Physical Education, Pedagogy, and Sports Training

Posted on Dec 3, 2024 in Physical Education

Pedagogy and Its Relationship with Physical Education

Pedagogy is the science that explains and governs the educational process, from theory to practice. It relates to physical education (PE) as the pedagogy of physical activity—the science governing PE processes.

The relationship between science and PE pedagogy is that the science of physical activity describes the human body, its movements, and adaptation processes, both physiologically and socially.

PE, like any intervention discipline, should be normative and provide resources and strategies for efficient processes regarding set objectives. Pedagogy governs these processes.

Finally, the relationship between pedagogy and sports training is that, while not strictly educational, it involves transmitting knowledge, activities, and resources to improve athletes’ motor performance. Therefore, it’s part of teaching.

Fields of Study in Physical Activity and Sport Pedagogy

The two areas of pedagogy in physical activity and sport are physical education and sports pedagogy, each requiring specific pedagogy.

Physical Education

Physical education uses movement as an educational tool. Its basic content is human movement. Other content areas include:

• The educational significance of the body and movement.
• Basic criteria for driving experience proposals.
• Educational analysis of physical activity in relation to general and individual situations.
• Analysis methods and programs.
• The experience of body movement.
• The impact of physical activity on personality.

Sport Pedagogy

Sport pedagogy establishes the theoretical foundations of educational practice in physical activities and sports. This practice contributes to human development and quality of life. It studies school sports, leisure sports, competitive sports, and sports for special groups.

Hidden Curriculum in PE and Sport

The hidden curriculum is the implicit learning from all school activities, some ideologically related beyond school.

An example is a teacher separating boys and girls in sports due to perceived differences in ability or gender-specific activities. This reveals a sexist attitude without explicitly stating it.

Implementation of Education Law

Steps for law implementation:

1. Sent to autonomous communities to develop curriculum materials (content, objectives, evaluation criteria).
2. Sent to the educational programming and curriculum center.
3. Implemented in the classroom.

Performance Criteria and Teaching Skills

Efficiency traits relate to teaching skills, which are techniques or skills teachers use for effective teaching. Effective teachers:

• Master teaching skills and apply them to classroom contingencies.
• Analyze and reflect on decisions, understanding the consequences of educational intervention.

Mediating Processes Paradigm and Factors Influencing Learning

The mediating processes paradigm results from the interaction of four learning areas. It explains that a student’s thinking influences performance, and behavior conditions thinking.

Factors influencing student learning include the teacher’s thinking (professional socialization, planning, teaching tasks, classroom management, motivation), teacher behavior (teaching skills, task presentation, performance correction, time efficiency, classroom organization), student thinking (self-concept, perception, motivation, causal attribution), and student behavior (time of motor activity, waiting, organization, level of involvement, participation).

Elements within the Mediating Processes Paradigm

• Presentation of tasks: A teacher’s initial skill, ensuring student understanding. Belongs to teacher behavior.
• Perception of competence: A student’s perception of their abilities. Belongs to student thinking.
• Program variables: Objectives and content, part of teacher behavior and program organization.
• Feedback: Teacher behavior providing information on motor skill acquisition or performance.

Feedback in Teaching

Feedback is a teacher behavior providing information on motor skill acquisition or performance. Its functions are reinforcing or informational. Types of feedback include simple approving, specific approving, simple disapproving, specific disapproving, and neutral specific.

Feedback objectives include assessment, description, prescription, questioning, and affectivity.

Effective feedback should be relevant, accurate, allow comparison with the learning model, cover limited criteria, be structured by importance, and avoid distracting information.

Motivation Variables

• Perceived competence: A student’s perception of their abilities (cognitive variable).
• Attributional styles: Conditioned by beliefs and situational information, influencing motivation (personal variable).
• Task characteristics: Perceived ease or difficulty influences motivation (external variable).
• Cultural values: Dynamic and evolving, influencing student interest (external variable).
• Perceived self-efficacy: Students’ beliefs about their abilities (cognitive variable).
• Mood: Emotional states influencing behavior (emotional variable).

Attributional Style and Pedagogical Failure

An internal, stable, and uncontrollable attributional style for academic success relates to attributing success to capacity. Attributing to effort is pedagogically better, as it encourages perseverance in difficult tasks.

Cognitive Variables of Motivation

• Expectations: Anticipation of events related to aspirations (efficacy and outcome expectations).
• Goals: Achieving a specific level of mastery within a timeframe.
• Perceived self-efficacy: Students’ beliefs about their abilities.
• Incentives: Reasons for doing something, provided before the task (unlike rewards/punishments).

Guidelines for Addressing Diversity

To address individual and social diversity:

• Structure teaching based on each student’s situation, considering their cultural context.
• Develop strategies for full student participation and optimal motor skill acquisition.
• Promote positive attitudes towards diversity and value different approaches.
• Use physical activities for cooperative activities.
• Combat prejudices and stereotypes, using PE to build personal identity and self-esteem.
• Be sensitive to social expectations and relationships in PE.

Intervention Principles and Examples in PE

Brainstorming: Generating ideas freely in a group to find original solutions. Example: Students brainstorm different warm-up activities.

Use of ICTs: Utilizing new technologies. Example: Using video analysis to improve technique in a specific sport.

Phillips 66: Dividing a large group into smaller groups for discussion and conclusion. Example: Discussing the rules and strategies of a new game in small groups before playing as a class.