European Physical Education Review 

About: European Physical Education Review is an academic journal published by SAGE Publishing. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Physical education & Curriculum. It has an ISSN identifier of 1356-336X. Over the lifetime, 773 publications have been published receiving 22387 citations. The journal is also known as: EPER.

Physical education, youth sport and lifelong participation: the importance of early learning experiences

Abstract: The PESSCLS strategy for physical education and youth sport in England has received an unprecedented level of funding from the Blair government during its term in office. In this article, it is proposed that there are structural problems with the delivery of physical education and school sport in England that the PESSCLS strategy and associated policies such as Game Plan may not have accounted for. It is argued these problems become evident through a review of research on the importance of early learning experiences for lifelong participation in physical activity. In addition, the impact of perceptions of competency on young people's motivation to participate is discussed, prior to exploring the influence of gender, socio-economic status and sociodemographic factors on participation. Further evidence is reviewed that suggests secondary school physical education programmes have in their traditional form been ineffective in promoting lifelong physical activities. The article concludes with the identificatio...

A systematic review of dropout from organized sport among children and youth

Abstract: Leisure constraints theory was used as a framework to systematically review factors associated with dropout of organized sport among children and adolescents. Keyword searches for the population, context and construct of interest (i.e. dropout) identified articles from the entire contents of the following databases: Academic Search Complete, ERIC, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and SPORTDiscus. The initial search yielded 557 studies, and 43 met the selection criteria. Most studies focused solely on adolescents, and 89% of participants were male. Most studies were cross-sectional using quantitative approaches. Almost 30 different sports were included in the reviewed studies; however, the most represented sports were soccer, swimming, gymnastics and basketball. Findings from this review indicated that intrapersonal and interpersonal constraints are more frequently associated with dropping out of sport than structural constraints. Although many discrete factors associated with dropout were identified, five major areas em...

Childrenís Perceived Competence and Enjoyment in Physical Education and Physical Activity Outside School

Abstract: This study aimed to examine the relationship of children’s perceived competence in physical education to their enjoyment in the subject, and how boys and girls scoring high and low in enjoyment and...

The State and Status of Physical Education in Schools in International Context

Abstract: Against a background of perceived threats to physical education, an investigative world-widesurvey of the state and status of physical education in schools funded by the International Olympic Committee was carried out in 1998–9. The survey findings, based on data collated from a globally administered semi-structured questionnaire and an extensive literature survey, reveal that school physical education is in a perilous position in all continental regions of the world. Specifically, the article addresses issues of legal status and actual implementation, restricted or decreasing curriculum time allocation, subject status and attitudes of headteachers, other teachers and parents, inadequacies in financial, material and human resources and teacher preparation, curriculum trends, as well as scepticism about the subject’s future. Concluding comments allude to the main sources of concern and international efforts to sustain physical education in schools in the next millennium.

Practitioner research: A means of coping with the systemic demands for continual professional development?

Abstract: This article explores the current demands that teachers engage in year-on-year continued professional development (CPD) as a means of showing their ongoing competence to teach. In particular it highlights two types of CPD: the talked about notion of the ‘reflective practitioner’ and the actioned reality of CPD as a measure of technical and competent practice. The paper explores the feelings of teachers towards CPD and then, drawing on a seven-year longitudinal practitioner research study, uses the example of physical education to highlight the discordance between the intentions of the provider and the learning of the teachers. Finally, it uses the self-same study to illustrate the difference between traditional CPD and an idea of professional development that focuses on the use of practitioner research. It argues that through the use of inquiry and research teachers are able to focus their learning on ‘their kids’ and ‘their problems’ rather than engage in CPD which is delivered off-site and which assumes...