Effort is virtuous: teacher preferences of pupil effort, ability and grading in physical education

Summary Based on contemporary psychological approaches to attribution and emotions, this paper reports on three groups of pre‐ and inservice teachers and their preferences for different grading criteria for pupils based on the amount of effort and ability displayed in physical education. Consistent with our hypothesis derived from social psychological theories of social emotion, we found a clear preference for working with pupils who show effort. Two primary education student samples preferred students to achieve success in PE through effort rather than ability, whereas a sample of secondary PE teachers had a slight preference for high effort and high ability. This confirms other attributional research where ‘effort is virtuous’. As far as grading procedures were concerned, all three groups preferred to use pupil progress and effort the most. Scores on physical fitness tests and the performance of pupils relative to others were the least preferred options. Effort‐based grading procedures were correlated with a preference for pupils who showed high effort. All groups showed a preference to work with pupils who try hard and to grade them on this, as well as personal progress. There was little desire to assess pupils normatively.