Motivation for Physical Education in Students Aged 12 to 15 – Structure Analysis

The quality of Physical education (PE) largely depends on the degree of students’ motivation to participate in various kinesiological activities, whereby the level and structure of the motivational space are important. The aim of this research was to analyse the level and structure of student’s motivation to perform tasks in PE classes, as well as gender differences. The research was conducted on 77 female and 61 male primary-school students from Split, Croatia, aged 12 to 15. Motivation assessment was carried out using the Motivation for PE questionnaire. Analysis confirmed that basic metric characteristics of all PE motivation measures are at a satisfactory level. In the total sample, measure of PE motivation is expressed as high, with intrinsic measures of motivation being significantly higher than extrinsic forms of student motivation. In general, no differences were found in measures of motivation according to the sex of the respondents. Differences in several measures of PE motivation were found between respondents of different grades, whereby students of 5th and 6th grades show higher results of PE motivation than students of 7th and 8th grades. Using cluster analysis, three different types of PE motivation were determined for both female and male students. For female student these clusters were defined as very low, high, and extremely high motivated types, while for male students clusters were defined as low, high, and extremely high motivated types. The structure and frequency of types of PE motivation is different for sub-samples of female and male students. Knowledge of the described structure will enable teachers to recognize and intervene in students’ motivation, aiming to optimise work effects in kinesiological education.