Time on-task during physical education lessons in Maltese state schools

Abstract

A general concern today exists about whether students are being active enough during their early secondary school years. Physical Education is uniquely positioned to promote such physical activity, but one might question whether students during such lessons are really ontask. This study aims to delve into this issue by measuring Time on-Task during Physical Education lessons. In fact, 20 secondary state schools were selected (two from each college - 1 Boys' and 1 Girls' school). At each school two Form 2 lessons were selected and during such lessons, one randomly chosen student was observed for Time on-Task. The ALT - PE instrument was used for such observations. After analysis of the above mentioned observations, two focus groups were set-up. One focus group consisted of 5 P.E. teachers teaching in boys' schools, while the other one consisted of 5 P.E. teachers teaching in girls' schools. These focus groups provided the necessary data to better understand teachers' perspectives upon the topic in question. The results of this study highlight that P.E. lessons in state schools are especially lacking in physical activity. While offering quality and effective Time on-Task to all the students should be given priority, the different levels of lesson preparation, together with the different teaching styles used by different teachers, apart from many other variables tackled in this study, seem to be the root to this degree of inactivity which was clearly evident in the lessons observed.