Incorporating Sport Education within a physical education sports club in China

ABSTRACT

The goal of China’s new guidelines for physical education within universities is to promote greater levels of active engagement and an emphasis on the development and cultivation of students’ individual abilities. This study follows an engagement perspective to examine the responses of stakeholders to the incorporation of the essential elements of Sport Education within an elective physical education basketball sports club. Participants were 152 students who after five weeks of term could elect to participate in a Sport Education season or continue to practice individually. Dependent measures included club attendance, students’ perceptions of competence, knowledge/understanding and enjoyment of basketball. In addition, the teacher kept a reflective log across the season and participated in a formal interview at season’s end. The students who participated in the Sport Education option had significantly greater attendance than their skill practice classmates. Further, they reported significant improvements in competence, as well as a higher level of enjoyment over their previous college physical education experience. These results demonstrate that highly autonomous format of the basketball club is conducive in supporting students’ engagement in physical education.

KEYWORDS:

• Engagement
• autonomy
• relatedness
• competence
• basketball
• innovative curriculum

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Dr Peter Hastie is the Wayne T. Smith distinguished professor in the School of Kinesiology at Auburn University, USA. His research efforts concentrate on applications of the Sport Education model in various settings, as well as the ecology of teaching and learning settings within physical education

Mr Anyi Hu is an associate professor in the College of Physical Education at Hubei Normal University, in Huangshi, China. His academic work within the field of physical education specializes on teaching and learning basketball in school and university environments. He also studies innovative applications of the Sport Education model.

Mr Hairui Liu is a doctoral student in physical education in the School of Kinesiology at Auburn University in Alabama, USA. His research focuses on the application of two pedagogical models, Sport Education and Play Practice, in university physical education settings.

Mr Shu Zhou is an associate professor and vice dean in the College of Physical Education at Hubei Normal University in Huangshi, China. His research focuses on aspects of tennis learning in physical education and pre-service teacher practice.