Motivational climate interventions in school physical education

Aim: The purpose of our study was to examine the effects of motivational climate interventions on pupils’ climate perceptions and emotional experiences during PE lessons. We expected to find a taskinvolving climate, as triggered by the PE teacher, positively related to pleasant emotional states, and an ego-involving climate associated with unpleasant states. Method: The study involved two classes of 25 female students each (N = 50, Mage = 14.50, SD = 0.48) from an Italian highschool. Two expert female PE teachers, one for each group, agreed to conduct 16 lessons, twice a week, in conformity with the experimental protocol. They were instructed (before and during treatment) on how to design lessons based on the TARGET-model. Data collection occurred before (T1), in-between (T2), and at the end of the intervention (T3). The measures used were the Teacher- Initiated Motivational Climate in Physical Education Questionnaire and a 14-item list of emotion-related psychobiosocial (PBS) states. Participants in the ‘‘mastery group/class’’ experienced a taskinvolving climate focused on individual’s improvements. Participants in the ‘‘performance group/class’’ were exposed to an egoinvolving climate centered on between individual’s comparisons. After eight lessons and the intermediate data collection, the mastery group switched to the ego-involving condition, and the performance group switched to the task-involving condition for an additional set of eight lessons. Results: A 2 9 2 (group 9 T1/T2 test) RM-ANOVA and post hoc comparisons between the two groups at T2 yielded significant differences on motivational climates and PBS states. Compared to T1 scores, the performance group reported lower T2 scores on perceived mastery climate and pleasant PBS states, and higher scores on perceived performance climate and unpleasant PBS states. A 2 9 3 (group 9 T1/T2/T3 test) RM-ANOVA showed a reverted pattern of results in the performance group when involved in a mastery climate. Conclusion: A task- or an ego-involving climate may induce a range of consistent emotional states. PE teachers should be aware of the benefits of adopting a task-involving atmosphere and, conversely, the potentially dangerous effects of ego-involving situations. Appropriate PE programs have the potential to elicit pupils’ interest and enjoyment, while also increasing intrinsic motivation for physical activity.