School PE through Internet discussion forums

Background: Physical education is a subject that generates strong feelings and emotions, as can be seen in written accounts of PE experiences. It is also important to listen to students' voices in the research context. Nowadays, students can be listened to in a new way – through the Internet. Various discussion forums on the Internet make it possible for people to express themselves through real or imagined messages. It might be easier to express highly sensitive and even intimate thoughts on the Internet. Thus, the Internet might be an interesting open forum for teachers to think about new ways of developing teaching practices that would reduce negative experiences of PE.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine what kinds of extrinsic factors underlie the opinions expressed in Internet discussion forums on experiences of PE in Finnish schools.Research design: The data for this research were collected from open Internet discussion forums during a randomly chosen week in April 2007. Using qualitative content analysis all the messages (total n = 356) from nine forums were grouped into positive, both positive and negative, and negative messages. The messages were divided into smaller segments such as paragraphs, sentences or even words, and labelled opinions (total n = 652).Data analysis: Based on Carlson's model, these opinions were further grouped into intrinsic and extrinsic factors. This study concentrated on the extrinsic factors behind the opinions, as these can more easily be influenced by pedagogical developments. Six extrinsic factors were identified: teacher's personality and behaviour, curriculum, assessment, class environment, facilities and equipment, and out of school influences and other factors.Findings: The results showed clearly that of the total of extrinsic factors only 8% were in the category of positive opinions and up to 61% in the category of negative opinions. The findings revealed that the teacher plays a crucial role in students' enjoyment of PE, as is indicated by the fact that the personality and behaviour of the teacher was mentioned the most often (40% of all opinions). Almost every fourth opinion concerned the class environment. In the third place, accounting for 16% of opinions, were issues related to the curriculum.Conclusions: Based on the results of the study, we conclude that more focus is needed on the pedagogical and emotional aspects of the learning environment. In PE teacher training it should be ensured that all future teachers have good socio-emotional skills and tools for creating a safe class environment. Teachers also need to widen their understanding on the strong role of emotions and experiences, as these can include humiliation and shame.