Academic Achievement in Physical Education: Academic versus Physical Activity aspects

Abstract

Physical Education, that is a subject where physical activity and sports dominate, has become to be considered as non-academic subject. It might easily be inferred from this that high academic grades can be achieved just by practicing sports while other factors, such as the student’s interest and effort, would be irrelevant. Therefore, the present study examined the relationship between the academic achievement in physical education, persistence-effort, extracurricular sports and the academic and physical self-concept of students enrolled in the last courses of primary education. A sample of 224 students (aged 10-13; M = 10.98, SD = 0.71) participated in the study. Multiple regression analysis showed hat academic achievement in physical education was better explained by academic self-concept, followed by extracurricular sport and physical self-concept, F(3, 216) = 12.341, p < .000, R2= .15. Differences were found in these results according to gender, V = .064, F(4, 213) = 3.643, p = .007, η2p = .064, and academic achievement, V = .093, F(4, 213) = 5.492, p < .001, η2p = .093. Male students manifested higher levels of extracurricular sport and physical self-concept. On the other hand, students with high academic achievement showed higher levels in all variables except extracurricular sport. These findings suggest that, likewise happens in other subjects, the academic variables plays an important role in predicting academic achievement in physical education.

La Educación Física escolar, donde prevalecen las ac-tividades lúdicas y físico-deportivas, ha llegado a ser clasificada como una asignatura no académica. De ahí podría inferirse que es posible conseguir un elevado rendimiento académico con solo practicar deportes independientemente del interés o esfuerzo que los estudiantes dediquen a la asignatura. En este estudio se examinaron las relaciones entre el rendimiento aca-démico en educación física, la persistencia-esfuerzo, la práctica deportiva extraescolar, el autoconcepto aca-démico y el autoconcepto físico en 224 escolares con edades que oscilaban entre los 10 y los 13 años (M = 10.98, DE = 0.71). El análisis de regresión reveló que el rendimiento académico estaba principalmente explica-do por el autoconcepto académico, seguido por el de-porte extraescolar y el autoconcepto físico, F(3, 216) = 12.341, p < .000, R2 = .15. Asimismo, debe destacarse que se observó una correlación positiva moderada entre el autoconcepto académico y la persistencia-esfuerzo (r= 0.49, p < .01). Los varones manifestaron mayores nive-les de práctica deportiva y de autoconcepto académico que las mujeres, V = .064, F(4, 213) = 3.643, p = .007, η2p = .064; y los escolares con mayor rendimiento académico mostraron mayores puntuaciones en todas las variables excepto en la práctica deportiva, V = .093, F(4, 213) = 5.492, p < .001, η2p = .093. Estos resultados sugieren que, como ocurre en las áreas consideradas académicas, el rendimiento académico en educación física se explica principalmente por variables académicas en lugar de por variables físico-deportivas.