Browsing by Author "Mäki, Piia"

Objectives. The aim of this study is to inquire from secondary school students, the necessity of numerical assessment in physical education during comprehensive school. In addition, this study intends to answer from a student point of view, which components form the grade for physical education. The research task was to study the opinions and experiences students had towards numerical assessment. In two publications issued by the Board of Education, the evaluation of physical education had been researched. Additionally, there are multiple Master's Theses, which have studied the evaluation of physical education from the viewpoints of both the student and teacher. Methods. My research sample consists of 171, first and second year, upper secondary students from two schools in Satakunta. The research material was collected through an online questionnaire. This research is basically a quantitative survey; however, a qualitative approach was used when analysing questions with the option of a written response. The quantitative research material was analysed using the SPSS statistics analysis programme. Questions with the option of a written answer were analysed using content analysis. Results and Conclusions. According to the upper secondary school students, the most favoured form of assessment in regard to physical education was a combination of numerical and written feedback. The second most favoured method of assessment was numerical assessment and least favoured method was a pass/fail evaluation. 59,6% of respondents felt that physical education should be numerically assessed in primary school. 23,4% of respondents did not wish for numerical assessment. Over 60% of respondents had received an explanation for what their grade in physical education consisted of. When asking which components, the respondents felt defined their grades, physical condition and tests measuring physical fitness were most frequently mentioned. A great number of respondents felt that staying active during free time had an impact on the grade for physical education. Very few participants felt that receiving a number for physical education had a negative impact on sports activities undertaken during their free time.