Resumo

MORENO, Juan Antonio  e  HELLIN, Mª Gloria. The Interest of Compulsory High School Students in Physical Education. REDIE [online]. 2007, vol.9, n.2, pp.1-20. ISSN 1607-4041.

The way that the secondary education students see Physical Education is an issue of great interest to teachers. There are numerous variables that determine this view. In our research, we have analyzed how the student's interest toward the subject influences different aspects related to Physical Education, i.e. the students' gender, the importance attached to Physical Education, the student's sports and physical activity, the context in which this activity is carried out, and the kind of qualification held by the Physical Education teacher. For this purpose, we have used a C.A.P.A.E.F. (Questionnaire for Analyzing Students' Perceptions in Physical Education), specifically prepared for this research, on a sample of 1,499 students of the first and second cycles of Secondary Education of the Autonomous Region of Murcia. The main conclusions we have reached are the following: those students who show a great interest in Physical Education emphasize those objectives related to Health, Education and Competition, as well as Physical Condition and Health, and Games and Sports contents, with less value to Self-Expression Through Movement; they attach great importance to Physical Education, which is their favorite subject, and do not agree to reduce the number of lessons; they find Physical Education classes useful, easy and motivating, and find great support in their teachers as they are friendly, nice, understanding, cheerful and fair, and take a participative role in classes.

Palavras-chave : Student motivation; physical education; interests; attitudes.