a ble taki ngpart in physical activities with their ma leco unt erp art s. ASill

resul t, they do not par ticipate fu lly and do not develop skil l S. They ottentall farther behind , haveno suc c ess in this are a , and thus are le s s likely to participat ewhe n they get ol de r. Lens ky j (19 86 )conte nde d tha t social restri cti on s impos e don fe male physic alact i vit i eswere amajo r fa c t or in keepingthe ir pert'orJlance below that of ae Les.

phy sica l educat.Ic n specialist s ...n Newf ound la nd and Labr adorhav e been expr essing gr ea t co nce rn abou t declining enrolme n ts, espec ial l y females in the physica l edu c atio n programs ofNewfo undland andLabradorHigh schools,accor ding to disc us sions wi t h S. Anderson , Department of Educatio n (persona lcommunic a t ions, Ma y12 , 1989). Newfo und land¹s 1986 participationstat istics st.c v adrop in enr olment in physica l ed ucationfro m8U inLevel Ito 41% in Level II, and37\in Level II I (Hi ggsf:.'t ~l.987). There were ve r y feworganized physical education prog rams in Newfoundland and Labrador schoo ls pr i orto 196 0. Howeve r, duringthe19 60' s , treme ndous advancesweremadeinthedevelopment of ph ysical education.

In 1963, Memorial Univers ityof Newfoundla nd in t roducedits firstde gree program in phys i c al education to helpfil l the ne ed fo r specialists inthat area. It was at thi s time that newschools be ingbuiltha d qymnasiaincludedas an integral part of their str u ctures, and physical educat ion programs became a recognized partof the currtcu rua. Duri n g the 196 0' s , a provincial cur r i culut'" -uide was intr oducedby the Department of Educa t ion tooutline the basicrequ ireme nts for phy s i cal education. Byth e 1970's, there was almos t tot al par tici pa t io n inthe physica l educationprograms in allgrades th r oughoutth eprov i nce

In 1981, the Departme nt of Edu cation imp l e me Llted the Reorgani zedHigh SchoolProg r am. However,physical educatio n was not made a comp ulso rySUbject in the revi sed pro g r am.

Unde r the new re gu l ati ons, phys i c a l educationis inc l ude d In the ele ctive section with re l i g i ous educat ion, mus i c, art and/or perf ormi ngart s, family studies , and Fre nch. Thi s meansthereis awi derange of courseswith ph.ysicaleducation bei ng onlyone among manyChoices.

Sinc ethe implement a t i onoftne elective system, fewer te mal es have chos en to take pnys i ca l educat i or.. Thi s is the ca s e despi t e the ta c t thatmore is being done toatt r a ct females into phys i caleducation cl asses. In the last two decades , femalesha ve becomemorephys ically act ive.This te dueto an increa s ingawareness ofthe benefits to goodhealth deri vedfroma goodphysi ca lfitne s s progr am. Sp ort Canada has prov i ded leade rship and directio n to Ca nadia ns in an attempttohe l p vcae nattainequalityinspor ts. Forexample, the first Nation al Conf e r ence on Women and spores was sponsoredin1914. Aseco ndccnre:ence was he ld in 1980 and a set ':)f guide li ne s and r-ec caae nd at Ions came dir ectly froll these me e tings. Th ese me eti ngs were inst rumental in the tOrJIa t i on of the cenedtenAssoc iat i on tortheAdva nc elle n tot Women and sport lind for the establi s h me nt of the Women's Program of Fitnesslind AmateurSport . Fitne s s Cana darec e ntly completedataskforce repo rton Young Fema l e s and Physical Ac t i vity whichcould be thefounda tio n for greate r endeav ors inthisarea (Dahlgren, 19 88j. Also ,theMarch1989is s ue of the Canadian Assoc ia t ion of phys i c a l Nulth Education and Recre a ti o nJou r na l focusedonwomen inspor t s in Canada. The

organiz ationthat pUbl ishes this journal has a wi de~sp r ea d

members hip andit sjour nal is onl y begin ni ng i tseffor t s to enl a rgethe perspel;:tive and di spel the myths about wome n in spor t sand physi ca l ed u catio n.

Arese arch projectwhi c hadd ressed itself to a !!;.~~ther exami natio nof issuesaffect i ng fe ma l es inphysi ca l education was timely consi d eri ng the incr ea s i nginterest inthisarea.

I twas especiallynec essar yinthe Newfoundlan dset t i ng where the discrepancies bet we en mal eand remeieparticipat ion in phys i ca led uca t i o nhavebec omealarming l yappa rentinscnoc j.c thro u ghout the Province.

statemento(thePro ble m

sinc e theintroduc t ionof the revi s e d hig h school program into the educat i o nsys te mof Newf ound l and an dLa b rador. the numb e r of femalesenroling inphysical educa t ionoaessee has been appr o xi mately half the numb e rof males enr olingin the same classes. The main problemthatthis st u dy investigated was concernedwithid e ntify i ng the condit i ons exi sting in high sc h o o l s which perpetuatedthis discrepa:-.cyandseemed to deter re wa res fromtaking phys ical edu c atio n clas s e s.

Rat iona lefor the Study

Muc h ofthe research on femal einvo lvement inphysica l educationhas concentratedonathletesandthei r rea s on s for participation. Furt hermore, minimal research has been conductedanthereasons females choose nat to takephysical education classesinhigh school. Of particu larinterest in NewfoundlandandLabrador was thefacttha t there are almos t twi -::e as many males as females taking each of the three physical education cour ses in the prescrib~d hi gh school curriculum(Figu re 1). It wa s conside redimpor ta n tto examine reasons for this phenomenon andhopefullybeableto suggest someme a ns by whichthe situation can beimproved.

Pa rsons (1988) loo ke d at the problemsin St. John 'sand found that pers ona l hygiene facilities andinsufficient time for personal grooming and hygiene o!:Ifter the completion of physical educati onclasseswere the most significant factors for females' non- par t icipation. Thiswas a good sta r t ,but more extens ive re s e arc hwa s neededto determinethe causes of the discrepa ncy betwee n the number of females and males regi stered for phys i ca l educ atio n courses on a prov i ncial basis. For example, were there deepe r, mare societal based reasons for renares ' de cis ions against part ici pa tio n? Were females made awar e of the benefits of physi cal educat ion courses to good physical well being? Were the yma de cognizant of the manne r in which it will aff e c t their live s ? For example, dothe yspe nd their leisuretime, active l y and not

Figure1

Physi c alEduc a ti on Statistics-Student Re gi st e red in19 8 8

Num be rofst ude nts 4000

3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500

o

LEVEL1 LEVEL2

~•Mal e . ..Fem al e

LEVEL 3

Departme nt of Educationaratreucs.taes

passively;and how doesphys i c alacti vityhelpthem dealwith the stress in their li ves. A Canadian study by Dahlq::en (198 8 )veri fi ed that ma ny youngfe ma l e s donot realize the val u e of physica l activity.

Another reason for fewer female participan tsthanma l e wouldappearto be tha t most of the activities are di r ect e d at encouragingmaleparticipation(Sopinka19840 ) . Young males are flockingto sports facilitieswher ethey are met by male instructors and coaches to playga me s devi sed by males for male participation. There are many ins t anc e s of this in Newf o u ndla n d . At the high school leve l, there are more programsofferedto males than to fema l es . Femaleshavefewe r oppor tunitiestoparticipate, to develop and hone skills,and to reachthe point at whicll successccnee. Ot her influenc es includethe low number offemale physi c a leducation teachers in Newfoun d l a nd. In 1986^ffemalescomprised25\ ofthe total phys i ca l ed ucationteacher popUlation(Hi gg s et er,19 87) .

Muchmor e research wi t h differentperspectives on the topi c offemale s andsportswa s needed, and is still needed today. Theimbalance between males and femalesextend s into the areaof res e arch . Th er e ha s beena wealth of re s e a r ch conductedonroale particip ants but much le s s studyon female par t i c ipa tion in physica l education. To addressthe problems of enc ouragingmore temalepartic ipation,it wasne c ee e e r-y to examine the under lying caus e s of no n· par t i c i pat i on. The primarysources of thisinforma tionhad tobethe par ticipants

10 and non-participants in the educationsystemat the present time . Therefo re, re sea r ch was necessary to gat he r data, ene Ly aeit ,and usetheresu1ts tohe lp improve the si tuat ion

....ithrespectto femal e participati o n inphys icaledu c a t i on.

Purpose o fthe study

The major purpos eof this study was to det erm ine :"'he reasons for the relative ly lo wnumb er offemal e students, in compariso n with the number of male students , regi s tered in phys ical educat io n programs in the high schoo l s of Newfo und la ndandLabrador(Departmentof Education Statisti cs, 1989). Departmentof Educat i o nSta tisticssho w tha t from 19 8 3 to 19 89 the re were app r oximate ly twi c e as ma ny ma les as rene ae s reg istered in each of th e Level II and Lev el II I physical ed ucation cou rsesoffe re d in theProv ince (Fig. 2). Hig h school physica l educatio n te ac he r s , administ rators, schoolboards, andDe part ment of Educat ionperson ne l need to know why this di screpancy exists in or-de to re medy the sit u a tion . In addi t io n, this study examined the majo r fact o r s identi f iedin the relevantliteraturetodete rmine whi ch of them, i f any, con tribu ted to the pr obl em be ing inve s tiga ted.

Figure 2

PhysicalEducationStatisticsLevels2 & 3 Male /Female

1':."" ho" l..Q ...tete ree1983-"0'''''':'

250 0 fillli ^-~.., ~7

200 0

tl~1 ^{l ~}

1500 1000

500

C

L L L L L L L L L L L L

2

3'

B B B B B B B B B B B B

4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 B 9 9

_ Male

o

Departmentof EducationStatistics,1989

Researg hQuestions

The major focus of this study was to addres s the issue ofw~IY there are there only half as many females as males enroled in high school phya ical education courses in Newfoundl a ndand:'" b rad o r . To elicitthis informati onon the extent of female and male participation , th e following questionswere utilized:

1. Are so c i a l factors more relevant to females' participation than to males' participation?

Isthe teaching methodology inappropriate for females?

3. Is the cu r r i c u l um/ c o n t e nt moresu i t e d to the needs and interes tsof males?

TO what extent doesalack ofawa r e n e s s of the benefits of physical edur:ation affect females' decdu Lon to participate?

5. To what extent does embarrassment,due to their physical condition or la c k of basic skills, affect females' participation?

Dofe male s have fewer role mod e ls?

Are hygiene factors an imnortant consideration for females?

Does previous physical education experience act as a major deterrent for females?

To what extentdoes class schedulingconflicts betweenphysicaleducationand otheracademic

13

sUbjectsha ve a bearin g an fe males ' decision to take physicaleducation ?

10. To wh at extent does la c k of facilities and/or equipment availabl e aff ect females ' decision to ta k ephysic a l ed uca ti on?

Delimitations of the study

The following constitutethe delimita t ions for this study:

1. Thi s study wa s delimited to aninvestigation of 19 8 9-9 0 Leve ls II and III students to ascertain why the r e are so few fe mal e s registered in phys ical Education 2100 and/or 3100.

... Thestudywas conduc ted insix co- educational high sch oo lsinNewfoundlandand Labr a do r whose pop u lationwas at least five hun d r ed students fromgr ad es 7 to Level III.

3. Theschoo ls we r e randomlysampled,but students were selected so that th e r e were thirty students fr o m Levels II or III who were regi s t e red inPhysica l Educat ion2100 and/or 3100 and 30 who were not reg i ster ed in the

registered in Physical 4. Half of the group sampled from each sc hoo l

males and ha l f were females.

Limitations

Any conclusions or re c omme n d a t i ons arising fr o m the re s u l t s or this study must beconsidered W'ith regardto the fol l owing limitations:

1. Inorder toconduct this study, coo p e r a t i o n of school bo a rds , scho ols,teachers,and students wa s required.

2. This study wa s depende nt on the re tur n of completedquestio n na i res from six school s, as wel l as the intervie... data.

DefinitionofTerms

The followi ng isa list of terms employedth r o u gh ou t th e study:

participant - a stude nt ...ho Ed uc ation2100or310 0 .

Non-participant - a stude nt who was not re g i stere d in Physica l Educa t ion 2100or3100.

CurriculUlll - the cours e con te ntof Physical Educatio n 2100 and 31 0 0.

15 Methodology - the special form of pr ocedures or techniques tha t the physi c al education teacher used in te a c hing phys i c a l educa t ion.

Hygiene - the prese rving of health. Hygiene embraces the factors that af fect thephys i c al and mental we ll- being of people. T~~persona l aspects of hygiene invo l v e d conside ra t ions of food and water; clothing; work, ex e rcise , an d sleep; per sona l cle a n lin e s s ; and mental health.

organizat.ion of the study

The fir st. chapter conta ins an introd ucti o n to the

~tudY I a sta temen t of its purpos e , and the ra tio na le. It alsooutline s theten majo r research questi onsempha sized in th ere v i ewof literature.

Cha pterTwopr e s ents a re v i e wof literature relatedto this researc h. The lite ra ture rev i e w generates the major topics fromwhichthe research ques tions ar edrawn.

The meth odo log y of the study is discus se d in Chapte r Three and it gi ve s detail ed inf orm a t ion on the instrument use d and how thesample of students was cho sen. The third cha pter al so ex p la i ns howthe pilot studywa s conducted and pre s ents a description of the procedure for admin i s tering que st i onn aires and conducting intervi ews. As we ll, it e-pla ins how the datafromtheque s tio n naireswere ana ly z ed,

..

and prov ides an ove rv i e w rela tingthe re searchquestions to lIIa j o r ar e asident i f i ed in the l i te r atur e .

In Chapter Four, the res u l t s of the questionnaire s and the int e rvi e ws are explained in detail . A frequency dis t ribution table was used to analyze the demograph i c section,andananalysisofva r i a nc e andmultipleregression wereut i lize d to examinesection B. The co mments inthelast section are prese nted in tab u l a r form a t in order to make compa r isons easier.

The summar y, co nc lus i ons, and recommenda tions are pr e s e nted inthetin a1 chapte r .

17 CHAPTER. II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATUREANDRESEARCH

Introdu ction

Tlle focus of th i s studyis concerned with the fact that, ge n era l ly, femalesare not participatingin the high school phys i c al education programs in Newfoundland and Labrador.

There is a plethora of materialon peripheral topics, lllany of wh i ch ha vebe ar i ng on the direction of this study. A major limi t a t i on of thework alreadydone in this field istha't.it centres on athletes who pa rt i c i p a t e outside the classroom rath e r tha nonhigh sc ho o l students....ho choose topa rtic i pa t e in physic a l educationprograms. The topics which fo r m the basis of this res e a r ch we r e generated from a var ietyof sources, such asque s t i on na i r e s , surveys, jour na larticles , res e arch papers , and texts - al l of which weredirectedin some way to th e ques t ion of female non-participatio n in ph ysical activity.

The literatu r erev iew which fo ll ows presents anoverview of find i ngs pert ine nt to the top i c s mentioned earlier , as the yrelat etotherese arc h questi ons tobe explore d inthe data co ll ec t i o n and analysis.

18 socializat. i on

Much of the re s e arch deals wi t h the way females are socializedin our society. Inthe early1900's, women were restric tedto')th oseare a s consideredrelevan t to familylife: the edu cation of chi l dr e n, care of the home, and voluntee r activities. There wa s a cl e ar distinction bet wee n what femalesand malesdid. Fema l esled private live s centredin the home,while men ledpUbl ic li v e s out s ide~h ehome. Often the aff iliated chur c h se t out th e rules of conduct by whlch males and fema leslived (Cai r ns and Williams, 19 8 6). This wa y of life solidified existing institutions and pre- de t ermi ned be ha viour , and it was hard for wo men to cha nge these tenet s . Over the pa st several decades, educa tion pr ograms ha ve helpe d raise women' s conscious ness of their righttobe vit a l , st ro ng, confidentpeople. They also have the ri ght to equal i ty with ae n in sports - equ a l access , oppo rt un iti es , mon ey , andfacil ities (Jones, 1984 ) .

The process of cha nge has started but it mov es ve ry slowly. It has not yet reache dthe roots of the patriarchal hiera r chy in society' s socia liz a tion process. Accordi ng to Hall and Ri cha r dson (1982), young fema l es are sti l l SUb ject e d to age-old expe c tatio ns, at ti tU des, and ine qua l i t ies . The i r re search conc l usio ns were tha t sex diff ere nc es in sports ca n be linke d to cultur a l fa c t o rs , rathe r tha n the phy siol ogical factors suc h as si ze and st re ng th. renates' soc i a li z a t ionteaches them to be neat ,

1 .

tidy, quiet and inact ive , and notto take partin athletic p".lrsui tsthat leave th emsweatyanddirty.

Del Rey and Sherp":!""d (1987) re po r t e d that, although increasingnullbers of women are becotll!n9 activein sports, tradItiona lattitudestowardswomen'sparticipa tionin sports appear to remain intact. since spor ts have been tr a d i ti on a l l y viewed as a 1Il8sculine activity, vcaen who par t ici pa ted tend to be viewed either as mascu line i'":the physical sense (Roh rhough, 197 9 ) or as homosexua l (DelRo y, 1977 ) . In contras t, spo r ts part ici pat ionbyboys and yo ung men has been viev ed as extremely desirable and socia l l y acceptable (Rohrhough , 197 9 ).

Kane (1973) summarizedsome ot the rece nt researchby sta tingthat athletIcability correlates pos i t i ve l y withsuch traits as aggression, d01:linance, drive, to ugh-mi nded ne s s, confidence , lack of anxi e ty, and emotional stability . Athletes are in control. However, the s e attributes are direct contradictionsto whatsocietyexpects of females. It is thr eatening to)their sense of identity. Often the contlici: isresolv ed by adherence to thetra di t i o nal paradigm of howfemalessho u l dbehav e. Dahlgren (1988) summed up the situa t i on when shestated :

'rheimport...antfa c t isthatma ny outside infl ue nces can profoundly aff ect the awareness of the fe male by instillingapre-co nc e ived no tionthat she is not very ca pa b leof succeeding atphysical activ i ty; thatmany

20 forms of physica l act ivityare inappro pr i a tefor her;

andthatcompetence in physica l activityis notas importantfor her as it is forherma l e peers. Thus , fr om anearly age, femalesoften fail to developthe ir physicalpote n tia l becausethey conform to thegender- spe c i f i c sex- ro lestanda rds, the y are not evenaware of the i r own po t e nt i a l. (p .7)

The s e studies all show the socialization of young femaleswi th i nexistinginstitu tions . These processesspread throug ho uttheir li ve s and through theinflue nc e s of family, pe e r s andsignificant othe r s , areeve r - pr e sent.

Inan attempt to coun ter act the conditioningof ea rl y yea rs, Shaver (1974) examined ma le-femalerol e perc e p t i o ns of junior hi g h sch ool st ude nt s to see if the condi t ioni ng could be nu l li f ied by part i cipa tio n inanon-discrim inatory, co-educ a tio nal physic al educa t ion program in the area of ath let ics. shaver- (1974 ) found tha t there were soc ia l pe r c eption cha nges inthe males as they no longersaw femal es as helple s s, we ak , and ina ctive. Females saw males in a dif f erent light, be c au s e mal es di d not appea r to be as aggress i ve and do mi nant as the females first expect ed. Another conc lusion from Shaver (1974) was that home and fa milyenviron ment is the stronge st condit ioni ng factor in the early years andthe most diffi cultto al ter. Toverify this ccnc tuefcn, Ha le (198 3 )showed tha t pare nta l exp erienc e

21

in athletics affected their ch ildren. I fthe parents valued athletics ,thentheir childrenten d ed to par t ici p ate.

Greendorfer and Lewko (1978) studied female coll eg e st udents using a questionnaire . Re s ults indicated that duringch ildh oc ::l (ages 5-12) family and peerswere the mos t significant indicator of active parti c ipation . Fa mil y influe ncedid lessen,however, as thechil d r e n got older.

Other vie ws on socialization ca me from Rheingold and Coo k (1975 ) ,who found that society ' s trad i tional at t i tudes caused theassignmentof appropr iatero l ebeh av iours ba sed on gender , rather than on int erest or ability. As a result, males at an earlyagear e encouraged to piay with toys 'Jhi ch develop vigorous, active re s pons e s, whi le females are encouraged to playwi thdolls whichpromotepassive , ina c t ive social skills. Birns (1976) pointe d out that through appropriate rol e models and reinf orcem ent, males ar e socializedinto sports. cenveee eay , freque nt una va il a b i lit y of appropriate role models and reinforcements le d to exclusion of most females from spor t s . The learning of ap propriate and inappropriate behavi our based on sex is primarily the resul t of parental and env ironmental child rearingpracticesand is notinna t e.

22 Perce ivedCompetenceandPersonalII.ttributes

Afiveyear longitudina l studywas conductedby Butcher andHall (1983) fortheAl be r t a Departmentof Ed ucat i on . The purposewas twof o ld: to det erm ine i f the ext e ntandtype of adoles cent fema l es' participati on in physica l act ivity ch a n ged with age, and to de t erminewhat va r i ab le s were mos t rela ted tophys i c a l activi ty pa rt i cipa t i on.

i'he main re sults of this stU dywereth at satisfaction with phy s i c a l educatio n classes dec.'Ined in jun i or high sc h oo l, and relea s e of ten s i on bec ame more important with age. compe ti tionalsobecame less impo r t an t . The image of the female at hlete declined over the five years. year l y de c l i ne was al so seen for thre e of the socialization va r iabl es: fa the r's and mother's socializa tioninfluenc e and significa nt othe rs ' par t i c i pa tio n; less enc oura ge men t, su ppo r t and exampl es fromsignifica nt others as the y gre w older;an d socialization va r iabl e sand socio-econom icstatus se pa r a t e d part i cipants and non- pa rticipants in communi ty- organized ac ti v ities.

The re comme ndat ions th a t came from the stUdy were that fema les ha ve tobe enco urage d to remainactive in phys ical ac t ivit i es thro ugh ado l escence and adulthood; and every ef f o r t sho ul d be made to ensure that intram ur a l and inte r- school programs are available toallfemales wh o de s ire the m.

A survey was co mp l e t e d by Earl and St en ne t t (1983) of st udent s' attitude s towards phy sical and He a l t h Education in

23 Lond o n secondary schools. It wa s und ert aken be c a useof the decl i neinenrol me nt inphysic aland He a lthEducationclasses and as an effort toiJlprove thequality of programsoffered.

The resu l t s ofthe survey showed th a t t~ .lnumber of females and males taking Ph ysica l Education and Health Educat i on de creased dramatica lly with grade. A numbe r of reee ies indi c ated the y might take Physi c a l and Heal th Educ a tion i t teachers ma de the m feel good about it , and the y were more likely than ma l e s to describe the ms elve s .as overweight . Stud en tsperc e i v edthatteachers enjoyteaching eitherallof the time or dur ing some ...-:tivi ties. Malesweremorelikely thanfemalesto descr i be their spo rts abilityasbetter than average and thei r fi tne s s as good or excel l e nt. The influenceon therese archtheme s of thissurvey appe are d in the pr eco nc e i ved compe t e nce in phys i cal abilities and pe rsonalattributes.

Females are often socia lizedto belie ve that the y are phys icallywe a k, inactive, he lp l essand notcapabl e of being comp etitive. Th i s has effects on al l aspe c t s of life and esp e c ia lly on the i r dec isions about physic a l act i v i t y.

Fe males think the y are no t ve r y ca pa b l e of succeed i ng in physica l activitiesandthatsportsare notforthe m. There is a perc eiv ed confli ct bet ween sport and femininity (Dahlg ren , 1988 ). In a great majo rity of ca s e s , females choose not to partic ipate rather than be consider ed unf e minine. Man y fema l e s tend to growout of spo r ts at

24

pUberty asthey mature physicallyand body rat inc r e a s e s. They case tend to be concerned about the de tai l s of menstrua tio n . These are not considerations fo r males, because as th e i r physical growth continues, everything is adapte dtome et their needs (Lenskyj,1986).

Lenskyj (1986) also addressed the concept of helpi ng females develop confidence in th e i r bodies, thu s enabl ing the mto take responsibili ty for defending themselves fr om at tacks, especial l y sexual ones. She claims that such confidence and abili t ie s could be deve l op e d by fe ma l e s' par t i c i pat i on in cor-tact sports like soccer, football and hockey. This could be followe d by instructio n in self- defe nc e techniquessuc h asthose givenin mart ia l art s .

Kenyo nand McPh e r s on (1973), found that regardless of how grea t the innate abi lity, unfavourable socialization fa ctors would de te r participat i on by females. The re were intrins ic enjoyment , extri ns i c rewards, stigma, los s of stat us, andsentiment as soc i ate d with sports. Anywoma n who wishes to acqu i r ea sport rolemustunde r s t a nd thatthereis co nflic t that she....illenco u nt er in her attempt tobecome an athlete. Female at h letes ten d to be more ass ert ive, domi na nt, self-SUff i c i ent, intelligent , reserved, achieveme nt-o r iented , and in greater cont r o l of their emo ti o ns (Gr e e ndorf er, 1978).

Nichols on andSn ider (1979) alsolookedat young female participants and their self-perc e pt i ons . The i r fi ndi ngs

25

indicated that selt-percebed characteri st ics of amb i tio n, competi tion, strength, anr"J spe e d were more evident among parti c ipa n t s tha n non-partici pants. Howe v e r, there was no signi fican t difference between part ic ipants and part icipa n t s concerning cha r ac te ri stics su c h as ha p p iness, affec tio n, femini nity, sensiti vity , gentleness, and at t r act iveness.

Snider and Kivlin (19 7 5) compared collegiate female athh'tes an d non-athletes on measures of sel f-reported psychologic al well-beingand body.Lma g e. Theyreporte dthat athletes have more positive self-perceptions tha n non- at h l e tes. We bb (1969) ad ded another ins i gh t, with the findi ng thatwith increased age bot h fe maleand ma leathletes emph asizedthe importanc eof winningovertair play.

Snider andSpreitzer (19 7 8) compared femalehi g h school at hle t es, musicians and non-partic i pa nt s in ath letics and found tha t athletes generall y ha d higher attitudes toward sel f . For example, they gen e r al ly fee l in good spi r i t s and aremoresatisfi ed with life andhappi ne s s, than either the mus i c i a n sor th e non- p a r t ic i pa nts.

Webb(1969 ) andMantel andVeldon (19 74 ) co n c l u ded tha t athletes emphas i ze d sk i l l s and vic t o r y as th e i r primar y ob j e cti v e s , while fair ness and fun were the primary ob j ect i v e s of non-parti cipants. Zion (1965 ) condu c t ed st u die s that indic a t e d a si gnificant posit i ve relation sh ip between self-co n c e pt and body image. Oth er research ers ,

2'

Robinson (ci t e d in Snider, 197 0 ) and Shaver (1974) reported tha t attitudestowardson e's body are importantindicatorsof personality.

Klerber and Duda (c ite d in Butcher , 19 8 0 ) surveyed students for five consecutive years. They found some dif f e r e nc e s among the partic i pation variables . Fo r int e rs c hoo l teams it was person alattributesthat correlated most highly. Int e r s c h o olpa r t:icipa n t sin grade 10 werevery sa t is fi e d withtheir sports' skills. Ov e r five years, only 33% faile d to participate once on schoo l teams. Only 2%

pa r tic i pa t e d everysingle year, suggest ingthat there must be a tremendousturnoverin sch oo l teams each year.

Th e s e researchers also concluded that th e average primary physicalactivity of adolescentfemalesdeclined from grade s 6- 10 , whi lesecondary involve ment increased. The r e was cons iderable fluctuation frONyear to year. The most inf l u e nt i a l personal at tributeswere movementsati sfa ction, especially satis faction wi t h sport ability, preference for act i v i t y oversedentary activityand independent,assertive, self-descriptions.

A study by MacIntosh, King and Greenham (19 78) of Ea s t e r n Ontario schools concluded that young peop le who elected not to take physical education in grade 9 did so becausetheydid not want to put themselvesin anenvironmen t where their perceived physical inc o mpet e n c e was exposed and compa r e d to those of moresk illful peers. Th i s decisi onwas

27 taken des pit e the fact tha t thes e young people ge nerall y expressed po s i tive attitude s to wa rd physical activi ty and phys ical educa t io n and that sports werean important aspect of the i r sch ool and commun i ty li fe.

ae eearcn by Bu tcher (1983) ha s shown that porce ived athletic abil i ty is cl os elyrelate d to par tic i pa tio n. It wou ld appear that satis fa c tio n and con fidence in movement activitiesar e primeprerequisi tes for fe male partici pa tion in physical activity. Pub e rty isalsoa traumatictime of phys i cal , emotional, and social chang e s ; young females ma y not bewilli ng toSUbjugatethe msel ves to activ i tie s in which they feel incompetent (Butcher, 1983) .

Anderson (1934 ) inve stigate d the attitudesandint erests of high sch oo l females w-ith re la t i on to certa in phy s ica l educationacti v it ies . Some of ene results showed that lllost females we r e motiva tedandwa nted to pa r t i c i pateaf t er they ha d seen a900 dperf o rman ce. Th e y alsoliked topart i cipa t e in vi g orous acti v i t i e s and prefer r Eo'd totrain to get into, andkeep ingoodcondition. And e rsonconcluded that fema l e s' at titudesto....ards physicaleducati on influenced their success in it. Three factors tha t co nt ri b u ted to success were: motor abilit y, at ti tudesandinte l lig ence. Carr (1945) al s o concluded that st ud ents' attitude s sh ou ld be made knownto teachersso thatobstacles to learn ing can be removed .

Carty (1968) found that the r e positi ve relationship between the type of previou s experienc e a,.1

attitudes,

28 significant difference towards physical education in the highest and lowestin t e l l i ge n c e groups.

~warenes9of Be n efitsand Impo r ta nceof phys i c a l Educ atio n

In 19 87, the Carleton Board of Education became alarmed at thedrastic drop in the enrolm entof female s in physical education programs betweengrades 7 and 10 . Itwa s also no t e d that the number of females was far.f e we r than the number- of males. Analysis of the sur ve y re s u l t s se e med to showno greatdifferences between femaleand ma l e preferences except tha t males showed a greater preference for "ba l l"

sports th a n did females. Se co nd l y , female and male pref e rencesseemed to differ along socia l /t raditional li ne s, i.e., males preferred footb.:.lll and hockey while fe ma l e s preferred ja z z and aerobic da nc e. Both female and male students indicat e d that "no room in th e timetable"

primary reason for not taking phys i c a l educacIon , The majority of comments indicated students li k e d physical educationandsaw itsva l ue in ke e ping fit. Th ere s ul t sha v e been inc l uded in research themes of awar enessofthe benefits of physical education and its importance compared to other SUbjects.

29 Program Content /Methodologyan d Sche d u li ng

During19 8 5-8 6, th e otta·...a aoe.rd of Educat ionconducted a surveyof grade 9 and ~O female preferences and attitudes for se lecte d act i v i t i e s in physical edu cation programs.

Therewas conc e rnabou t thedeclineinenr ol me nt of females in physical educa tion and the school board also wanted to deter1lline theint e r e sts and at t itudesof adolescentfemales. Results revealed tha t themajorityof females (55%: )who were planning on continuing physical and Heal t h Education relativelysatisfied with exist ingprograms. However, they indicate dtha t th e y wou l d likemo r e dance activit ies, slim and tri mprog rams, weight training, and ra cq ue t sportslike badminton and te nn i s. For those not taki ng Physical and He a l t h Educa tion in gr ade10, the mostcommonreasons for not conti nu ingthecours e s were: no room inthe irtimetable; di d not enj oy Physica l and Heal t h Ed u cat io n ; and did not like run ning . Ma ny indi c atedthe ywoul d like moredance-orient e d programs.

The reportco ncl ude d tha t the r eis adefinite ne e d for scho o ls to exami n e th eir core pr og r a ms and ma ke revisions. The cor e pro gr amshou l dreflec t the needsof the femalesand be based on sound physical and health educationprinciples.

Course s need to be established that wi ll satisfy bo th traditi onal and non-tra dit i onal ne e ds. New pro g rams like weighttraining , da nc i ng, andaerobic s shoul dbe introduc e d. Flex i b i lit y in sc hoo l timetabllng will also be requi re d in

30 order that progra ms canfolloweLther a recreatio na l focus or a trad!tional pr o gra m focus. Evaluatio n shou ld be on participation, effo r t,a nd fi t ne s s, with les s emph a s i s on sk il l testing. The the mes conc erni ng dis l ike of certai n aspects of the prog ram and importa nce of phy sic al education compared to ot he rcourseswe r edrawnfrom this survey.

Th e Ottawa Boa rd in 19 8 6 surveyed "Students At t i tu des Toward physical Ed u c a t i o n" and found tha t st ud e n ts took physical education because they liked it and it pr ovided variety in the daily sch edu le. Other st udents fel t that academiccoursesweremore imp or t a nt , tha t the y did not le arn enough sk il l s and th a t lack of pr i vac y was a problem in physica l educ a tio n classes. Inaddi t ion , students believed thattheyreceive den oug h physical educa tio nactivi tyoutsi de of classes. The surveyalso indicated thattherewa s a hig h per centa g e of femaleswho we r e not partic ipating in physica l education beca use they dislike d comp e t itive sports , pract isingski ll s , orexci t ingand chal lengi ngspo rts. Most ofthestuden ts fel t tha t all activities, exc ep t for dance andwre stling, shou ldbe available to allstude nts. The main reasons gi ven bybot hmalesand females for not planning to ta ke physical educ a t i on included : lackof impo rtan ce , la ck of int eres t, anddis l ikeof courses .

The reas on sgi venwhy more male s than fema les tookpart in physic a l ed ucat i onwere thatma l e sweremor e suited toand more int e r e s ted in acti vit ies of fe red. Females indicated

31 that they did no t like to get me ssy, that they were interested in being pretty and pop ul a r, and that they co ns i de r e d the activities to be un f e mini ne . The older stUdents mentioned time-honoured roles, grea ter ~ports

orientation of males , competition a"d pres sure , as the impor t a nt factors for more male parti ci pat i on in physi cal education.

The females claimedtha t improv e ment s needed inc l ud ed:

better equipment, better teach e r s, more personal help and encouragement, more choices, le s s roug h spo r t s , lo nger cla s s e s, balancebe t we e n games and sports. Fitnesssho u ld be made the most import ant aspect of a physical educat ion There sh o uld be more sports suit a ble fo r females, more after school acbvi t i es shou l d be hel ddur ing theday, physical education sho uld be compulso r y, facilities for handicapped students should be increa s e d, and compet i ti o n should be reduced. All the majorthemes were infl uencedby theinf o rma t i o n contained inthest ud ybytheott a waBo a rd.

Fac ilit i e s and Equi pment

The study carried out by Hi ggs et al. (1987) clearly demonstrated that with advancement thro ugh the grades in Nowfoundland nc ho o.Ls , there was a corresponding decrease in the amount of faci litiesand equipment available, espp,...;ially for thenon traditional activities. At Lev e l s II and Ill,

32 the situati o n wa s at i ts worst. For Level II, of the 13 sport s inves tiga t e d, onl y four~portswere seento ha vethe ne cessary eq uipme n t. The re were questions asked in Level III conce r ning 25differ e n t spor ts andit was dete rmi ned that ther ..• was onlyade quat e equi pment for three of the sports mentio ned . Fig u re 3 (Aand B l illustrates that most school s didnothav eadequateequi pmen t to carry out a prop er ins truc tiona l pro gram in the maj ority of the act i vities pr e s cr i bedby the Department ofEducation for Leve l II I.

Th e Inf l\1 once of Family.Peers and signifioantOthers

Sn ide r andSpreitz er (1973) examined fami l y influences a pr ed ictor of spo rts involveme nt amo ng 510 SUbjects . The i r fin ding s indicatedthat act iveinv ol veme n t of pa r e nt s in thei r children 's ac tivi t ies decreased as the children matur edinage. Fo rboth se x es,pare nts ' interest in sports showe d cons istent pos i t i ve relatio nship to sport invol vem ent . They also examinedthe inf luencesof familial factors, pe e r s , teachers , and coaches' enc oura qe men t upo n adolesc ent females' participation inhighschool sports. Th e re sults showe d that parent s of childhood athle tes were some....hat more in tereste d in sport s tha n parent s of no n - athleticchi l dr en. Snide randspre itzer found tha t same-sex parents had grea ter influence on st ud ents ' behavi our i al involvement thandid opposite-s ex parents. Tha t is, fathers

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Activities

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backpacking

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x-cskiing snowshoeing camping curling fitness nas:

combatives archery flag football folk dance racquetball

o

Schools

150 200

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LEVEL III Activities, Higgs et.al (1987)

FSI~':Jgd ~(Ih ^{Adequate Equlpmenl} Activ ities

sQ ua~lh

badminton

ten n Is

bowll ng

gal l

water pol o

speedsk a ti ng ca noei ng

broomball

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Schools

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_ Do NotHave Le ve l111oc t1v lt1es.Hlg gs et. 01(1987)

i e

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35 influenced sons rather than daughters and mothers influenced daughters rather than sons. This theory was also one of McEvoy's (1983) conclusions. Same sex and cross-sexparent child relationships were examined with regard to whether they affected the children's sports involvement. Parents passed ontheir own sex-rolesocialization attitudesto their same- sex children. This study also found that parents offer economic and emotional support, are seen as role models, and provide opportunities to interact within

environment.

social

Snider and spreitzer (1976) again studied females' involvement in sports by investigating the correlation of participants with familial factors, peers, te a c he r s, and coachesI encouragement to participate in sports and the social-psychological variables of perceivedfemininity,self- report of athletic ability and body image. Findings indicated that socialization into sports begins in childhood and continues into high school with considerable encouragement from significant others. Basketball players reported less encouragement and tended to see themselves as less feminine than other athletes. Athleteshad higher self- perceptions of athletic ability. Their perceptions of their body image were generally more positive th a n for non- athletes.

Hall and Richardson (1982) drew attention to the lack of female coaches and physical education teachers. This is a

J6 big drawback to the success of fe ma l e sl athletic attempts.

A female coach is able to un derstand the physiological , psy cho logical, and socia l make - upof the femalesshecoaches and, as a res u l t, students are moreli kel yto con f idetheir pr o b le ms, interests, aspirations andfailures inhe r . Hall an d Richardson (1982) pointed out that parents and other autho ri tyfiguresstressacademicachievementfor females and so they dropped physical education in favour of academi c classes.

Brooks , Chanson neuve, and Cooper(1 986) ear ma r ke d the reasons for the de ar th offe male coaches. A ma j or reasonwas thattherewere multitudes of maleco a che s becausethe y had training facilities whilewomen ha d no suc h facili t i e s. Also wc.een, because of th e i r mtaLt IpLe roles, foundthat the time de ma nded for tr a i n i ng purp os e s exceeded the time they had available. There wa s a conf lict in phi l os ophy between physica l educatorsand co aches. Many women saw fitnessand re crea t i o n as importa nt goals, in add ition to prowess in sports. Men were coaching femal eteamseven when availab le, be c a us e they had more experience and perceivedas better for thejob .

Frank lin (197 5) fur the r noted that support given to physical educators by adminis trators may well depend upon in di vidual philosophies, knowl e dge, and attitudes towards physical education . The same holds true at fa mi ly and fr iends. Ha le (1983) fo und that athletes' peers were more