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Russianstudents’participationinandperceptionsofaseasonofSportEducation

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Russian students’ participation inand perceptions of a season of SportEducation

� Peter A. Hastie and Oleg A. Sinelnikov Auburn University, USA

AbstractThis study examined the participation and perceptions of a cohort of sixth-grade

Russian students as they participated in a season of basketball that followed a Sport

Education format. Thirty-seven students from two classes completed 18-lesson

seasons. Throughout the initial skills practice sessions and practice games, as well as

the formal competition phase, students of both genders and skill levels spent most of

their lesson time actively engaged in motor tasks. The students also demonstrated

significant competence in the officiating and coaching roles associated with the season.

In interviews during and following the season, the students commented that they

found the season to be particularly interesting, that they enjoyed having student

coaches and that they developed significant team affiliation. Questionnaire data

confirmed that students believed they had made significant gains in their skill and

understanding of basketball. These findings are discussed within the context of self-

determination theory.

Key-words: basketball • Russia • Sport Education • TARGET

In the early 1990s, the Soviet Union was undergoing considerable change, changethat was neither orderly nor painless. Amidst presidential turmoil and the transitionfrom a centralized economy to one resembling more of a free market, many Russianswere left in an indeterminate state with regard to work, income and stability.

The early 1990s were also the years in which the current generation of Russianschool children was born. As a result of this, none of today’s Russian school childrenhas experienced a Soviet education. One of the great success stories of the SovietUnion was the opportunity for children and youth to participate in the sport culture.As members of sports clubs, young Soviets had access to quality coaching, hadopportunities to improve their skills, were able to socialize with friends and wereable to participate in competitive sport. The sports club offered significant affiliation.As members of Spartak, Zenit or Lokomotiv, children were able to develop anidentity with a group of fellow Russians in a way that promoted positive social inter-actions.

Copyright © 2006 North West Counties Physical Education Association and SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi)www.sagepublications.com

EUROPEAN PHYSICAL EDUCATION REVIEW [DOI: 10.1177/1356336X06065166]Volume12(2):131–150:065166 EPER

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With the change in the political structure however, and the associated difficultiesthat resulted within the Russian economy, this opportunity for students to becomeactive members of sport clubs has declined. In 1976, there were over 7000 sportsclubs and 5000 sports schools operating in the Soviet Union. By 2001, there werefewer than 3000 sports schools (FCDSAEC, 2005).

For Russian children nowadays, the opportunity to participate in authenticformal sports competition is indeed limited. Nonetheless, to compensate for this lossof opportunity, one possible solution might be to take the concept of the sports cluband transfer this to the school setting. While direct replication would not be possibledue to economic limitations, the underlying principles of team affiliation and periodsof training and formal competition over an extended period are possible within thescope of physical education (PE).

We do not have to search far for a resource that fits the above description. TheSport Education curriculum and instruction model was designed for use in PE in orderto give students an authentic sporting experience (Siedentop et al., 2004). Aimed atdeveloping competent, literate and enthusiastic sports players, Sport Education nowhas in its résumé a number of empirical studies that support its veracity as a legiti-mate and highly appreciated method of presenting PE for both students (Carlson,1995; Hastie, 1996, 1998a, 2000; Pope and Grant, 1996) and teachers (Alexanderand Luckman, 2001; Alexander et al., 1996).

To date, experimental research on Sport Education has been restricted to theEnglish-speaking countries of Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and the UnitedStates. We have little knowledge of how the model might be interpreted andresponded to by students in countries with a non-western sport culture. In particu-lar, Sport Education follows a more democratic and constructivist pedagogy thatrequires significant small group instruction, as well as features of student empower-ment, decision-making and responsibility.

A standard Russian PE lesson, on the other hand, consists of three parts (seeBondarenkova et al., 2004, for the curriculum guide for sixth-grade students). The‘Introductory Part’ should range in length from 5 to 8 minutes and consists ofvigorous aerobic exercise such as marching, running (in all directions) and theperforming of various callisthenics. This is followed by the ‘Main Part’ which consistsof various skill development exercises, often in the form of relays, but most of whichfocus exclusively on what we would interpret as technique (in contrast to problem-solving or tactical tasks). Also included in the ‘Main Part’ is time allocated for gameplay. The final section of a lesson, the ‘Conclusory Part’, involves a summing up ofwhat has been learned during the lesson. From repeated observations in variousRussian schools over a period of one month before this investigation, the authors canconfidently say that this standard lesson format is being enacted in a majority oflessons. That is, Russian PE could best be described as teacher-directed, involvingeither individual work (training) or whole-team games and providing students withlittle or no opportunity for independent decision-making. The purpose of this study,then, is to provide an account of students’ participation in a season of Sport Education,

132 E U RO P E A N P H YS I C A L E D U C AT I O N R E V I E W 1 2 ( 2 )



together with their perceptions of their experience with the model. These results maythen be used as a case for (or against) replicating the principles of the sports clubs ofthe Soviet era (i.e. persisting team membership, affiliation, guided practice and formalcompetition) within school-based PE.

Method

Participants

The participants in this study were 37 sixth-grade students (18 boys and 19 girls)and their teachers from a rural school in central Russia. The faculty of a regionalRussian university suggested the school as a possible site for the investigation and thePE teachers in that school expressed an interest in the project after initial contact.Before collection of the data, permission to conduct the study was obtained from theHuman Subjects Committee of the researchers’ institution. In addition, PE teachersand parents of students participating in investigation completed informed consentforms, and an authorization was obtained from the region’s department of educationand school’s principal to conduct the study. The school had a total enrolment of 600from grades 1 to 11 (the typical organization of a Russian school). The students wereenrolled in two classes, one taught by an experienced teacher (20 students – 6A) andthe second by a novice teacher (17 students – 6B). Classes met three times a weekover a period of six weeks for a total of 18 lessons. Each lesson was scheduled for 40minutes.

The experienced teacher had 27 years of teaching and was regarded as having oneof the premier PE programmes in the Russian Federation. The novice teacher was agraduate student from the local state university who had been teaching in the schoolfor the past two years.

Lesson content

The students participated in a season of basketball designed and taught following thekey principles of Sport Education. Consistent with the model, the students weredivided into teams following initial lessons learning basketball skills. These teamsthen remained together through a series of practice games and, later, formal compe-tition. The students took team administrative roles including equipment captain andtrainer (coach), and during practice and competitive games, refereed matches and keptstatistics. A complete outline of the season plan is shown in Table 1. This season planoccupied one complete term (quarter) of the school year.

Treatment validity

Given that this was the first time these teachers had any experience teaching SportEducation, it is important to validate that they were true to the model. Confirmation

H A S T I E & S I N E L N I KOV : RU S S I A N S P O RT E D U C AT I O N 133



of the behavioural validity of the teachers’ presentation of the model was achieved ina number of ways. These included (i) initial training in the instructional principlesand curriculum design of the model, (ii) feedback and counselling from experts in themodel and (iii) systematic observation of the lessons.

Initial training in the modelInitial training included acquaintance with the model, mutual planning and samplelessons. Due to the cumbersome nature of the project in a foreign country, the initialtraining of the model was rather long, taking almost a year. Acquaintance with themodel was achieved through the initial informal discussion meeting that outlined themain features of the model. Through that discussion, teachers expressed interest inthe model and their desire to teach it. Over the next six months, the teachers receivedcopies of articles published in Russian journals that described the model in detail.Email and telephone communication also took place to answer immediate questionsthat teachers had. One week prior to the beginning of the quarter, the researchers heldtwo 2-hour meetings with the teachers discussing the model. During those meetings,the teachers, with the researchers’ assistance, created a season plan and also wrotedetailed lesson plans for the Sport Education season. The focus of the meeting was onfeatures that are distinct to Sport Education, and less attention was given to teachingthe skills of basketball. For example, officiating and team roles were discussed atlength, as well as strategies on how to ensure that students take control of the season.In the week before the introduction of the model to the sixth-grade classes, theresearchers taught the critical parts of the lessons during each season phase, while thePE teachers acted as students. In addition, when school began, one of the researchers


Table 1 Basketball season plan

Lesson Content Teacher’s role Students’ roles

1 Introduction Class leader ParticipantRules to gameBeginning skills

2 Skills testing Present team lists Determine team rolesTeam announcement Discuss roles Decide on team name

Discuss fair play3–7 Whole-class skill instruction Class leader Participant8–10 Pre-season scrimmages Head coach Coaches, players

Players learn and Referee adviser Learn duty rolepractise duty roles

11–15 Formal Head coach Coaches, playerscompetition Programme manager Duty team roles

16–17 Play-offs Programme manager Coaches, playersDuty team roles

18 Championship game Programme manager Coaches, playersAwards presentations Master of ceremonies Duty team roles



taught two preseason lessons to a class of students not participating in the projectwhile the teachers observed.

Feedback and counsellingThe researchers met with the teachers twice a week prior to and following theirlessons. Before lessons, the discussion focused on the key Sport Education componentthat was relevant to a lesson in that particular phase of the season. Post-lessondiscussions focused on the success of the lessons, and, from that point, assistance wasprovided in the planning for subsequent lessons. Neither teacher had any managerialdifficulties with his class, and was able to focus his instruction on the key elementsof the model.

Systematic observationTwo of the three lessons for each teacher were video recorded weekly to provide thesource for systematic analysis of the veracity of the instruction. Hastie (1998a)suggests that to provide a stamp of approval on a season of Sport Education, one shouldsee evidence of the following during the course of instruction: (i) a decrease in theteacher’s organization and direct instruction as the season progresses, (ii) an increasein the percentage and frequency of observing behaviours, (iii) a decrease in involve-ment in skill instruction from the teachers and increasing participation in game playand officiating commitments by the students as the season progresses. The frequencyand percentage of selected teacher behaviours and student lesson participation fromtwo representative lessons in each phase were collected following real-time recordingprinciples and using the analysis software developed by Sharpe and Koperwas (1999).

Figure 1 shows the summary data for teacher behaviour and time allocation acrossthe three phases of the season. This figure shows how both teachers replicated the


%

Figure 1 Teacher behaviour and time allocation to practice and games across theseason



expected teaching behaviours of Sport Education instruction. During the earlylessons, there was significantly more time spent in class management, with the teacherbeing the primary provider of organization and lesson content. Also in these earlylessons, there was significant involvement by the students in skill practice, butminimal involvement by the students in game play. During the later lessons, thesefeatures were reversed, with the students taking primary responsibility for theconduct of lessons and taking roles of players and officials.

Data collection

The following data were collected for this study; (i) students’ participation levels inskill practice and game play, (ii) students’ compliance and effectiveness in theirofficiating roles and (iii) students’ perceptions of the season from both playing andnonplaying perspectives.

Participation levelsThe students’ participation levels were analysed from the digital video disc (DVD)records of the lessons throughout the season. These DVDs were captured on a cameraset up in the corner of the gymnasium and mounted on a tripod for a focus on as muchof the class as possible. A specially designed configuration of the Behavioral Evalu-ation Strategies and Taxonomies (Sharpe and Koperwas, 1999) software was used torecord the frequency and duration in which the students were engaged in variouscomponents of skill practice and game play. Table 2 provides the category descrip-tions and the assigned computer keyboard number/letter used in this analysis. Inter-rater reliability greater than .80 was established during the development of thesecategories in line with Sharpe and Koperwas’s (1999) recommendations, whileintrarater reliability conducted with repeated segments of video records reached levelsreported in Table 2.

In recording participation levels, four different students were followed for fourminutes on four occasions during a lesson. That is, one student was coded with respectto his or her participation for four minutes. After this time, the video was rewoundand attention was directed to a second (and then subsequent third and fourth) student.The sequence of observations of the four students was as follows: a higher skilled boy,a lower skilled boy, a higher skilled girl, and finally, a lower skilled girl. The categories‘higher’ and ‘lower’ were determined from the skills testing conducted in lesson 2.

The time slots coded during lessons were as follows: 0–4 minutes, 8–12 minutes,16–20 minutes, 24–28 minutes. Four lessons from each of the three phases of theseason were coded, and four different students were coded each lesson, thereby provid-ing coverage of all the participants during the study.

Role complianceThe students’ effectiveness in officiating roles was determined using the protocoldevised by Hastie (1996). In this study, the roles that were quantitatively recorded




included referee and statistician. Categories for referees were ‘actively involved’,‘passively involved’, ‘distracted’ and ‘off-task’. For the statisticians, the categorieswere ‘fully attentive’, ‘distracted’ and ‘off-task’. Data concerning the accomplishmentof these roles were collected using duration recording, with attention rotatingbetween referees or between statisticians every 60 seconds. Interrater reliability checks


Table 2 Category descriptions for the participation levels of students in skill practiceand game contexts (reliability scores in parentheses)

Description Key #

Nonmotor categoriesListening for instructions Student is listening to the teacher concerning skill 9(93.8%) instruction, rules, officiating or roles and

responsibilitiesOrganization Student is appropriately engaged in a managerial 8(91.4%) task such as collecting or distributing equipment,

moving between playing courts, or engaged inofficiating roles

Off-task Student is performing some task other than one 0(100%) required by the teacher or the team captain

Motor skill categoriesNonactive (waiting) Student is awaiting the next opportunity to 1(97.1%) respond, such as waiting in line for a turn, waiting

for an activity to begin, or in the game context,is not actively engaged in the developing play(either by defending or supporting the ball carrier)

Off-task Student is either not engaged in the activity that 2(100%) he or she should be, or is engaged in an activity

other than the one he or she should beengaged in

Modifying the task Student participates in the set task, but modifies 3(100%) the stated requirements to make it easier or

more difficultUnsuccessful Student is not successful at the intended motor 4engagementa task. For example, the pass is intercepted, the(100%) player loses control when dribbling, or takes a

shot at goal that does not hit the rimb

Successful engagement Student is successfully engaged in a motor task, 5(96.7%) such as controlling the ball while dribbling, making

a pass that reaches their intended team-mate,or makes a successful attempt on goal

Active off-the-ball Student engages in action not involving the ball, 6engagementc such as defending an opponent, rebounding, or(98.5%) making oneself available for the ball on offence

a This category was coded as a frequency count rather than duration.b This definition is that used by Richard and Griffin (2001).c This definition is equivalent to the ‘support’, ‘guard/mark’, ‘cover’, and ‘adjust’ components of the GPAI

instrument (see Griffin et al., 1997).



were conducted for 10 five-minute segments of videotape across four lessons. Overallagreement (as calculated by total agreements divided by agreements plus disagree-ments) was 97.5 percent for referees and 98.2 percent for statisticians.

Students’ perceptionsThe students’ perceptions of Sport Education season were first gathered through inter-views conducted throughout the season. An initial series of interviews was conductedat the point where students had been practising in their teams and had just begun toparticipate in practice matches. These interviews captured the students’ perceptionsof such factors as their conception of the season compared with their regular PE, aswell as their thoughts about their team. Students were interviewed in pairs or threes,and the cohort of interviewees contained students of all skill levels. In addition, anumber of students were interviewed immediately after they had completed theirofficiating tasks (either refereeing or keeping statistics). For these students, thequestions focused on their perceptions of these roles in terms of enjoyment, novelty,difficulty and learning.

A final series of interviews took place at the completion of the season (in thelesson following the celebration and presentation of awards), and focused on issuessimilar to the first interviews, but with the addition of questions relating to officiat-ing and the formal competition. All interviews were conducted in Russian and wererecorded on audiotape. All students were included in these interviews, which lastedapproximately 15 minutes. The cohorts of interviewees changed from the first to thefinal interviews, as in these later interviews we wished to gain the perspective ofstudents across teams, whereas initial interviews were within teams.

In addition to the interviews, at the end of the season, all students completed aquestionnaire that sought their perceptions of the season as a whole. Based upon thenine-question ‘Physical Education Season Survey’ developed by Mohr et al. (2003),the questions focused upon the characteristics of the Sport Education model (seasons,culminating event, affiliation, record keeping, festivity and formal competition). Thequestionnaire was translated into Russian.

Data analysis

Participation levelsMean and standard error scores were determined for each of the frequency andduration categories listed in Table 2. This was completed for each instructionalcontext of the Sport Education season (i.e. teacher-directed skill practices, practicegames and formal competition). For the purposes of this article, the results for activeparticipation in motor skills as well as success rates are reported. Active participationis calculated as the sum of ‘successful engagement’ and ‘active off the ball engage-ment’, and is reported in percentage of lesson time, while success rate is calculated asthe ratio of number of successful engagements divided by all attempts. Univariateanalysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine any gender, skill level or




phase differences. In this article, the results are reported with exact probabilities andeffect sizes are also given.

Role complianceThe percentage of task congruence was calculated for each of the officiating tasks(refereeing and keeping statistics).

Students’ perceptionsInterviews were first transcribed verbatim. Through a process of reading and reread-ing, the text of the interviews was reduced to a series of thoughts and perceptions.Consistent with the interpretation of Bell et al. (1985), a thought or perception wasdefined as a statement that was conceptually consistent with a single topic or idea.Next, using the analytic induction technique (Goetz and LeCompte, 1984), thesethoughts and ideas were coded, and then through constant comparison (see Glaserand Strauss, 1967), were placed into a series of thematic categories and subcategories.The themes revealed from these interviews were developed in the native language (inthis case, Russian), and then, for the purpose of reporting, were translated intoEnglish. This process was believed to provide the most pure interpretation of theparticipants’ understanding and representation of their experiences with the model.

Means and standard deviations for the nine items on the Physical EducationSeason Survey were also calculated. The students’ commentaries accompanying eachof the questions were inductively analysed using the techniques described for theanalysis of interview data.

Results

Participation levels

Data relating to the students’ practice opportunities are presented in Tables 3 and 4.The ANOVA data show the students were significantly more engaged during the


Table 3 Percent lesson time actively engaged in motor tasks

Mean Std error F p �2

Phase 3.895 .034 .245Skills 44.26 4.29Practice 59.02 5.25Formal 58.87 3.71

Gender .000 .999 .000Boy 54.07 3.64Girl 54.03 3.64

Skill .858 .364 .035Higher 56.44 3.64Lower 51.66 3.64



game play contexts than when they were learning skills. During practice and formalphases of the season, students were actively engaged in motor tasks 59 percent of theclass time compared to 44 percent engagement in motor tasks when learning skills.No significant differences were found for gender or skill level. The interesting trend,however, was the increase of the active motor skills engagement level of the lowerskilled girls from 38 percent in the skills phase to 61 and 60 percent of the class timein practice and formal phases of the Sport Education season respectively.

Figure 2 shows the analysis of the percentage of successful responses during thethree phases of the season. In this figure, the horizontal line indicates the median scorewhile the boxes extend from the 25th to the 75th percentile. Highest and lowestscores are also shown. From this figure it can be seen that lower skilled students hadsignificantly less successful engagement in motor tasks than those students withhigher skill, F (1,35) = 47.56, p =.001, �2 =.583. Nonetheless, in all cases, successrates exceeded 70 percent. Consistent with previous studies in Sport Education (seeHastie, 1998b), the plots in Figure 2 show a drop in success rate when students movefrom individual practices to their first game situations, but the rate improves as thestudents spend more time in game play.


Table 4 Interaction effects for active engagement in motor skills

Mean Std error F p �2

Phase Skill .301 .743 .024Skills Higher 48.55 6.06

Lower 39.97 6.06Practice Higher 58.34 7.43

Lower 59.71 7.43Formal Higher 62.43 5.25

Lower 55.31 5.25

Gender Skill .282 .601 .012Boy Higher 57.83 5.15

Lower 50.32 5.15Girl Higher 55.05 5.15

Lower 53.01 5.15

Phase Gender Skill .562 .577 .045Skills Boy Higher 45.97 8.58


Lower 37.70 8.58Practice Boy Higher 65.06 10.51


Lower 61.20 10.51Formal Boy Higher 62.47 7.43


Lower 60.13 7.43



Role compliance

The managerial performance of the students during their officiating roles is shown inTable 5. Not only did the students show high levels of compliance with the atten-tional requirements of these roles, they also stated that officiating was enjoyable and‘interesting’ but made unusual demands on students:

It is difficult to officiate and see everybody and see who has foot where and wherethe ball is. Sometimes it’s hard to see, but kids don’t get upset when I officiate,because I don’t get upset when they do.

The main concern for lower skilled officials was not to make a mistake and not tohave students upset and therefore influence the result of the match. As Lena (all namesthroughout are pseudonyms), one of the lower skilled girls put it, ‘I am afraid to makea mistake when officiating. They [other students] will be disappointed because theythink that they scored more.’ Nastya added, ‘You have to look and pay attention to


% S

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ss

Table 5 Percentage task congruence in duty roles (reliability in parentheses)

Context Referee Statistician

Fully attentive (97.2%) – 98.23Distracted (98.2%) – 1.75Off-task (100%) – 0.02Actively involved (98.2%) 90.46 –Passively involved (95.2%) 8.34 –Distracted (98.8%) 1.14 –Off-task (100%) 0.06 –

Figure 2 Students’ success rates for motor tasks



the game. The games are so interesting to watch that sometimes you forget to makea call because you were watching the game. So that was hard.’

Since they had a number of experiences officiating in games of no consequence(i.e. practice games that did not count towards the season championship), the studentsbegan to feel more comfortable and confident in the officiating roles. It was at thistime that some students noted that they started to think beyond officiating dutiesand imagined themselves in the current playing situations. Some commented howthey imagined themselves on the court in the players’ roles. Dima, a good official,said, ‘The officiating also helps when I play. Not only now I know the rules of thegame, but when officiating I can see where and to whom I would have passed theball.’

Students’ perceptions: interview data

Four themes were identified from the interviews. These have been labelled ‘interest-ing/new’, ‘enjoyment of student coaches’, ‘team affiliation’, and ‘appreciation of theculminating event’.

Interesting/newConsistent with previous findings, students enjoyed the model, commenting howinteresting it was. ‘Before basketball was really boring for me and now I like it. Itadded new emotions for me in PE lesson’ (Sveta, lower skilled girl).

While the term ‘interesting’ captured numerous connotations, in the main, thestudents were mostly referring to the novelty of new tasks and opportunities forlearning that presented themselves in this format. Commenting on differencesbetween Sport Education and regular PE, one of the lower skilled girls articulatedwhat the core distinction was for her and how she felt:

This [Sport Education] is much better. It is better because we have coaches andeverything is so much easier to understand. Before we just played, we were toldto play and we played, and now we are learning, for example, how to take outthe defender and how to take away the ball. It is more interesting.

Another lower skilled boy agreed: ‘It is more interesting now – more interestingbecause the lesson is not wasted for anything. We learn how to play with each other.’Yet another boy commented, ‘It is evident in my results’, and later in the interview,‘I like to learn, learn and one more time learn again.’ It is interesting to point outthat some students voiced the connection between the enjoyment factor and theapplicability of learning skills for the purpose of improving the game, for example,‘It is interesting to learn new skills, it helps you in the game.’

Enjoyment of student coachesMany students commented how they enjoyed learning from their peers. As one boycommented, ‘Practices with our coaches really helped me get better. It is seen in my




results, when before I could only score 2 or 3 out of five and now all the time 4 and5 goals.’ From others: ‘I liked my coach, he coached me well’, ‘I liked team practicesand our coach. He made our team closer together’, ‘Our team was organized becauseour coach was good’.

It was interesting to note that some coaches especially embraced the idea ofhelping their team-mates get better. As one of the coaches commented, ‘I like to leadthe team, it is interesting. We try to help team-mates get better, so that when weplay they understand more and play better. We explain everything to the team andthey follow.’ Another one said, ‘It is easier for them [students] to play. They come nottrained to me and I am a trainer. They learn and then we play basketball. It is easierto play that way, they are already used to the ball.’

Team affiliationThe students really embraced the notion of team affiliation, in particular the featuresof ‘making the team better’ and ‘sticking together’. For example, the team ‘Radical’came up with a poetic team cheer without any prompts or suggestions from theteachers:

Our blood is pumped with adrenalin. If all are one, Radical will always win. Ourpurpose was that if we started together we will finish together. All together wemake one. Team is one whole. Our emblem was bright and pretty, and our teamname was the best.

Appreciation of the culminating eventOne feature of the model, the culminating event, especially excited the childrenregardless of the outcome of the competition. ‘It does not matter that our team didnot win first place, but we played respectfully and were rewarded for it.’ ‘It was enjoy-able, we were all so nervous and I really want to have this repeated. We were just likeone whole. Every one was helped by Kristina, our coach, and even that we lost wewere not upset. I really liked it.’

While the teachers did not begin their season plan with a specific purpose ofproviding each student with an award, given that Sport Education highlights not onlyskills but also teamwork and the fulfilment of responsibilities, almost all studentsreceived an award. This was a stark difference to most Russian competitions and awardceremonies where only superior motor skills and physical abilities are valued. TypicalRussian awards are for first, second and third places (and sometimes for first placeonly). ‘I liked the award ceremony because each person was awarded and no one wasupset’ and ‘No one was distressed because all had awards’ were two representativecomments.

Although the teachers did not purposely say anything about the Olympics,students identified the culminating event as resembling Olympics where par-ticipation and fair play are equally emphasized, not just winning medals. ‘I was happythat our team took second place. It was very interesting and our team was close knit.




It was enjoyable to play like in Olympic style.’ Other comments included ‘It approxi-mated an Olympic competition which is cool.’ ‘Because I felt like an Olympian.’

Students’ perceptions: survey data

Table 6 provides the mean scores for the students’ response to the season. These scoresshow a strong level of support for the various components of Sport Education. Indeed,these scores exceeded those from the original American sample from which thisquestionnaire was devised. For both girls and boys alike (there were no statisticaldifferences by gender), there was a strong affinity for being on the same teamthroughout the season, an enjoyment of the formal competition and its associatedrecord keeping, and a fervent appreciation of the festivity associated with the season.

The only score less than ‘4’ was a 3.93 for the girls in relation to the length ofthe season. We believe, however, that this is more a manifestation of the surveyquestion, with the issue being that it involves a comparative judgment as in ‘longerthan typical PE unit’. As a case in point, the responses of girls who expressed thegreatest disagreement with the statement in the questionnaire was that they enjoyedthe unit not because it was ‘longer’, but because it was appealing and made them feelinvested in the process of learning. As one girl wrote (and we consider this to be repre-sentative of all the girls with these lower scores), ‘I liked basketball season not becauseit was longer, but rather because it was interesting and I started to play better andacquired certain skills.’ Yet another stated that she didn’t agree with the question,but provided this caveat: ‘I don’t agree, because I liked basketball not because it lastedlong, but because I was part of the team and it is a cool sport.’

Also shown in Table 6 are the students’ conceptions of themselves as competent,literate and enthusiastic basketball players. These scores again reflect in a strong andpositive way how the season helped promote these significant objectives of the SportEducation model.


Table 6 Students’ perceptions (means) of the components of sport education(standard deviations in parentheses)

All Students Boys Girls

Seasons 4.22 (1.04) 4.41 (0.96) 3.93 (1.14)Affiliation 4.75 (0.44) 4.86 (0.59) 4.57 (0.51)Record keeping 4.64 (0.54) 4.68 (0.57) 4.56 (0.51)Formal competition 4.61 (0.55) 4.68 (0.57) 4.50 (0.52)Festivity 4.89 (0.32) 4.86 (0.35) 4.93 (0.27)Culminating event 4.61 (0.69) 4.64 (0.72) 4.57 (0.65)

Competent 4.75 (0.50) 4.77 (0.43) 4.71 (0.61)Literate 4.75 (0.44) 4.68 (0.48) 4.86 (0.36)Enthusiastic 4.53 (0.70) 4.55 (0.74) 4.50 (0.65)

Note: The final three items are not part of the original questionnaire, but were added for this study.



Discussion

The results of this study show that the students who participated in this interventionwere strongly invested in their season. They were highly engaged within the skillpractice and game-playing tasks, took their officiating roles seriously and diligently,and showed powerful enthusiasm towards their teams.

With respect to the major components of Sport Education, the students’responses throughout the season reflected a very positive orientation towards thenotions of affiliation, record keeping, formal competition and festivity. The students’commentaries at the end of the season via the questionnaires and interviews suggestthat these structural arrangements of Sport Education were the reasons for theseresponses rather than any specific teacher effect. In all cases, the fun dimension of theseason related to both the skill and social dimensions of the model. Like the findingsof previous research (e.g. Hastie, 1998b) fun came from improving and being part ofa team (and more so, being an important part of a team), and taking part in a festivalwhere some felt like an Olympian.

Previous research on Sport Education has provided postulates for its attractive-ness to students. In an ecological analysis, Hastie (2000) suggested that theprogramme of action during Sport Education is driven by the presence of threevectors, these being strong managerial accountability, the student social system andthe content-embedded accountability inherent in the curriculum model. It would notbe unreasonable to suggest that these features were all significant factors in this iter-ation of Sport Education as well. In particular, the social nature of the season was apositive factor in promoting work in the instructional task system, and being togetherover the course of a number of lessons helped teams develop an identity and achievesocial goals. Practising to improve in order to win games was also a means of havingfun, and as Hastie (2000) has previously noted, since performing well in games wasa means of having fun, when teams worked together and put their energies into maxi-mizing their time during practice, this meant they were more likely to have success.

This discussion, however, will extend these postulates to focus on the notion ofself-regulation and autonomy as a major motivating factor for these Russian students.Self-determination theory focuses on the degree to which human behaviours arevolitional or self-determined (Deci and Ryan, 1985, 2000). Recall that these students’previous experiences in PE had been exclusively teacher-directed and significantlymore military (both literally and figuratively) than in a western school. Lessons hadbeen in prescribed environments from the standpoint of both curriculum (nationallystandardized) and teaching methods (direct instructional style). In contrast, SportEducation is more autonomous, student-driven and encourages the decision-makingprocesses. It could be viewed as a more constructivist or situated approach to teachingand learning (Dyson et al., 2004; Kirk and Kinchin, 2003).

It is now well established that the motivational climate a teacher adopts andimplements in the gymnasium or classroom may enhance or hinder learning (Epstein,1989). Recent research in education has been driven by the underlying theory that




learning for all individuals, regardless of developmental level, may be enhanced whenthe motivational climate is based on a mastery approach (Ames, 1992).

Within the youth sport context, the study by Theeboom et al. (1995) on theeffectiveness of a performance versus mastery oriented teaching programme onchildren’s enjoyment, perceived competence, intrinsic motivation and motor skilldevelopment, showed that a mastery motivational climate can lead to a more positiveexperience for young athletes in the course of learning new skills.

Epstein (1989) proposed that a comprehensive plan for influencing children’smotivation over the long term could be achieved by identifying principles andstrategies based on six dimensions of the learning environment, known as theTARGET structure (task, authority, recognition, grouping, evaluation and time).A brief account of how these were manifested in this particular basketball seasonfollows.

Task structure refers to the content, sequence and difficulty of tasks. In thisseason, the teams were given the set tasks by the teacher, but the student coachesconducted the instruction of those tasks. The coaches were able to present the tasksin ways that suited their own players. In particular, the level of challenge could bemodified by the coaches to suit the skill level of the players. For example, when theteacher introduced the task of making lay-ups from both sides of the rim, Dima, thecoach of the team ‘Extreme’, had his team practice dribbling with their left handsbefore completing the teacher’s task. He told us in an interview that this was to helphis team ‘to get the left hand trained’.

Authority deals with the degree to which the students are able to actively partici-pate in the instructional decision-making process. In this season, there was signifi-cant opportunity to participate in that process. For example, in accordance with theSport Education model, after team rosters were announced, the students gathered intheir respective teams to discuss and decide how to name their team, and to deter-mine which student took a particular team role (trainer, equipment manager, statis-tician). Students made these important decisions, decisions that ultimately affectedthe instructional process, autonomously and independently of the teacher. Interest-ingly, the students considered their team-mates’ strengths in addition to the individ-ual student preference when deciding who took on what team roles. When askedabout the decision process, one of the students noted, ‘Anna is really good in math-ematics, so we asked her about being a statistician, and she agreed.’ In addition,during the competition phase of the season, the students had to decide how to dividetheir team for small-sided games. The decision about how to divide the team wascritical to the team’s success, as students had to consider their team’s individualstrengths and weaknesses against the opponents. This challenging decision for eachgame day fostered the team and individual decision-making processes.

Recognition is concerned with the use of rewards, incentives and praise. Whilemost of the recognition in Sport Education is public (each team has its own statisticsschedule, and league standings were posted), one significant feature of SportEducation is that it provides recognition for not only the accomplishments and




improvements in the area of motor skill and game performance, but also in the fulfil-ment of non-playing roles and responsibilities, fair play and successful teamwork.

Grouping refers to how students are brought together (or kept apart) for activi-ties. Sport Education is grounded on the concept of heterogeneous small grouplearning in teams that persist. While the students did not have a choice with regardto their initial team composition, they did have choices with respect to how thoseteams would divide into even smaller groups when playing two-versus-two or three-versus-three games.

Evaluation involves the standards established for effort and performance. In thisseason, daily evaluative feedback was available to students through both their peercoaches and the teacher. From peer coaches, this came mainly in skills practicesessions, while from the teacher students received feedback about their performanceduring officiating and keeping score.

Time entails not only the amount of time that is allocated to learning skills, butalso the extent to which this time is both self-paced and self-selected. In this season,teams were given considerable autonomy (particularly during the latter phases beyondthe initial skill instruction) when they were able to decide how much time they wouldspend practising each skill.

While these descriptive accounts of how Sport Education adopts primarily amastery, or high autonomy, motivational climate, these concepts of autonomy andself-determination have not been empirically investigated in Sport Educationsettings. Wallhead and Ntoumanis (2004) also suggest that the Sport Educationcurriculum may increase perceptions of a task-involving climate and perceivedautonomy. A more sophisticated analysis of student motivation and the motivationalclimate of Sport Education settings (both in Russian and other sites) would beparticularly useful.

In conclusion, it must be noted that the findings from this study are not remark-ably different from previous anecdotal and research findings on Sport Education. Infact, they are consistent with reports from students in western settings such asAustralia, New Zealand, Great Britain and the United States. Nonetheless, thesefindings do provide additional support for the veracity of the Sport Education modelas a form of curriculum and instruction that can help produce competent, skilful andenthusiastic participants in sport-based PE. It would seem, then, that the inclusionof Sport Education seasons within the context of Russian PE (at least for the sixth-grade level) could help offset some of the deficit that has resulted in the dismantlingof many of the sports clubs that were so popular during Soviet times.

References

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Alexander, K., Taggart, A. and Thorpe, S. (1996) ‘A Spring in their Steps? Possibilities forProfessional Renewal through Sport Education in Australian Schools’, Sport Education andSociety 1(1): 23–46.




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Résumé

Participation et sentiments d’étudiants russes lors d’un cycled’éducation physique et sportive

Cette étude examine la participation ainsi que les sentiments d’étudiants russes, d’une

cohorte de 6ème année, lors d’un cycle de basket-ball faisant suite à une période en

éducation sportive. Trente-sept étudiants de deux classes ont suivi un cycle comportant 18

cours. Tout au long des sessions d’entraînement et de jeu, ainsi que dans la phase de

compétition à proprement parler (ou en elle-même), les étudiants de sexe et de niveau de

jeu différents ont passé la majeure partie des cours dans l’accomplissement de tâches

motrices. Les étudiants ont aussi fait preuve de compétences significatives dans les rôles

d’encadrement et d’arbitrage inclus dans le cycle. Lors d’entretiens pendant et après la saison,

les étudiants ont dit avoir trouvé le cycle particulièrement intéressant, ont apprécié d’avoir

été encadrés par des pairs et ont développé un réel esprit d’équipe. Le questionnaire a

confirmé que les étudiants pensaient avoir progressé de façon significative dans leur maîtrise

et leur compréhension du basket-ball. Ces conclusions sont envisagées dans le contexte de

la théorie de l’autodétermination.

Resumen

Participación y percepciones de estudiantes rusos en una clasede deporte

Este estudio analiza la participación y las percepciones de estudiantes rusos de sexto grado

participantes en clases de baloncesto, desarrolladas a continuación de clases de educación

física. Treinta y siete estudiantes de dos aulas recibieron 18 sesiones de clases. En sesiones

de iniciación con habilidades básicas, juegos y una fase competitiva, los estudiantes de ambos

sexos y diferentes niveles de destreza, estuvieron la mayor parte del tiempo de las sesiones

activos y practicando diferentes papeles y tipos de destrezas motrices. Los estudiantes,

pusieron de manifiesto las diferencias existentes entre los roles asumidos y desempeñados,

asociados al desarrollo de la sesión. Mediante entrevistas llevadas a cabo en el curso de las

sesiones, y posteriormente, los estudiantes comentaron que las sesiones eran particular-

mente interesantes y que disfrutaron mucho cuando asumieron el papel de entrenador, así

como con la adscripción a un equipo. La encuesta confirmó que los estudiantes estaban

seguros de haber realizado avances significativos en sus habilidades y en el conocimiento del

baloncesto. Estos datos se discutieron en el contexto de la teoría de la autodeterminación.




Zusammenfassung

Die Teilnahme und Wahrnehmung russischer Schüler währendeiner Saison der Sportbildung

Diese Studie untersucht die Teilnahme und Wahrnehmung einer Kohorte von russischen

Schülern des 6. Schuljahres bei ihrer Teilnahme an einer Saison Basketball konzipiert nach

dem Sport-Bildungsformat. 37 Schüler aus zwei Klassen haben an 18 Unterrichtsstunden

teilgenommen. Während der gesamten Zeit sowohl der einführenden Fertigkeitsentwicklung

als auch während der Übungsspiele und der formalen Wettkampfphase waren alle Schüler

beiderlei Geschlechts und aller Leistungsstufen die meiste Zeit aktiv mit motorischen

Aufgaben beschäftigt.Die Schüler zeigten auch signifikante Kompetenzen beim Schiedsrichten

und Coaching in Verbindung mit dieser Saison. In Interviews während und nach der Saison

äußerten die Schüler, dass sie diese Saison besonders interessant fanden, dass sie es

begrüßten, von Mitschülern gecoacht zu werden und dass sie einen besonderen Teamgeist

entwickelt hätten. Die Ergebnisse aus dem Fragebogen bestätigten, dass die Schüler glaubten,

sie hätten signifikante Fortschritte in ihrer Fertigkeitsentwicklung und in ihrem Verständnis

des Basketball-Spiels gemacht. Diese Ergebnisse werden im Zusammenhang mit der

Selbstdeterminierungstheorie diskutiert.

Address for correspondence: Peter Hastie, Department of Health and HumanPerformance, 2050 Memorial Coliseum, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36849-5323, USA.[email: [email protected]]




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