The value of physical education: a review of the literature from the perspective of the three functions of education.
University of Amsterdam
Made by: Bas de Jong (10532749) Bachelor thesis
Educational Sciences
Supervisor: Frank Cornelissen Words: 11491
2 Table of content
Abstract 3
Introduction 4
Method 6
The effect of physical education on the qualification function 9
General findings 11
Time spend on physical education 12
The intensity of physical education 13
Conclusion 15
The effect of physical education on the socialization function 15 Physical education and social development in general 18 Time devoted to physical education and social development 19 Cooperation in physical education and social development 20 The social personality traits that are enhanced by physical education 21
Conclusion 21
The effect of physical education on the subjectification function 22
Self-efficacy 25
Self-concept 26
Self-esteem 27
Motivation 28
Conclusion 30
Discussion & Conclusion 30
Limitations, further research and implications for practice 32
3 Abstract
In today’s western society it is more common that children exercise less than is required for a healthy development. At the same time does education spend less and less time on physical education. However, research has shown that physical activity can have positive effects for the cognitive, social and individual
development of children. This literature study will investigate if this also is the case for physical education through the perspective of the qualification,
socialization and subjectification function of education. Linkages between physical education and aspects of the three functions have been searched on Google Scholar, ERIC, PSYCHINFO, Sciencedirect, Sagepub and NCBI between 2006 and 2017 that have led to 29 studies. The outcomes showed that there is sufficient evidence for a contribution of physical education to the three functions of education. For the qualification function, physical education can lead to increases in academic achievement, concentration and cognitive functioning. For the socialization function, there is evidence that shows that physical education can improve social development. In addition, physical education also seems to
enhance self-efficacy, self-concept, self-esteem and motivation for the subjectification function. Intensity, time devoted to physical education,
cooperation in physical education and an autonomy supportive environment in physical education seem to be factors that can influence the outcomes. However, the outcomes were not always found on a longitudinal scale and some aspects need more investigation. Limitations of the outcomes, implications for schools and implications and recommendations for future research are discussed. Keywords: Physical education, education, qualification, socialization, subjectification
4 Introduction
In today’s western society, it is more and more common that children have an inactive lifestyle without the required physical activity that is needed for a healthy development (Hills, King, & Armstrong, 2007). It is proven that children need to have at least sixty minutes of physical activity a day (Cheval, Courvoisier, & Chanal, 2016). However, most children fail to achieve this minimum amount of physical activity, and it declines even further during
adolescence (Cheval et al., 2016).
This trend has several consequences. First, it leads to an increasing prevalence of overweight children (Hollis et al., 2016; Janssen et al., 2005). Because of their weight, they get more bullied and have a lower self-image (Veen-Roelofs, 2004), which leads to more social isolation (Strauss & Pollack, 2003). This also increases the risk of deceases like diabetes and cardiovascular disorders (Hillman, Erickson, & Kramer, 2008). Second, there is an association between a lack of physical activity and lower scores on math, reading and language tests, irrespective of SES or ethnicity. This means that a lack of physical activity could lead to a decrease in academic performances (Roberts, Freed, & McCarthy, 2010).
There are several reasons why children spent less time doing physical activities. Children spent increasingly more time playing videogames, watching television and surfing on the internet. (French, Story, & Jeffery, 2001; Janssen, Katzmarzyk, Boyce, King, & Pickett, 2004). At the same time, there are also less opportunities offered by the community, through for example sports clubs, to exercise sports (French et al., 2001; Janssen et al., 2004).
A solution to meet the required amount of physical activity could be offered by schools (Coe, Pivarnik, Womack, Reeves, & Malina, 2006; Rasberry et al., 2011). They can provide physical activity for their students (Rasberry et al., 2011; Thompson, Duvall, Padrez, Rosekrans, & Madsen, 2016). This could help counteracting the adverse health effects of too little physical activity (Castelli, Hillman, Buck, & Erwin, 2007). However, physical activity does not only offer health benefits, but it can also enhance the quality of the three main
functions of education.
These functions have been described by Biesta (2008). He states that education has a qualification function, a socialization function and a subjectification function. The
qualification function can be defined as providing the skills, knowledge and comprehension that is needed to be well prepared for a job and a role in future society (Biesta, 2008). Physical activity can contribute to this function. Several studies have found an association between physical activity and improvement of the cognitive capacities (Felfe, Lechner, &
5 Steinmayr, 2011; Pindus et al., 2016; Singh et al., 2012). The reasoning behind this is that physical activity can lead to an improvement of the cognitive function concentration (Resaland et al., 2016). And concentration enhances academic performances (Resaland et
al., 2016).
The socialization function of education can be described as the transmission of the norms and values that are cherished in the society (Biesta, 2008). Through this, children learn what can be considered normal behavior and how to treat other people like fellow students (Biesta, 2008). Physical activity is also capable of improving this function. Physical activity can enhance the social skills of children (Talebzadeh & Jafari, 2012). An association has been found between physical activity and the quality of the relationship with peers and friendships (Santos, Hardman, Barros, Santos, & Gomes, 2015; Smith, 1999). It also helps children to develop skills to communicate in a polite way (Talebzadeh & Jafari, 2012), and what can be considered normal behavior and moral values (Smith,
1999).
Finally, the subjectification function can be defined as the development of the individual and of his own identity (Geerding et al., 2015). Its goal is to develop students to become independent (Biesta, 2008). Physical activity can also contribute to this function. Research shows that physical activity can lead to an increase in the self-esteem of children (Ekeland, Heian, & Hagen, 2005; Fox, 1999; Tremblay, Inman, & Willms, 2000). And self-esteem has influence on the personality of an individual (Lewalter & Willems, 2012). In addition, physical activity is also related to reduced anxiety, a better subjective well-being and a better self-perception (Fox, 1999)
Despite the possible contribution of physical activities for education in general, schools spend less and less time on physical exercise during the school hours (French et al., 2001; Janssen et al., 2004). The main reason for this decline is the growing need for
schools to get high achievements on standardized tests (Bustamante, Williams, & Davis, 2016; Castelli et al., 2007). Consequently, an increasing emphasis seems to be placed on the qualification function of education which causes less emphasis on the socialization and subjectification function. Since physical education (PE) is not considered as an effective way to enhance academic achievement, it is being replaced for other classes to gain those higher achievements (Bustamante et al., 2016). However, there is no clear evidence that this shift indeed leads to better academic performances (Coe et al., 2006).
On the other hand, PE may, just like physical activity in general, be associated with gaining better academic performances (Coe et al., 2006). It could lead to increased
6 concentration and higher academic achievements (Coe et al., 2006). In addition, it is also stated by Coe et al. (2006) that PE may be related to an increased self-esteem. These possible effects of PE may eventually lead to an improvement of the three functions of
education.
Due to these possible positive effects for the three functions of education, it is useful to look at the current state of the literature about the effect of PE on education. However, the last literature study that has looked at the cognitive, social and affective gains of
physical education together dates back to a study from Bailey et al. in 2006. There also has never been a literature study that has looked at the effects of PE from the perspective of the three functions of education. This paper will therefore look at the available research about this subject through these three perspectives on basis of the literature between 2006 and 2017. This leads to the following main question: What is the effect of physical education on the three functions of education? Three sub-questions will be used to answer the main question. The first sub-question is: what is the effect of physical education on the
qualification function of education? The second: what is the effect of physical education on the socialization function of education? And the third: what is the effect of physical
education on the subjectification function of education?
This paper will be divided into the following order. First there will be a description of the method that has been used to find the included research articles. After that there will be a description of the literature about the effect of PE on the qualification function of
education. Then a description of the literature about the effect of PE on the socialization function of education. Thereafter a description of the effect of PE on the subjectification function of education. This literature review will be concluded with the implications of the findings and recommendations for future research.
Method
Search methods
Multiple databases have been used to find the appropriate studies. ERIC,
PSYCHINFO, Google Scholar, Sciencedirect, Sagepub and NCBI have all been used for finding relevant articles. This has been done until no further relevant hits were found on the used databases. The terms used to find the relevant articles can be found in table 1.
7
Table 1
The used Terms to Find Relevant Articles for the Three Functions of Education
The qualification function The socialization function The subjectification function Physical education and
academic achievement (or performances) (or standards) (or GPA).
The effect of physical education on social development.
The effect of education on personal (or individual) development.
Physical education and engagement (or concentration) (or arousal) (or on-task behavior).
Physical education and moral development.
Physical education and enjoyment.
Physical education and test anxiety.
Physical education and citizenship development.
The effect of physical education on emotional development.
Physical education and cognition.
Physical education and prosocial behavior.
Physical education and motivation
The effect of (moderate to) vigorous physical education.
Physical education and social skills.
Physical education and self-esteem (or self-concept) (or self-efficacy) (or expectancy beliefs)
High intensity physical education classes and cognitive performance.
Frequency of physical education.
Self-determination and physical education and autonomous motivation.
Vigorous physical education and math performance.
Physical education and social isolation.
Physical education, self-determination need satisfaction and autonomous motivation.
Vigorous physical education and academic achievement.
Physical education and cooperative learning. Aerobic physical education
and cognition.
Physical education and
communication, cooperation and assertiveness.
School performance and the number of physical education classes.
Physical education and assertiveness (or empathy).
Time spend on physical education.
Frequency of physical education.
Time, physical education and academic achievement.
8
Inclusion criteria
Studies have been selected if they researched the association between PE on aspects of one of the three functions. This was the case for the qualification function if the articles were looking at the effect of PE on academic achievement which included scores on reading, spelling, literature, English, math, grade point average (GPA) and science. Other aspects of the qualification function of education were: engagement, concentration, arousal, cognition, absenteeism, on-task behavior and test anxiety. For the socialization function of education, studies had to investigate the association between PE and social skills, moral reasoning, cooperation, social isolation, social learning, citizenship, and prosocial behavior. For the subjectification function of education, articles had to conduct research about the association between PE and efficacy, emotional development, expectancy beliefs, self-concept, motivation, enjoyment and self-esteem. These aspects have been chosen as it has been found before that all these aspects are associated with education in general or physical activity in general (Bong & Skaalvik, 2003; Camilli, Vargas, Ryan, & Barnett, 2010; Coe et al., 2006; Ergene, 2016; Felfe et al., 2011; Fox, 1999; Heering & Wilder, 2006;
Huizenga, Admiraal, Akkerman, & Ten Dam, 2009; Milligan, Moretti, & Oreopoulos, 2003; Resaland et al., 2016; Smith, 1999; Smith, Sheppard, Johnson, & Johnson, 2005; Talebzadeh & Jafari, 2012; Teasley, 2004; Zimmerman, 2000).
Nonintervention, intervention and literature studies have been included in this study. The studies had to be conducted between February 2006 and March 2017 and had to be performed on kindergarten, elementary or middle school children. All articles had to be written in English or in Dutch and had to be peer reviewed. Articles that would potentially be useful for the literature study have been examined thoroughly through establishing the research question, method and the outcome. In addition, of the investigated aspects of the functions above, only the aspects that have been covered by two or more studies or factors that influence or explain these aspects have been used in the analysis of the literature. This enabled the comparison of studies with each other. In addition, more evidence could be given about what this factor does for PE and/or for aspects of the three functions of education. Based on these criteria, it was decided which articles were included in this literature study.
9 The effect of physical education on the qualification function of education
This chapter seeks to answer the following sub-question: what is the effect of physical education on the qualification function of education? As has been stated before, the
qualification function can be defined as providing the skills, knowledge and comprehension that is needed to be well prepared for a job and a role in future society (Biesta, 2008). 13 studies have initially been selected for this chapter. Eventually, only studies investigating the effect of academic achievement, concentration, test taking behavior, cognition or intelligence have been included in this chapter. These effects had to be investigated in combination with PE in general, or with time devoted to PE or with the intensity of PE. Three studies did not meet these criteria and have been left out. As a result, 10 studies been elaborated in this chapter. The terms that have been used to find the articles can be found in table 2.
Table 2
The Terms that have been Used to Find the Articles for the Qualification Function of Education.
Most of the papers have looked at the effect of or the association between PE on academic achievement. Several operationalization’s have been used to measure academic achievement. One paper has used grade point average (GPA) and gains in intelligence to measure academic achievement. But most papers have used test scores on math and/or language as measurement. In addition, some papers have controlled for certain factors like BMI, ethnicity and physical activity outside the educational context. This may otherwise influence the association between PE and aspects of the qualification function. A short summary of the selected studies can be found in Table 3.
Used search term Hits and database
Physical education and academic achievement. 3 hits on Google Scholar and 1 on Sage.
Vigorous physical education and academic achievement. 1 hit on Google Scholar.
Vigorous physical education and math performance. 1 hit on Sciencedirect and 1 on Google Scholar.
Frequency of physical education. 1 hit on Sage.
Time spend on physical education. 1 hit on Google Scholar.
School performance and the number of physical education classes.
10 Table 3
The Selected Studies About the Association Between Physical Education and Facets of the Qualification Function of Education.
Author Sample Investigated factor Design Outcomes Carlson et al. (2008) 5136 kindergarten elementary school children Time spend on PE Longitudinal nonintervention study
More time devoted to PE was associated with higher performances on reading and mathematics for girls, but not for boys. Coe et al. (2006) 214 elementary school children Intensity of PE Intervention with a control group
Only vigorous PE positively influenced academic achievement.
Kim et al. (2012) 75066 middle school children Time spend on PE Nonintervention study
Less than three PE lessons a week was associated with worse academic standards. Philips et al. (2015) 72 middle school children Intensity of PE Intervention with a control group
Vigorous PE only resulted in better math performances 30 minutes after the intervention, but not after 45 minutes. Rasberry et
al. (2011)
Both elementary and middle school children
PE in general Literature study Mixed results were found for the
association between PE and academic achievement. Shen (2017) 187 urban African middle school children Intensity of PE Nonintervention study
Vigorous PE leads to better academic performances. Simms et al. (2013) 10.120 elementary school children Time spend on PE Longitudinal nonintervention study
Spending more time on PE was associated with better academic performances. Thompson et al. (2016) 799 elementary school children Intensity of PE Intervention study with a control group
Vigorous PE was associated with more concentration and less test anxiety for African American children. Tomporow ski et al. (2008) Both elementary and middle school children
PE in general Literature study PE was not associated with
intelligence. Mixed results have been found for the association between PE and cognition and academic achievements. Trudeau et al. (2008) Both elementary and middle school children Time spend on PE and in general
Literature study Devoting more time to PE was
mostly associated with higher academic achievements and higher GPA.
11 Nonintervention, intervention and literature study designs have been used by the papers to investigate their research questions. In addition, the papers have looked at different aspects of PE. Especially time devoted to PE and the intensity of PE have caught the interest of a lot
of studies.
This chapter will be elaborated in the following order. First will there be a description if there indeed is an association between PE and aspects of the qualification function of
education without looking at specific features of PE. After that, two factors that have been commonly investigated will be looked at in more detail. First will there be an elaboration of papers that have investigated the effect of time spend on PE and the association of that with aspects of the qualification function of education. Then there will be an elaboration of how time could be spend effectively by looking at the effect of the intensity of PE on aspects of the qualification function of education. This chapter will be concluded with the main findings of this chapter.
General findings
Three literature studies have investigated the association of PE in general with aspects of the qualification function of education. A first literature study has been conducted by Trudeau and Shephard (2008). They found mixed results for the association between PE and grade point average (GPA). Some studies found small positive associations between PE and GPA, while other studies did not find any associations. Negative associations were not found
(Trudeau & Shephard, 2008).
Tomporowski, Davis, Miller and Naglieri (2008) investigated the association between PE and cognition, academic achievement and intelligence. They found no studies that showed an association between PE and intelligence. However, a fair amount of studies did detect positive associations between PE and cognition, but not all studies. The same applies for academic achievement and PE (Tomporowski et al., 2008). These mixed results were supported by a literature study of Rasberry et al. (2011) who found similar results for academic achievement. Both literature studies found no negative associations.
The results of these three literature studies show that PE does not contribute to intelligence, but academic achievement can be improved by PE. However, this was not supported by all studies. It may therefore be that certain requirements need to be satisfied to give children the opportunity to perform better academically. If these requirements are
12 satisfied, PE may contribute to an environment in which children can deliver more optimal academic performances.
Time spend on PE
One way to create such positive circumstances could be by devoting additional time to PE. As has been mentioned before, schools spend less and less time on PE (Coe et al., 2006; French, et al., 2001; Janssen et al., 2004). However, what influence does this have on
academic achievement?
Four studies have looked at the association between the variable time and PE and what kind of effect that combination has on academic achievement. Kindergarten, elementary school children and middle school children participated in the studies. These studies have been conducted with nonintervention (longitudinal) designs and intervention designs.
An important finding has been done by Kim and So (2012). They found that spending less time on PE has significant negative effects on academic achievement. Even when this was controlled for confounding variables like SES, gender, age, BMI and the amount of non-school related physical activity. Less than three PE lessons per week leads to an increase of 14.6% in poor academic performances and 19.6% in very poor academic performances in comparison with children that receive more than three PE lessons per week (Kim & So, 2012). A decrease in time leads to a decrease in memory and cognitive functions that leads to worse academic performances (Kim & So, 2012).
This result shows why spending less time on PE can have adverse effects for academic achievements. Just as has been found for physical exercise in general (Roberts et al., 2010). On the other hand, an increase in the amount of PE may be associated with higher academic achievements (Kim & So, 2012).
Trudeau and Shephard (2008) investigated this. In their literature study, they found that an increase in PE time did not result in a decrease of academic achievement. At worst, the academic standards stayed the same between the control and intervention group. At best, the scores of the intervention group improved significantly in comparison to the control group on both short and long term (Trudeau & Shephard, 2008). This is an important finding. Not only is there sufficient support for devoting more time on PE on both short and long term, but also in the studies that did not find positive results it is that found spending more time is not associated with negative results. This means that no harm can be done by spending more time
13 Moreover, an even more positive result was found in a longitudinal study of Simms, Bock & Hackett (2013). They also found that the amount of time spend on PE has a
significant positive association with academic achievement for both boys and girls. However, the effect size was small (Simms et al., 2013). Increases in the functioning of the working memory and brain plasticity are the explanations given for the better academic achievements
(Simms et al., 2013).
Carlson et al. (2008) also found positive outcomes, but not for both genders. In their longitudinal study, they found that the girls that received the highest amount of PE scored better on reading and mathematics than the girls that received the lowest amount. Such results were not detectable for boys. An explanation for the gender differences were also given by Carlson et al. (2008). It has been shown before that boys are physically more fit than girls. Because of that, girls are taking more advantage from PE than boys, which leads to
improvements in academic achievement for girls, but not for boys (Carlson et al., 2008). The studies covered in the section above show that PE can contribute to academic achievement if enough time is spend on it. Especially girls seem to profit of PE. No negative effects were found in the studies that did not find any associations. That means that even if no effect is detectable it will not harm academic achievements, while spending less time will probably lead to worse academic achievements.
The intensity of PE
Regardless of the positive outcomes in the previous section, the additional time for PE probably need to be spend efficient to be effective. It may therefore be that certain features need to be combined with additional time to get positive outcomes on aspects of the
qualification function. For example, Van Dusen, Kelder, Khol, Ranjit, and Perry (2011) have stated that time spend on PE and the intensity of the lessons can be integrated and together can contribute to better academic achievements. It may therefore be that the intensity of PE also is associated with academic achievement.
Four studies have been included that investigated if this the case. Both elementary and middle school children have been included in the studies. Nonintervention and intervention designs have been used. All studies have looked at the effect of (moderate to) vigorous intensive PE. Vigorous can be described as intensive physical exercise (Lee & Paffenbarger,
2000).
14 needs to be spend on vigorous education (Coe et al., 2006). Coe et al. (2006) found that PE lessons did not improve academic achievements. It only had a significant effect on academic achievements if the participants performed vigorous activities (Coe et al., 2006). However, during that study on average only 19 minutes of the total 55 minutes in the PE lessons were spent on vigorous activities. Because of that it could be that this amount was not enough to influence academic achievement (Coe et al., 2006). It therefore seems that a certain threshold of moderate to vigorous activity in PE lessons needs to be met to have an impact on academic
achievement (Coe et al., 2006).
This result already displays the interplay between the intensity and time spend on PE outlined by Van Dusen et al. (2012). Enough vigorous PE can only be realized if enough time is spend on PE and merely spending more time may not result in positive outcomes.
Philips, Hannon and Castelli (2015) examined what happens if the required amount of vigorous intensive PE is satisfied. They did this with an intervention study using PE lessons that contained as much vigorous physical activity as possible. The outcomes showed that the intervention group scored significantly better on math during the after 30 minutes’ test than prior the intervention and in comparison with the control group. However, those effects disappeared at the second math test after 45 minutes (Philips et al., 2015). This result shows that spending proportionally enough time on vigorous physical activity can have at least short-term effects on academic achievement. It seems to be that the threshold described by Coe et al. (2006) is satisfied in this study. Even though only short-term effects have been found.
This however does not explain how vigorous PE can influence academic achievement. Thompson et al. (2016) investigated this as they studied the effect of vigorous PE on test taking anxiety, test performance and test taking behavior. An intervention in which at least 50% of the PE lesson was vigorous intensive was used to investigate this. Race differences were included in the data analysis. The outcomes showed significant positive effects for the intervention group that showed much better behavior and more concentration during the math test that was conducted afterwards. No differences were found for academic achievement between the two groups, nor for test anxiety. However, significant differences between races were found with a reduced test anxiety for African American students in the intervention group compared to the control group (Thompson et al., 2016).
A better concentration caused by vigorous intensive PE may explain the better academic achievements. Nevertheless, this study did not show better academic achievements which was not in line with the study of Philips et al. (2015). An explanation for this was the single usage of the intervention. Better academic achievements may not be achieved right away
15
(Thompson et al., 2016).
More evidence for the relation between vigorous PE, concentration and academic achievement has been found by Shen (2017). Her study showed that participants who
participated in vigorous PE were more likely to achieve high academic results. This was also probably caused by more concentration (Shen, 2017). This shows support for the mechanism outlined by the study of Thompson et al. (2016). Vigorous education probably enhances concentration which enhances academic performances. Especially populations at risk seem to benefit from this as the population in this study were African American girls who exercise less than most children and perform worse academically (Shen, 2017). The study of
Thompson et al. (2016) already showed some promising signs for African American children, and this study supports those findings.
Conclusion
The discussed studies show support for PE being able to contribute to aspects of the qualification function of education. Three studies found only positive outcomes, while seven studies found mostly positive outcomes, but not for all variables. None of the studies found negative associations. The studies found only positive associations for concentration. Most papers found positive associations for the different operationalization’s of academic
achievement and cognitive functioning and one article found some support for test anxiety. No associations were found for test taking behavior and intelligence. Especially devoting additional time to PE and vigorous intensive education seems beneficial for the qualification function. As merely devoting more time to PE may not be enough, it may be that that
additional time needs to be filled in with vigorous intensive PE to gain positive outcomes. The mechanism behind this is that this leads to more concentration which leads to better academic outcomes. In addition, the study of Carlson (2008) and Shen (2017) show that especially populations who do not exercise much profit from such conditions.
The effect of physical education on the socialization function of education This chapter will seek to answer the following sub-question: what is the effect of physical education on the socialization function of education? As has been stated in the introduction, the socialization function of education can be described as the transmission of the norms and values that are cherished in the society (Biesta, 2008). 13 studies have initially been selected for this chapter. Eventually, studies were only included if they investigated
16 social development in general or certain aspects of social development. In addition, also studies that investigated the effect of time or cooperation on social development have been included. Three studies did not satisfy these requirements and have been left out. As a result, 10 studies have been included in this chapter.
Table 4
The Terms that have been Used to Find the Articles for the Socialization Function of Education.
Social development is a multidimensional construct that can be divided into different parts (Akelaitis & Malinauskas, 2016). These are: communication, cooperation, assertiveness, social self-control, responsibility, engagement, social adaption and empathy(Akelaitis & Malinauskas, 2016). This division is however arbitrary. For example, Garcia-Lopez and Gutiérrez (2013) are also considering aggression as a part of this construct. However, eight studies looked at social development as a whole construct and looked at the association of that with PE. Of those Eight studies, two studies looked at the effect of PE on social development in general, four studies have looked at the effect of devoting additional time to PE on social development and two studies have investigated the association between cooperation in PE and social development. The other two studies have looked at different dimensions of social development. A short summary of the used studies can be found in Table 5.
Used search term Hits and database
Frequency of physical education. 1 hit on Sage.
Physical education and social development. 1 hit on Google Scholar.
Physical education and empathy. 1 hit on Google Scholar.
Physical education and assertiveness. 1 hit on Google Scholar.
Physical education and social skills. 2 hits on ScienceDirect.
Physical education and prosocial behavior. 1 hit on ScienceDirect.
Physical education and cooperative learning. 1 hit on Google Scholar.
Physical education and social isolation. 1 hit on ScienceDirect.
Physical education and communication, cooperation, assertiveness.
17 Table 5
The Selected Studies About the Association Between Physical Education and Facets of the Socialization Function of Education.
Nonintervention, intervention and literature study designs have been used by the papers to investigate their research questions. Most papers have used an intervention design
Author Sample Investigated factor Design Outcomes Akelaitis et al., (2016) 51 middle school children Aspects of social development Intervention study with a control group
The intervention group demonstrated better communication, cooperation, assertiveness and social adaption compared to the control group. Bailey (2006) Elementary and middle school children Social development in general Literature study
PE can enhance the social development of children and can combat social isolation. Casey et al., (2015) Elementary and middle school children Cooperation Literature study
Cooperation in PE is associated with improved social skills. However, it may take some time before results occur. Dorak et al., (2012) 45 elementary school children Time spend on PE Intervention study with a control group
The intervention was not associated with better social skills.
Garcia-Lopez et al. (2013) 154 middle school children Aspects of social development Intervention design
The intervention was positively associated with assertiveness, but not with empathy. Goudas et al., (2008) 114 elementary school children Cooperation Intervention study with a control group
The cooperation intervention resulted in a higher amount of empathy, cooperative behavior, and a higher preference to work in groups. Salamuddi n et al., (2010) 146 middle school children Social development in general Intervention study with a control group
The responsibility model group scored significantly higher on sport related and life related social development in comparison to the control group. Santos et al., (2015) 4207 middle school children Time spend on PE Noninterventio n study
Students who participate more in PE are identified as feeling less lonely and as having more friends than students who participate less in PE. Simms et al., (2013) 10.120 elementary school children Time spend on PE Longitudinal noninterventio n study
Teachers reported no significantly higher social skills for students that participated more in PE.
Spitzer et al., (2013)
44 middle school children for the first study, 148 for the second study
Time spend on PE
Intervention study with a control group
The intervention had a positive effect on the social behavior of the participants compared to the control group in both experiments.
18 with a control group to investigate the association between PE and aspects of the
socialization function of education.
This chapter will be elaborated from a broad to specific scope. First will there be a description of the association of PE on social development without looking at specific features of PE self. Then will there be an elaboration of two aspects of PE that may influence the association between PE and social development. These are spending additional time on PE and cooperation in PE which will be discussed in turn. Thereafter there will be an elaboration of what aspects of social development are associated with PE. This chapter will be concluded with the main findings of this chapter.
PE and social development in general
Two studies have looked at the association between PE and social development in general. One study has used a literature study design while the other one has used an intervention design with a control group.
The first study is a literature study of Bailey (2006) in which the effect of physical exercise on social development was examined. The results showed that especially PE can contribute to the development of social skills. Several studies have shown positive associations between PE and social development. Access for all children, less pressure to perform well in sports than in non-educational sports settings and the opportunity to offer social education intertwined with PE have been offered as reasons why especially PE can contribute to social development (Bailey, 2006). However, the PE lessons need to be appropriately structured to positively influence social development (Bailey, 2006).
Bailey (2006) does however not elaborate what kind of PE lessons are appropriately structured to positively influence social development. In addition, it also is not specified if the effects in social development apply for both sport and non-sport related social
situations. A study that did look at both factors has been conducted by Salamuddin and Harun (2010). Their goal was to investigate the effect of humanistic minded PE lessons on sports and non-sports related social development.
The outcomes showed that the intervention group scored significantly better on social development in comparison with the control group. This applied for both non-sport as sport-related social situations (Salamuddin & Harun, 2010). This result implicates that PE is also associated with more proficiency in everyday social situations (Salamuddin & Harun, 2010).
19 Time devoted to PE and social development
The two studies above showed rather positive associations between PE and social development. Humanistic education intertwined with PE may be the way that PE can contribute to social development. However, there may also be other ways that the positive outcomes found in the study of Bailey (2006) can be achieved. For example, additional time devoted to PE may also promote social development (Santos et al., 2015). Four studies have looked at this and these studies have used intervention, nonintervention and
longitudinal designs.
Spitzer and Hollman (2013) have conducted two intervention studies. In the first experiment, the intervention group received three additional PE lessons per week in
comparison to the control group. The outcomes showed that the children in the intervention group scored significantly better on social behavior in comparison with the control group (Spitzer & Hollman, 2013). The same results were found in a second study with a bigger sample size (Spitzer & Hollman, 2013). These results showed that devoting additional time to PE is associated with more social behavior.
But does this improvement in social behavior influence what children experience in daily life? Santos et al. (2015) investigated this and they found that participants who participated more in PE reported to have more friends in comparison with participants that barely participated in PE. In addition, girls who participated more in PE also reported to have much less feeling of loneliness. This association was not found for boys. According to Santos et al. (2015), PE can be considered as a protective factor regarding social isolation. This result is in line with the studies elaborated above. It could be that an increase in PE leads to better social skills which leads to having more friends and less feeling of
loneliness.
The results of the studies above are indeed promising. However, they were not replicated on a longitudinal basis. Simms et al. (2013) used a longitudinal design, but did not find that additional time devoted to PE was not associated with better social skills (Simms et al., 2013). In addition, Dorak, Yildiz and Sortullu (2012) also did not find any associations between time spend on PE and social development. In this study, the
intervention group followed a program with two additional days of PE per week. No differences were found between the pre- and posttest scores for this study. It was therefore stated that devoting additional time to PE was not associated with better social skills
(Dorak et al., 2012).
20 social development. Nevertheless, there may be other factors in PE that can contribute to the development of social skills. A factor that may enhance social development could be cooperation in PE (Casey & Goodyear, 2015).
Cooperation in PE and social development
Cooperation can be used to promote communication among peers and to consider each other’s point of view (Casey & Goodyear, 2015). Therefore, it may be able to enhance social development (Casey & Goodyear, 2015). Two studies have acknowledged this and have been included in this literature study. One study used a literature study design and the other an intervention design with a control group.
A literature study has been done by Casey and Goodyear (2015). They collected the literature that looked at the association between cooperation in PE and social development. The outcomes showed that cooperation in PE indeed can facilitate social development (Casey & Goodyear, 2015). It can be used to communicate with other people, and to consider the vision of others about certain aspects and to respect those views. In addition, cooperative assignments create a feeling of responsibility to execute the assignment in a good way and with the necessary cooperation. These effects eventually can enhance social development (Casey & Goodyear, 2015). However, it may take a couple of weeks before this development does occur (Casey & Goodyear, 2015).
A study that did take a few weeks to evaluate the effect of cooperation in PE on social development is the intervention study of Goudas and Magiotsou (2008). Positive outcomes were found as the participants in the intervention group scored significantly better on social competences in comparison with the control group. In addition, they also showed a higher preference for group work (Goudas & Magiotsou, 2008). This result was in line with what has been found in the literature study of Casey and Goodyear (2015).
However, a critique offered by Casey & Goodyear (2015) on the current literature is that most studies did not investigate the association of cooperation in PE with social development for more than a few weeks. The study of Goudas and Magiotsou (2008) also did not evaluate their intervention on a longer period. It is therefore unclear what the long-term effects are of the association between these two constructs (Casey & Goodyear, 2015).
21 The social personality traits that are enhanced by PE
Most of the studies above show promising associations between PE and social development. They however do not elaborate which social personality traits are positively enhanced by PE. Fortunately, there have been studies that have looked at these
associations. Two studies have been included in this section and they both have used an intervention design to investigate their research question.
Akelaitis and Malinauskas (2016) investigated the association between PE and communication, assertiveness, social self-control, cooperation and social adaption with an intervention that aimed at improving those social traits. Post intervention results showed significantly better scores on all aspects but social control in comparison with the control group. The overall scores on social development were also higher for the intervention group than the control group (Akelaitis & Malinauskas, 2016).
Garcia-Lopez and Gutiérrez (2013) also found promising outcomes. They investigated the effect of PE on assertiveness and empathy. Participants followed an
intervention program in which they were assigned to different teams to cooperate with each other. The outcomes showed a strong significant increase in assertiveness at the post
intervention test in comparison with the pre-intervention test. No significant outcomes were found for empathy (Garcia-Lopez & Gutiérrez, 2013). A factor that may have caused differences in assertiveness was the influence of the cooperation in the teams. Differences for the variables were found between the different teams, and Garcia-Lopez and Guttiérrez (2013) stated that the variable team greatly influenced the amount of assertiveness.
This explanation is in line with the results of the previous section that showed that cooperation is positively associated with social development (Casey & Goodyear, 2015; Goudas & Magiotsou, 2008). Since assertiveness is a component of social development, it may be the underlying mechanism by which cooperation in PE enhances social
development.
Conclusion
The current literature has shown promising associations between PE and social development. Eight studies found positive associations between PE and social
development, while none of the studies showed negative associations. Only two studies found no associations and they both did not find any associations for addition time spend on PE. It is therefore unclear what the effect of this factor is. For cooperation in PE only
22 positive associations were found for social development. It may therefore be that
cooperation in PE results in a bigger impact on social development than devoting more time to PE. Finally, research shows that the underlying aspects of social development that are improved by PE are assertiveness, empathy, cooperation, communication and social adaption. However, the amount of studies about the separate constructs of social
development are scarce and additional research is desirable. For example, PE may also enhance responsibility as has been found before that physical activity can enhance
responsibility (Cecchini, Montero, Alonso, Izquiero, & Contreras, 2007). Future research could look at this in more depth.
The effect of physical education on the subjectification function of education This chapter will seek to answer the following sub-question: what is the effect of physical education on the subjectification function of education? As has been stated before, the subjectification function can be defined as the development of the individual and his own identity (Geerding et al., 2015). 15 studies have initially been selected for this chapter. Eventually, studies were only included if they investigated one of the following four aspects of this function. These are: the development of self-efficacy, self-concept, self-esteem and motivation of individuals. Motivation has been investigated from the perspective of the self-determination theory which will be elaborated later in this chapter. Two studies did not look at one of the four aspects of this function and have therefore not been included. Due to that, 13 studies have been included in this chapter. The used terms to find the articles can be found in table 6.
23
Table 6
The Terms that have been Used to Find the Articles for the Subjectification Function of Education.
The constructs included in this chapter are related to each other. Self-efficacy can be described as an assessment of ones’ competence for a specific task (Woolfolk, Hughes & Walkup, 2013). Self-efficacy is part of self-concept which can be described as having a perception and judgement about a certain aspect of the self (Bong & Clark, 1999; Swann, Chang-Schneider, & McClarty, 2007; Woolfolk, Hughes & Walkup, 2013). Self-esteem is the value that has been given to those feelings of the self-concept (Woolfolk, Hughes & Walkup). Eventually, self-esteem seems to be a predictor for motivation (Pyszczynski, Greenberg, Solomon, Arndt, & Schimel, 2004). But motivation is also a predictor for self-esteem (Hein & Hagger, 2007). Different kinds of motivation exist, of which autonomous motivation is the highest form. Due to this kind of motivation, one wants to do an activity because of the attractiveness of the task and not due to external stimuli (Wallhead, Garn & Vidoni, 2014). The relations between these constructs imply that self-efficacy indirectly influences
motivation (Pajares, 2003). The same applies for self-concept (Shamir, House, & Arthur, 1993).
Four studies have looked at the association between self-efficacy and PE, two studies did that for self-concept, two studies for self-esteem and five studies for motivation.
Nonintervention and intervention designs have been used by the papers to investigate their research question. A short summary of the used studies can be found in Table 7.
Used search term Hits and database
Physical education and self-efficacy. 3 hits on Google Scholar and 1 hit on
ScienceDirect.
Physical education and self-concept. 2 hits on Google Scholar.
Physical education and self-esteem. 2 hits on Google Scholar.
Physical education and motivation. 1 hit on ScienceDirect and 2 hits on Google
Scholar. Self determination and physical education and autonomous
motivation.
1 hit on Google Scholar.
Physical education, self determination need satisfaction and autonomous motivation.
24 Table 7
The Selected Studies About the Association Between Physical Education and Aspects of the Subjectification Function of Education.
Author Sample Investigated aspect Design Outcomes Amado et al. (2014) 47 middle school children Motivation Intervention study with a control group
The intervention did increase the autonomy need, but not competence or relatedness. Autonomous motivation did also not increase. Chanal et al. (2009) 451 middle school children Self-concept Non-intervention study
Better achievements in PE are positively associated with a better self-concept in mathematics. Chatzisarantis et al. (2009) 215 middle school children Motivation Intervention study with a control group
The intervention group scored higher on the autonomy need, autonomous motivation and physical activity during leisure time. Cox et al. (2008) 344 middle school children Motivation Nonintervention (longitudinal study
The needs of the self-determination theory are associated with autonomous motivation which is related with leisure time physical activity. Dorak et al. (2012) 45 elementary school children Self-efficacy Intervention study with a control group
Devoting additional time to PE was not associated with a better self-efficacy. Ensergueix et al. (2010) 90 middle school children Self-efficacy Intervention study
The intervention resulted in higher scores on self-efficacy in
comparison with the control group. Escarti et al. (2010a) 30 middle school children Self-efficacy Intervention study
The intervention group scored higher on self-efficacy in comparison with the control group. Escarti et al. (2010b) 42 elementary school children Self-efficacy Intervention study
The intervention resulted in a higher score on self-regulative efficacy, but not for social-efficacy or assertive-social-efficacy. Hein et al. (2007) 634 middle school children Self-esteem Nonintervention study
Elements of the self-determination theory in PE are associated with a better general self-esteem. Jaakkola et al. (2016) 333 middle school children Motivation Longitudinal study
Motivation in PE was not associated with more physical activity six years later.
25 This chapter will be elaborated from specific to broad. First will there be a
description of the association between PE and self-efficacy. Then there will be an
elaboration of what the association is between PE and self-concept. After that, there will be a description of the studies that have looked at the association between PE and self-esteem. Thereafter will there be an elaboration of the studies that have investigated the effect of PE on motivation. This chapter will be concluded with the main findings of this chapter.
Self-efficacy
Four studies have looked at the association between PE and self-efficacy. The studies have been conducted on elementary and middle school children and both intervention and nonintervention designs have been used. Dorak et al. (2012) used an intervention design to investigate if additional time devoted to PE was associated with a higher self-efficacy. They found no associations and therefore stated that devoting additional time to PE was not associated with a higher self-efficacy (Dorak et al., 2012).
Merely devoting more time to PE may therefore not influence self-efficacy. There are however studies that have looked at other ways to enhance self-efficacy with PE. For example, Ensergueix and Lafont (2010) looked at the effect of peer tutoring on self-efficacy. The results showed that both trained and spontaneous peer tutoring significantly increased self-efficacy in general in comparison with the no peer tutoring group. Trained peer tutoring resulted in the biggest effect size for self-efficacy. Moreover, the girls
benefited the most from the trained peer tutoring, while the boys took more advantage from spontaneous peer tutoring (Ensergueix & Lafont, 2010).
This study shows that PE can enhance self-efficacy if the intervention is carefully Simms et al. (2013) 10.120 elementary school children Self-concept Longitudinal nonintervention study
Devoting more time to PE is associated with a higher self-concept. Standage et al. (2007) 300 middle school children Self-esteem Nonintervention study
Elements of the self-determination theory in PE are directly or indirectly associated with more general self-esteem. Wallhead et al. (2014) 568 middle school children Motivation Intervention study
The intervention resulted in more enjoyment in PE in comparison to the control group. This resulted in a small increase in leisure time physical activity.
26 implemented. It however does not show what aspects of self-efficacy can be improved by an intervention in PE. Escarti, Gutiérrez, Pascual, & Marin (2010) did this with an
intervention study in which they made distinctions between efficacy in social situations (communicating effectively with others) and efficacy in self-regulation (resisting pressure of peers). For this, they used participants that were at risk of dropping out of school. They found that their intervention increased social-efficacy and self-regulative-efficacy which eventually also improved self-efficacy in general (Escarti et al., 2010a).
Moreover, Escarti, Gutiérrez, Pascual, & Llopis (2010) investigated with the same intervention and procedure the effect of the intervention on regular participants. Another distinctive feature is that they added an additional type of efficacy to the analysis called assertive-efficacy (expressing opinions). The outcomes showed that the intervention was associated with a significant increase in only self-regulatory-efficacy (Escarti et al., 2010b). An explanation given for these findings is that this intervention may have a bigger impact on participants that are less competent (Escarti et al., 2010b). This could well be the case as the former study conducted with participants who were at risk for dropping out showed more gains of self-efficacy with the same intervention.
All in all, the studies above show that PE can enhance self-efficacy if the intervention is well implemented and focused on the right population. Especially children at-risk seem to benefit from these kinds of interventions.
Self-concept
Since the development of self-efficacy seems to benefit from certain kinds of PE, it may be that self-concept will profit from PE as well. Self-efficacy is part of self-concept and it may therefore also be positively associated with PE. Two studies have looked at the association between PE and self-concept. Elementary and middle school children
participated in these studies and both studies have been noninterventional.
Simms et al. (2013) have investigated the association between the amount of time spend on PE and self-concept in general. The results showed that additional time devoted to PE had a small, but positive association with a better self-concept in daily life (Simms et
al., 2013).
This result shows that PE can influence self-concept in other contexts than PE. In what kind of situations has been investigated by Chanal, Sarrazin, Guay, & Boiché (2009). They investigated if an increase in performance in PE leads to better self-concepts in
27 mathematics and language achievements. The outcomes showed that better achievements in PE has a weak but significant positive association for self-concept in mathematics, but not for language (Chanal et al., 2009). An explanation for this outcome is that PE can be used to train spatial ability. Because of that, children get a better self-concept of spatial ability and since this ability is an important feature of mathematics, they get a better self-concept for mathematics as well (Chanal et al., 2009).
Even though only two studies have looked at self-concept and its association with PE, they show promising positive associations between these two variables inside and outside the context. The researchers of the first elaborated study stated that this association may have been caused by an improved esteem which could have led to a better self-concept (Simms et al., 2013). As stated before, self-self-concept and self-esteem are associated with each other (Woolfolk et al., 2013). An increase in self-concept may therefore also cause an increase in self-esteem. As self-concept can be influenced by PE, it may also be the case for self-esteem.
Self-esteem
Two studies have investigated if PE indeed can influence self-esteem. They used nonintervention designs and elementary and middle school children participated in these studies. The first study has been conducted by Standage and Gillison (2007). They have looked at the effect of aspects of the self-determination theory in PE on self-esteem as they hypothesize that autonomous motivation is positively associated with self-esteem
(Standage & Gillison, 2007). It has been found before that autonomous motivation can be gained by satisfying needs of the self-determination theory (Standage & Gillison, 2007). These are competence (feeling competent to do a task), autonomy (having the freedom to perform the task) and relatedness (feeling part of a bigger group) (Standage & Gillison,
2007).
The outcomes showed that PE indeed can have a positive effect on self-esteem in general. This effect does not come by itself. It was found that an autonomy supportive environment is necessary to achieve these outcomes. Teachers should give their students the freedom to make choices during PE lessons, but also support them when needed in such an environment. This improves the needs of the self-determination theory. Aspects of this theory are positively associated autonomous motivation, which is positively associated with general self-esteem. An autonomy supportive environment has therefore an indirect
28 positive effect on self-esteem (Standage & Gillison, 2007). Hein and Hagger (2007)
conducted a similar study and found that the especially competence and autonomy needs are associated with autonomous motivation, which leads to more self-esteem (Hein &
Hagger, 2007).
Both studies have shown that PE can contribute to self-esteem and what kind of circumstances need to be satisfied. However, it cannot be taken for granted that this positive association will occur. Several conditions need to be met to get autonomous motivation which can lead to more self-esteem. The studies do however not tell how these conditions can be met. In addition, the relationship between motivation and self-esteem seems to be reciprocal as has been shown before that more self-esteem leads to more motivation (Pyszczynski et al., 2004). It may therefore be that PE not only can enhance self-esteem, but maybe also general motivation.
Motivation
Five studies have investigated the association between PE and motivation. Both intervention and nonintervention designs have been used to measure motivation in PE. Only middle school children participated in the studies and they have investigated aspects of the self-determination theory in PE or the effect of autonomous motivation on
longitudinal scale.
A first intervention study has been conducted by Amado, Villar, Leo, Sánchez-Oliva, Sánchez-Miguel, García-Calvo (2014). They used a dance intervention focused on
satisfying the self-determination needs. The outcomes showed that the intervention group scored significantly higher on autonomy. This effect was not found between the groups for relatedness and competence. In addition, a significant difference in autonomous motivation was also not found for the intervention group in comparison with the control group (Amado et al., 2014). This may be explained by that the intervention only caused an increase in autonomy and not in the other self-determination needs. This study shows that this intervention may not have a positive effect on motivation.
Wallhead et al. (2014) also investigated with an intervention the effect of an educational program on the needs of the self-determination theory and autonomous
motivation. In addition, they also investigated if the outcomes resulted in more leisure time sports activity. The outcomes showed that the intervention resulted in more enjoyment in PE in comparison with the control group. This effect turned out to be robust during the two
29 years that this experiment has been conducted. This increase in enjoyment was caused by autonomous motivation as it turned out that the intervention group scored higher on autonomous motivation in comparison with the control group, which probably was caused by a significant increase of the self-determination theory needs. In addition, the outcomes showed that these effects caused a small increase in leisure physical activity from the intervention group (Wallhead et al., 2014).
This study is not the only one that shows promising signs of PE on motivation for inter- and extracurricular physical activity contexts. Chatzisarantis and Hagger (2009) also investigated the effect of an intervention on the needs of the self-determination theory and leisure time physical activity. They used an autonomy supportive intervention with positive feedback just like it was recommended by Hein and Hagger (2007). The outcomes showed that the intervention group scored higher on all the self-determination needs in comparison with the control group. In addition, it was also found that the intervention group had more autonomous motivation to exercise sports during leisure time and they also exercised more than the control group (Chatzisarantis & Hagger, 2009). Similar outcomes were also found in a study conducted by Cox, Smith and Williams (2008) who looked at this with a
nonintervention design.
The four studies above show that PE can contribute to overall physical activity, but is this also the case on a longitudinal scale? Jaakkola, Yli-Piipari, Watt and Liukkonen (2016) investigated the effect of autonomous motivation in PE on leisure time physical activity with a six-year study. The outcomes showed that autonomous motivation in PE was not associated with leisure time physical activity six years later (Jaakkola et al., 2016). It may therefore be that the effects of autonomous motivation in PE disappear over a longer time
(Jaakkola et al., 2016).
A reason offered by Wallhead et al. (2014) for such an outcome is that opportunities offered to exercise physical activity during leisure time may not satisfy the needs of the self-determination theory (Wallhead et al., 2014). It is therefore unclear if PE can enhance physical activity outside the educational context on long term, but the studies elaborated before show that PE can enhance motivation if the intervention has been implemented in the right manner. Especially an autonomy supportive environment during the PE lessons seems to have a positive effect on autonomous motivation.
30
Conclusion
The studies in this chapter have shown that PE can contribute to aspects of the subjectification function of education. Nine studies have shown positive associations between PE and aspects of the subjectification function of education, while one study showed mixed results and three studies found no associations. The studies have shown that PE can improve self-efficacy, self-concept, self-esteem and autonomous motivation. These aspects not only improve during the PE lessons, but also in other contexts and the factors also seem to enhance each other. Especially motivation and self-esteem can do that.
However, it is not straightforward that PE can contribute to these aspects. Several aspects may need to be satisfied to gain these effects. Especially an autonomy supportive educational environment seems beneficial for these aspects. In addition, research about some aspects is scarce. Additional research for especially self-concept and self-esteem would be desirable, as would more research be on a longitudinal scale. The study of Jaakkola et al. (2016) shows that the positive aspects for motivation may disappear over longer time. Due to the associations between the factors this is probably also the case for the other aspects. Additional research may give an answer on this question.
Conclusion & Discussion
This literature study has investigated the effect of PE on the three functions
(qualification, socialization and subjectification) of education that have been elaborated by Biesta (2008). Three chapters have been used to cover the three functions in which 29 studies have been included. Of those studies, 18 found only positive effects, seven studies found mixed results, four studies found no effects and none of the studies found negative effects. The studies have shown that there is comprehensive evidence for a contribution of PE to these three functions. For the qualification function, three studies have found merely positive outcomes, seven studies found mostly positive outcomes, but not for all variables, and no studies found no or negative associations. Aspects that were positively associated with PE are better academic results, better cognitive functioning and concentration. For the socialization function, eight studies have found positive associations between PE and social development, while two studies did not find any associations. Especially assertiveness, communication, social adaption and empathy seem to benefit from this. Finally, nine studies have shown positive associations between PE and the subjectification function. One study found mixed results and three studies found no associations. Aspects of the
31 subjectification function that can be improved by PE are efficacy, concept, self-esteem and autonomous motivation. The effects of the socialization and subjectification function were found for both PE-settings as regular educational settings.
The results in this literature study are therefore promising and show that the positive effects of physical exercise can also be found for PE. However, it is not straightforward that these effects are indeed achieved. This study has shown that several factors need to be satisfied to get these positive outcomes. These factors differ between the different functions of education. For the qualification function, especially moderate-to-vigorous intensive PE seems beneficial if the amount of intensive PE is sufficient. For the socialization function, cooperation in PE seems to be beneficial. For the subjectification function, an autonomy supportive environment in which needs of the self-determination theory are satisfied seems to be the best way to enhance this function.
A factor that has been investigated by many studies for all three functions and
therefore included in this study is time devoted to PE. This aspect showed mixed results for being beneficial. Four studies have found positive associations between one of the
functions and more time devoted to PE, while mixed results were found by two studies and no associations were found by three studies. It may be that devoting more time to PE is a necessary, but not sufficient factor to improve one of the three functions. Additional time may need to be combined with one of the other factors that seemed to be effective for one of the functions to get positive outcomes.
Satisfying the aspects that are positively associated with PE can have several indirect positive consequences inside and outside the educational context. The positive associations between PE and social development can lead to a positive emotional growth and showing better behavior inside and outside the school context. This, for example, can lead to less criminal behavior (Akelaitis & Malinauskas, 2016). In addition, satisfying aspects of the subjectification function are also associated with a better personal development. A high self-efficacy can lead to a lower vulnerability for stress and anxiety (Escarti et al., 2010). A higher self-concept is a predictor for less aggression (Stucke & Sporer, 2002). A higher self-esteem is associated with more persistence and success over a broad range of
performance oriented activities (Hein & Hagger, 2007). And finally, more motivation leads to more leisure time physical activity which leads to a better health (Wallhead et al., 2014). In other words, the results from the studies used in this literature study suggest that PE may also indirectly contribute to a lot of factors that influence the development of children.
