Interesting Article #7: Differences between Slovenian Pupils Attending Sport Class and Those Attending a Regular School Programme

AUTHOR: B. Peternelj; B. Skof J. Strel
TITLE: Differences between Slovenian Pupils Attending Sport Class and Those Attending a Regular School Programme
SOURCE: International Journal of Physical Education 45 no3 144-51 2008
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ABSTRACT
The aim of the study was to establish whether there were any differences between groups of pupils attending a 'sport class' for eight years and those attending a 'regular class', and which of the included variables contributed most to these differences. Three generations of pupils participated in the experiment, that is 134 pupils in total. 68 pupils attended the 'sport class' (the experimental group) and 66 were in the regular school programme (the control group). The sample of variables consisted of selected tests of pupils' motor abilities and morphological characteristics, grades in individual school subjects, values, attitude to physical activity, motivational orientation in physical education and their social status. The discriminant analysis confirmed the statistical significance of the differences between the groups of pupils attending the sport class and the regular school programme (Wilks' lambda = 0.51; F(l 1.122) = 10.68; p<0.000) and the significance of the discriminant power of the canonical discriminant function (own lambda = 0.91; Wilks' lambda. = 0.51; Hi[sup2] = 85.32; df =11; p<0.000). The largest and only significant correlation with the canonical discriminant function was recorded in the variable 'parents' education', based on which the function was named 'family educational level'.
It is evident that in a family environment, where high levels of knowledge and education are perceived as values, parents show a greater interest in and care for both education and for their children to develop a healthy lifestyle.
1 Introduction
The fundamental specific tasks of physical education in school as an important element of the education system include the development of motor abilities and sport knowledge, the promotion of a positive self-image as well as socialisation and growth in youth's psychophysical state and health (Auweele, Bakker, Biddle, Durand, & Seiler, 1999; Kovac & Novak, 1998). The keen interest of school management and sport teachers in changes that are adapted to the developmental characteristics and motivational structure of today's children and youth as well as adequate material resources in schools play an important role in the implementation of the planned programmes and objectives (Kovac & Strel, 2002; Kovac, Stare, & Jurak, 2003).
In Slovenia since the 1985/86 school year, when a school programme with additional sport subjects was allowed by the law (the first such programme was officially launched in the same school year), this programme has already been implemented in about 30 primary schools so as to contribute to the quality of the school's educational work in different periods of compulsory schooling.
The purpose of these programmes is not only to variegate the school curriculum but also to exploit the possibility of making organised education in the public school a way to compensate certain drawbacks of a non-stimulating family environment (Kroflic, 2000). The core aim of the study was to establish whether there are any differences between groups of pupils attending a 'sport class' for eight years and those attending a 'regular class'. Another aim was to determine which of the included variables concerning motivational orientation, attitude to physical activity, values, morphological characteristics, motor abilities, final grade and social status contribute the most to these differences.
2 Methods
2.1 Sample of Subjects
The sample was monitored longitudinally for eight years, from the age of 7 (1[supst] grade) to 15 (8[supth] grade). The sample included three generations of pupils who enrolled in the 1[supst] grade of primary school in Postojna, Slovenia, in the 1995/96, 96/97 and 97/98 school years and completed their schooling in the 2002/03-2004/05 school years. The sample consisted of 134 male and female pupils. The experimental group included 68 subjects who attended the programme with additional sport subjects. The control group consisted of 66 subjects who attended regular classes.
2.2 Programmes
In the period from 1[supst] to 4[supth] grade, pupils in the experimental group (EG) had five lessons of physical education a week, which were delivered concurrently by two teachers (a sport teacher and single class teacher). The control group (CG) had three lessons of physical education a week, which were delivered by their class teacher alone. In the 5[supth] and 6[supth] grades, the EG pupils had five lessons of physical education a week and, in the 7[supth] and 8[supth] grades, three lessons a week. The CG pupils had three lessons a week in the 5[supth] and 6[supth] grades and two lessons a week in the 7[supth] and 8[supth] grades. In the period from the 5[supth] to 8[supth] grade, lessons were delivered concurrently by two sport teachers, namely in experimental and control groups.
Table 1: Differences between the experimental and control groups in terms of number of physical education lessons in the eight-year schooling period
Group 1[supst]-4[supth] % 5[supth] and % 7[supth] and % 1[supst]-8[supth] %
grade 6[supth] grade 8[supth] grade grade
CG 420* 100 210** 100 150** 100 780 (360**) 100 (46% **)
EG 700** 167 350** 167 210** 140 1260** 162 (100% **)
Note: The baseline (100%) is the number of lessons in the CG (regular classes); * a single class teacher delivers the lesson; ** a single class teacher and sport teacher deliver the lesson concurrently
Pupils of sport classes (EG) also took part in additional sport activities of several hours' to several days' duration (hiking, cycling, bivouacking, cross-country skiing, dance courses, archery, bowling, boules etc.) and one open-air school a year. Pupils of the regular classes (CG) only had one summer (swimming course) and one winter (skiing course) open-air school and a prescribed number of sports days a year, which is the same as their schoolmates attending the sport programme.
2.3 Instruments
The dependent variables that were monitored for eight years include the pupils' grades in all subjects as well as selected tests for measuring motor abilities and morphological characteristics prescribed by the Sport-education Record (Strel, Ambrozic, Kondric, Kovac, Leskosek, Stihec & Sturm, 1996).
The sample of variables concerning values, attitude to physical activity and motivational orientation in physical education was acquired at the end of the 8[supth] grade, as follows:
(1) The questionnaire Musek's Scale of Values (MLV; Musek, 2000) was used to establish which of the stated items (values) the pupils appreciated the most. The reliability of the MLV is very high as the Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient is 0.94.
(2) The questionnaire on the pupils' motivational orientation in physical education was used to establish when pupils feel most successful in physical education. The questionnaire is a Slovenian adaptation (Cecic Erpic, Skof, Boben, & Zabukovec, 2002) of the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (Duda, Chi, Newton, Walling, & Catley, 1995). It is based on the target orientation theory in the context of motivation of achievements, assuming the existence of two dominant targets on the basis of which one assesses one's achievement. One of the targets is 'task orientation' (Cronbach's alpha is 0.72) and the other is 'ego orientation' (Cronbach's a is 0.82).
(3) The Attitude Towards Physical Activity Questionnaire (Kenyon, 1968) was translated and adapted to the Slovenian sport and cultural environment and physical education (Marcina, Cecic Erpic, Skof, Boben, & Zabukovec, 2004). The questionnaire measures five dimensions of youth's attitudes to physical activity: excitement and risk, aesthetic dimension, social experience and relaxation, health and fitness and ascetic dimension (Cronbach's alpha for these dimensions are 0.83, 0.84, 0.62, 0.87 and 0.73, respectively).
(4) The questionnaire on the social and economic status of pupils' families was adapted for the purpose of this study and completed by the parents of the pupils participating in the study at the time they completed the 8[supth] grade. We wanted to establish how strongly the environment impacts on the investigated dimensions.
2.4 Statistical Methods
The basic statistical parameters for all used variables were calculated and the t-test for calculating statistical significance of the differences between the EG and the CG in terms of individual variables was carried out. To identify which variables best distinguish the two groups in the final phase, we additionally used discriminant analysis (the Forward method), whereby variables were added to the discriminant function one by one until the F of the variable exceeded the value of the required 'F to enter'.
3. Results
3.1 Basic Statistical Data
Table 2: Differences between pupils attending sport classes and those attending regular classes in terms of dependent variables
Dependent variables Experimental group Control group
M SD M SD t-value df p
Values
Hedonic 78.93 10.4 79.94 8.8 -0.61 132 .545975
Potency-related 63.49 18.5 68.25 16.1 -1.59 132 .114512
Moral 87.33 8.2 88.51 7.7 -0.86 132 .390948
Fulfilment-related 68.85 16.0 71.55 17.7 -0.93 132 .354077
Dionysian 73.78 12.1 76.04 10.4 -1.16 132 .249504
Apollonian 83.90 8.6 85.37 8.1 -1.01 132 .312190
Attitudes
Risk dimension (A_RD) 3.70 0.88 3.16 0.97 3.37 132 .000976
Aesthetic dimension (A_AE) 2.35 0.73 2.76 0.97 -2.76 132 .006620
Relaxation and 3.94 0.61 3.86 0.56 0.74 132 .461333
entertainment (A_RE)
Health and fitness(A_HF) 3.96 0.85 4.15 0.72 -1.40 132 .164917
Ascetic dimension (A-ASC) 3.10 0.95 2.87 0.84 1.62 132 .106804
Motivation
EGO orientation 2.64 0.98 2.79 1.16 -0.81 132 .418550
TASK orientation 3.78 0.81 3.72 0.72 0.44 132 .658337
Grade in:
Slovenian language 3.94 0.96 3.41 1.14 2.93 132 .003986
Mathematics 3.75 1.04 3.30 1.15 2.36 132 .019781
Art class 4.29 0.75 4.36 0.75 -0.54 132 .592912
Music Class 4.32 0.75 4.32 0.75 -0.02 132 .987720
Physical education 4.63 0.70 4.45 0.73 1.38 132 .170238
Final grade 4.15 0.64 3.87 0.76 2.38 132 .018939
Morphology
Body height 1696.19 76.60 1682.53 76.61 1.02 129 .642058
Body weight 585.97 78.27 638.00 139.30 -2.65 129 .002659
Skinfold 12.18 4.31 15.95 6.24 -4.06 130 .012847
Motor abilities
Tapping (TAP) 46.12 4.08 42.24 5.27 4.71 128 .000006
Standing broad jump (SBJ) 201.86 24.36 180.46 32.03 4.24 125 .000043
Polygon (POL) 104.20 20.18 132.48 31.87 -5.98 125 .000000
Sit-ups (SU) 50.20 10.19 39.90 10.37 5.67 126 .000000
Touch toes (TT) 48.77 6.28 46.67 6.82 1.83 127 .070303
Bent arm hang (BAH) 55.35 23.26 29.37 21.57 6.54 126 .000000
60m run 91.70 10.32 98.83 11.10 -3.65 119 .000387
600m run 140.06 23.24 154.00 23.32 -3.26 118 .001438
Social and economic status
S_SOC 2.92 0.54 2.68 0.70 2.17 124 .031686
S_EDL 4.47 0.98 3.71 0.98 4.36 124 .000027
S_FMB 7.09 8.17 4.17 4.43 2.54 129 .012280
S_HC 3.90 0.52 3.96 0.80 -0.49 124 .622356
Note: M = mean value; SD = standard deviation; p = statistical significance; df = degree of freedom; S_SOC = parents' average relative evaluation of family social status (scale of 1-5); S_EDL = parents' average education level (scale of 1-7); S_FMB = % of family's monthly budget spent on sport and recreation; S_HC = parents' average relative evaluation of their own health condition
The basic statistical data and the results of the t-test (Table 2) show that, at the end of the schooling, the groups of pupils attending different programmes statistically significantly differ in terms of their motor abilities, body characteristics and final grade. Statistically significant differences between the two groups were also discovered in the parameters of the family's social status and in some dimensions of pupils' attitudes to physical activity. No statistically significant differences were found in motivational orientation and values.
3.2 Results of the Discriminant Analysis
Wilks' lambda = 0.51; F(l 1.122) = 10.68; p<0.000 corroborates the statistical significance of differences between the groups of pupils attending sport and regular classes as well as the significance of the discriminant power of the model used for comparing both groups of pupils (Table 3).
Likewise, the results confirm the statistically significant discriminant power of the calculated canonic discriminant function (Table 3).
Table 3: Discriminatory characteristic of the discriminant function
Function Own Canonic Wilks' Hi[sup2] df p
lambda correlation lambda
1 0.96 0.70 0.51 85.32 11 0.00
The discriminant analysis (the Forward method) eliminated nine variables (Table 4) characteristically contributing to discernment between the groups of pupils attending the sport classes and the regular programme. These are: bent arm hang, parents' education level, aesthetic dimension of the attitude, health and fitness dimension of the attitude, touch toes, risk dimension of the attitude, percentage of family's monthly budget spent on sport and recreation, standing broad jump and polygon.
Table 4: Variables that most differentiate the experimental and control groups
Wilks' lambda Partial lambda F-ods 1-Tolerance
(-1.122) p Tolerance (R-Sqr.)
BAH 0.553 0.921 10.393 0.002 ** 0.577 0.423
S_EDL 0.545 0.934 8.607 0.004 ** 0.937 0.063
A_AE 0.549 0.928 9.495 0.003 ** 0.714 0.286
TAP 0.517 0.986 1.792 0.183 0.783 0.217
A_HF 0.549 0.928 9.473 0.003 ** 0.538 0.462
TT 0.549 0.929 9.386 0.003 ** 0.768 0.232
A_RD 0.526 0.968 4.005 0.048 * 0.738 0.262
S_FMB 0.529 0.962 4.791 0.031 * 0.914 0.086
SBJ 0.535 0.952 6.126 0.015 * 0.365 0.635
POL 0.527 0.966 4.248 0.041 * 0.373 0.627
A_ASC 0.517 0.985 1.908 0.170 0.459 0.541
Note: VZG_8A = bent arm hang; S_EDL = parents' average education level (scale of 1-7), A_AE = aesthetic dimension; TAP = tapping; A_HF = health and fitness; TT = touch toes; A_RD = risk; S_FMB = % of family's monthly budget spent on sport and recreation; SBJ = standing broad jump; POL = polygon; A_ASC = ascetic dimension; p = statistical significance.
*p<0.5; **p<0.01
The discriminant analysis (the Forward method) eliminated nine variables that characteristically contributed to the discernment between the groups of pupils attending the sport classes and the regular programme. The discriminant function (Table 5) statistically significantly distinguishes between the two groups of pupils.
Table 5: Centroids of the canonic discriminant function
Group Function 1
Experimental group 0.96
Control group -0.99
The position of centroids for individual groups of pupils (Table 5 and Figure 1) confirm the differences between the groups. The standard coefficients of the canonic variable show that the differences are mostly due to the following: bent arm hang, health dimension of the attitude to physical activity, standing broad jump, aesthetic dimension of the attitude towards physical activity, touch toes and polygon.
Table 6: Correlations between independent variables and the canonic discriminant func
Variables Correlation with the function
S_EDL 0.398
A_HF 0.133
A_AE 0.089
TT 0.068
A_RD 0.053
A_ASC 0.049
S_FMB 0.045
TAP 0.042
BAH 0.024
SBJ 0.019
POL 0.016
In view of the correlations between the independent variables and the canonic discriminant function (Table 6) this function can also be termed the 'family's education level' which is an important factor of family education.
4 Discussion and Conclusions
At the end of primary school those pupils attending the sport classes differ statistically significantly from those attending the regular programme.
After completing their 8-year schooling, the pupils from sport classes are more efficient in motor terms and have more appropriate body dimensions in medical terms. The characteristically lower body mass along with higher body height and less fat tissue shows that the body composition of pupils from sport classes is considerably more favourable. Many studies have established a correlation between body fitness and the health status of children and youth (Skof, Zabukovec, Cecic-Erpic, & Boben, 2005; Currie, Roberts, Morgan, Smith, Settertobulte, Samdal, & Rasmussen, 2004; Malina, 1996). In the present study, it was found that pupils attending a programme with additional sport subjects attained 9% to 22% better results in individual motor tests. This merely supports the finding that additional sport activity at school clearly increases children's body fitness and thus improves their health.
The discriminant analysis (DA) shows that nine variables statistically significantly contribute to the discernment between the EG and the CG. Three variables concern attitudes to physical activity (health and fitness component, aesthetic component and excitement/risk component), four belong to motor tests (polygon, standing broad jump, touch toes and bent arm hang) and two to one's family's social and economic status (parents' education level and percentage of family's monthly budget spent on sport and recreation).
The discriminant model confirmed the effect exerted by the different programmes (and, of course, the effect of differences established upon enrolment in the school) since 90% of the pupils were correctly classified in the experiment and 80% in the control groups.
The results of the study also showed that one's parents' education level exerts the strongest effect on the canonic discriminant function, which statistically significantly differentiates between the EG and the CG. This is not surprising given that many studies and our everyday practice confirm the importance of one's family's economic status and, even more, one's parents' education level and their correlation with access to various curricular and extracurricular educational, cultural, sport and other programmes for children. Likewise, the parents' education level correlates with their children's final grade.
It is evident that in a family environment, where high levels of knowledge and education are perceived as values, parents show a greater interest in and care for education (they also have better possibilities for this) as well as for their children to develop a healthy lifestyle.
The key conclusions of the study are:
a) Many significant differences exist between the group of pupils attending the sport programme and the regular programme group.
b) The most important effect on the canonic discriminant function, which statistically significantly differentiates between the EG and the CG, is that of one's parents' education level.
If this extremely positive effect of the programme on selected motor and partly morphological parameters is expected, then other positive effects (a better final grade, some positive trends in motivational orientation and youth's attitudes to physical activity) bear even greater importance.
However, the finding that school programmes with additional sport subjects are attended by pupils from families with a higher socioeconomic status shows that the public school is failing to fully exploit the potential of successful compensation of school socialisation. This finding underscores the need for a further consideration of the quality development of the investigated classes.
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ADDED MATERIAL
B. Peternelj, B. Skof J. Strel (Postojna*/Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Figure 1: Graphic presentation of centroids of individual groups and their variables