Students’ experiences and learning in physical education

Abstract

Rorty’s philosophical pragmatism, which inspired this thesis, states that ‘… our responsibilities are exclusively toward other human beings, not toward “reality”’ (Rorty & Engel, 2007, p. 41). The Norwegian education programme indicates, through its values, that the school shall help students to live, learn and work together in a complex present time and when meeting with an unknown future (UDIR, 2019b). In accordance, the present thesis does not try to reveal any intrinsic reality, but to create knowledge that is useful in teachers’ and students’ everyday lives, both within and outside PE lessons. To produce such knowledge concerning students’ experiences and learning in physical education (PE), one must consider the interaction between the individuals’ actions and their environment in immediate situations (Dewey, 1916, 1938, 2015). Thus, the students and teacher bring their previous experiences and learning into PE lessons, which influence their actions, and thereby their experiences and learning, in further situations in PE lessons. The difference between experiences and learning in situations in PE is that situations that are acted out in a habitual way influence the students’ experiences in those situations, but do not necessarily change the students’ predisposition to act in further situations, which may be counted as learning (e.g., Quennerstedt et al., 2011). However, only by observation can one be certain that the students’ changed predisposition to act leads to different actions in further situations. Research in Norway has shown that students’ experiences in PE are diverse and complex (Røset et al., 2020; Sjåstad Åsebø et al., 2020; Walseth, 2015). Several Scandinavian and French studies, in accordance with their didactical tradition, have been conducted on students’ learning in PE (e.g., Amade-Escot & Bennour, 2017; Amade-Escot & Venturini, 2015; Barker et al., 2015; MacPhail et al., 2008; Mooney & Gerdin, 2018; Quennerstedt, Annerstedt, et al., 2014; Quennerstedt et al., 2011; Quennerstedt, Öhman, et al., 2014; Redelius et al., 2015; Rønholt, 2002). However, these studies did not take experiences that students perceived to be the most important in PE lessons as their starting point. These studies could therefore not connect these experiences with the students’ learning and the teachers’ facilitation of those situations for constructive experiences and learning relevant to the students in their everyday lives. Therefore, there was a need to conduct research to address such issues and thereby make PE a relevant subject to educate human beings in a society. Thus, fulfilling our responsibilities to other human beings within philosophical pragmatism, and considering the aim of the Norwegian education programme.