The effects of PE across the primary-secondary school transition

Children’s motivation for school physical education (PE) lessons has been found to be associated with their attitudes and behaviour towards general physical activity, and their physical self-concept.  Physical activity is known to decline during adolescence but no research has so far examined changes in relation to PE that take place across the transition from primary to secondary school. This is in spite of other evidence that motivation and self-perception can be significantly affected during this often challenging developmental period.

This longitudinal quantitative study will investigate changes in: children’s perceptions of the teacher- and peer-created motivational climate in PE lessons; motivation towards PE; physical self-concept; and physical activity behaviour. Relationships between these factors will also be explored using multi-level modelling. Both secondary schools and their feeder primary schools will be invited to participate in the study, with the researchers aiming to recruit 250 Year 6 pupils for the first wave of the study. They will collect data from validated questionnaires during school PE lessons at four points in time: three months before the end of primary school, just prior to leaving primary school, at the beginning of secondary school, and six months into secondary school.