Student voice in PE (and why Sinek is wrong)

“Play, positive experiences and affirming who we are at our core, are the actual ingredients of achieving lasting change” `
(Segar, 2022 p4)

In the above quote, US behaviour psychologist and coach, Michelle Segar, summarises what impacts on ‘lasting change’. This poses a number of challenges for teachers who aspire to support young people bring about such a change:

• What does ‘play’ feel like for all the children and young people you teach?
• How do you know which experiences young people find positive?
• Do you know what is affirmational and what is detrimental?
• Most importantly, do you know who the young person is ‘at their core’, and for that matter, do they?

There seems to be only one way of even beginning to find some answers to these questions - to hear the young person. This, of course, means providing opportunities for the young person to ‘speak’ and ‘be heard’. 

In this blog I will explore student voice in physical education. If you click here you can get access to a short survey we have prepared for you to use with your students to gain insight into their PE experience. The survey is based on the 5 features of Meaningful PE that is discussed in more detail below. 

We recently ran a poll on twitter. 

Here are the responses:

This is hardly robust data - to put it into context, most teachers of PE are not active on Twitter. Indeed, most teachers will probably not read this blog! For those who are, thanks for taking the time to read this; We would like to register our respect for your commitment to your professional learning. 

It’s clear from the above results that some teachers are working hard to take this aspect of PE very seriously. In a busy working environment, it is challenging to develop new ways of working or rather reset and review what we prioritise. 

There are many compelling reasons why it is particularly important that all student’s voices are actively and purposely heard, and the information used to support better, more informed professional decision-making. This may, of course, be uncomfortable but if we are serious about working towards our stated goal of supporting students to develop a positive relationship with physical activity so that physical activity supports their lives flourishing , it is essential. It is particularly important in physical education as it is probably the only school subject that claims to be primarily concerned with young people adopting certain behaviours i.e. voluntarily engaging in physical activity over their life course,  as opposed to academic attainment which, in most other subjects is judged by grade outcomes in high stakes, public exams or tests. 

Adopting a certain behaviour requires the individual to have a sufficient level of motivation. There are a number of theoretical frameworks for understanding motivation with the most widely used being Self Determination Theory (SDT) (see link below to podcast with Richard Ryan talking to Scott Kauffman 2021) According to SDT, intrinsically motivated people are much more likely to develop the sort of positive relationship with PA described above, and this form of long lasting attachment is dependent on the presence of 3 universal and innate human needs: competence, autonomy and relatedness. There is clear overlap here with the Meaningful PE work (Ní Chróinín, D., and Fletcher, T., 2021) which is an ongoing collaboration between researchers and teachers to find how we can present the subject in a way that allows each young person to find their meaning in physical activity - again, with the express purpose of fostering the conditions for ongoing participation. MPE is currently built on five key features:

1. Social interaction and connectedness
2. Fun
3. Challenge
4. Motor competence
5. Personally relevant learning

These are by no means set in stone. I have written and spoken elsewhere (Meaningful Sport Podcast, 2021) about my long standing issue with the inclusion of the F word - Fun. Nevertheless the MPE work provides a coherent framework for us to make sense of our work and how students are connecting (or not) with PA. 

In his excellent chapter in Meaningful Physical Education (2021), my friend and former colleague, Alex Beckey uses the metaphor of The Equaliser in which different features are more or less prominent with different learners and at different stages of their school journey. Jordan Manley, adopts these frameworks in his amazing PE programme at STEAM Academy, Kentucky and he regularly refers to supporting young people build an ‘active identity’ which really emphasises relatedness with social interaction and connectedness. 

However, this process can lead to far more possibilities than merely data collection. There is a great deal of appropriate teaching and learning that can be opened up. When we refer to PE as a ‘knowledge rich’ subject, it raises questions as to what is relevant and appropriate knowledge that supports the universal goal (see above). Scientific knowledge tends to dominate i.e. physiology and anatomy. However, the link between knowing how the tricep functions as an antagonist and students finding a strong connection with physical activity is unclear. In this sense the ‘knowledge’ is misaligned to the curriculum purpose. It’s analogous to learning about the internal workings of the engine in order to drive. For a tiny percentage it may be relevant but for most drivers, it’s nowhere near as important as being able to get from A to B safely and happily.

Student voice can, therefore, lead to young people learning more about themselves and their relationship with physical activity. This has the potential to go well beyond what activities they (dis)like. The MPE features provide an excellent framework for deeper exploration. Tim Fletcher, the original co author of the MPE work, refers to the need for teachers to create experiences that allow students to enter into a transaction with a feature. This could be the teacher, the activity itself or the environment in which the activity takes place. This will speak to anyone who finds a special connection with an activity. Many of us take for granted the sensuous overload that triggers all sorts of emotional and physiological responses when we enter a [dance studio, gym, locker room, swimming pool etc]. In those moments we connect to the space and feel a sense of belonging that helps define our identity - I am not going to dance, I am a dancer. These responses are the result of multiple transactions over a long time. Many, many young people experience the exact opposite - I do not belong, I do not relate or identify with this movement form etc. These are the voices we must hear. And once heard we need to respond. The way PE is structured, the inherent, perhaps sub-conscious response is to not worry because next half term we are doing something else - the fallacy of the short unit, multi-activity, overly broad curriculum. Any parent will know that a dislike of carrots and peas can soon evolve into a child not eating vegetables per se. Better outcomes are achieved by going there. It may be uncomfortable but creating experiences where that reluctant dancer makes progress in any or a combination of domains and finds a connection to their moving bodies whilst dancing…well that’s the privilege of being a teacher!

The most ‘user friendly’ organisations invest heavily in understanding how people experience their services. Think about all the follow up emails that arrive in your inbox after you have made a purchase or the smiley green / sad red face you are prompted to tap when exiting certain supermarkets. When done badly this can be annoying. When utilised effectively, it can show that the service provider genuinely cares about the experience they provide. We should and can adopt these strategies if we are serious about supporting all students in forming a positive relationship with physical activity, and providing safe spaces in PE. This is strong evidence of a school/department’s commitment to inclusive PE. As indicated in the bullet points below, miMove allows for this data to be easily captured, organised and analysed.

Simon Sinek is often quoted for his famous ‘start with why’. This is probably inaccurate; there is clearly not one why that motivates young people in finding a connection with physical activity. This may well be one of the main reasons why we have had such limited impact as a subject profession. Whose why do we start with? Usually, the teacher's and this is managed by those in positions of power who push out an official line. We need to be far more attuned to each and every young person’s why. This means starting with who. Knowing more about who the young people are in your classes and helping them know more about themselves in the process. 

Start with WHO not WHY

To get the ball rolling, why not sample the use of our student questionnaire based on the features of meaningful PE - simply click here to get access and maybe use it with a year group or a small student sample or to align to your priority cohort (e.g. girls) and start collecting some data. If you really want to embed student voice and adopt a student led approach into your work, use this link to book a demo to see how miMove would help you do that by working smarter not harder.

The benefits for teachers of using miMove to capture student voice

• Rich insight data easily accessible
• Data visible in real time
• Places student experiences at the heart 
• Shows students you care
• Time saving
• Cost effective
• Allows you to track changes in quantity and quality of PA over time
  
  

References

Fletcher, T., & Ní Chróinín, D. (2021): Pedagogical principles that support the prioritisation of meaningful experiences in physical education: conceptual and practical considerations, Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, DOI: 10.1080/17408989.2021.1884672

Ní Chróinín, D., and Fletcher, T. (Ed) (2021) Meaningful Physical Education: An approach for teaching and learning Routledge, London

Segar, M. (2022) The Joy Choice Hatchette Books, NY 

Podcasts

Meaningful Sport with Greg Dryer - go to 15’01’’ to hear conversation on Fun
04.12.2021

The Psychology Podcast. A conversation between host Scott Kauffman and Richard Ryan. 
16.09.2021