Physical activity. context and characteristics of pupils in aquitaine: Comparison between high schools and vocational school

Abstract:

For two decades, interest in adolescent health and their lifestyle has become widespread. Ainsi les systèmes éducatifs en Europe développent des actions d’éducation à la santé. Par ailleurs, au sein de certain plans d’éducation ou de prévention, des enquêtes sont régulièrement conduites pour mieux connaître et évaluer les pratiques et les représentations des jeunes en matière d’activités physiques, de loisirs sportifs ou non sportifs, de nutrition. Cependant les comportements liés à la santé des différents publics de lycéens (enseignements généraux / professionnels ont été peu investigués). Education systems in Europe are therefore developing education activities for health. Furthermore, in some plans for education or prevention, investigations are regularly conducted to better understand and assess the practices and representations of youth in physical activities, recreational sports and non-sports activities and nutrition. However, the health-linked behaviour of various types of pupils (general / vocational) has received little attention.

We L’objet de cette communication est de rendre compte de certains résultats d’une nouvelle enquête conduite auprès d’un échantillon de lycéens aquitains.WeWe  report the results of a new survey conducted among a sample of students in Aquitaine. Méthode : L’échantillon prend en compte les caractéristiques des effectifs réels des lycées publics de l’Académie de Bordeaux, et spécifiquement la répartition selon les 5 départements, selon le type de lycée ainsi, 39 établissements (21 lycées généraux et technologiques et 18 lycées professionnels) ont donc participé à l’enquête.Les données démographiques de l’inspection académiques ont été utilisées.The sample took into account the characteristics of the real numbers of pupils in state schools in the Bordeaux-Aquitaine region, and specifically a breakdown in terms of the five counties and by type of school. The official demographic data of the local authorities were used. Au total 2756 lycéens aquitains ont été enquêtés. A total of 2756 students were surveyed. Using cross tabulations, we observed significant differences between the two types of students (general/professional), with a rate of sports and physical activity in general lower for the vocational schools. The gender variable also distinguished respondents in terms of duration of practice and decrease in activity over the years.

INTRODUCTION:

Education systems in Europe are therefore developing education activities for health. Furthermore, in some plans for education or prevention, investigations are regularly conducted to better understand and assess the practices and representations of youth in physical activities, recreational sports and non-sports activities and nutrition. In France, the objectives of Physical Education (PE) consist in “offering to each person, knowledge concerning the maintenance of one’s potentialities and the organization of one’s physical life at the various ages of life”. Manderscheidt (1994) proposed to define health as “the ability to develop its physical intellectual and emotional resources, to adapt… in order to live independently and be socially integrated. …”. Today, health means a motor competence, an ability to learn and adapt. In psychological terms, health requires good self-esteem and low anxiety. The social dimension of health refers to the ability of individuals to integrate actively in collective projects, and integrate into society. The aim of health promotion is being developed within the French educational system. In this context, Physical Education (PE) is both an academic discipline among others, but also has a specific role by the particular involvement of the body. One of the objectives of PE is to aim for true “health habits” (Cogérino, 1997). Programs for HS (2000, 2002) mention as an objective “Acquisition of skills and knowledge required to maintain physical life and development of health throughout life. Thus the aims, objectives, competencies defined in these programs refer explicitly to a concern for physical training and education for self-knowledge in relation to health. Today, PE programs reflect a renewed interest in health goals for high schools (HS) and vocational schools (VS) (PE programs 2009).

Two different ways are possible to facilitate the development of health objectives and health education in PE at school. First we can observe pedagogical initiatives and contents during PE lessons for different Physical activities & sports (PAS), also interviews with teachers about their representations of pupils in relation with lifestyle, health, and physical activity. We can also analyze pedagogical projects & curricula in PE (Lafont and Sauboi, 2010). The other way to better understand health behaviors is to observe by questionnaires or interviews the students themselves: physical activity, lifestyle, body image, self esteem.  To achieve these objectives, surveys were conducted in samples of teenagers in Aquitaine. The “Nutrition and Physical Activities among Adolescents” survey, was used to compare physical practices among college and high school students (Maurice-Tison, Saubusse and Thibault, (2005). However, the health-linked behaviours of various types of pupils (general / vocational) have received little attention. Courbebaisse, Fauché & Lafont (2006) demonstrated the need to focus particularly on state schools (general and vocational) in order to develop knowledge of behaviours and therefore better adjust actions undertaken, particularly in PE.
The goal of this study is to investigate sports and physical activities at school and outside school, psychological variables, and lifestyle. This paper reports only results of physical activity and motivations. The aims were to investigate the differences between High Schools (HS) and Vocational Schools (VS) and the role of pupils’ gender. The sample was taken from high schools and vocational schools in the Aquitaine region.

METHODOLOGY:

The sample took into account the characteristics of the real numbers of pupils in state schools in the Bordeaux-Aquitaine region, and specifically the distinction in terms of the five departments and type of school. Thus, 39 schools (21 general and technical secondary schools and 18 vocational schools) participated in the survey. The official demographic data of the local authorities were used.  A total of 2756 students were surveyed.

The questionnaires were sent by post with an instruction sheet explaining the way of completing the questionnaire.  

Questionnaire:

We explored and compared the rates and amounts of physical activities and sports (PAS, in clubs, “free” activities inside and outside school, during holidays), type of physical activity, motivations, life style and socio-demographic variables with a questionnaire.
Conditions for the award: the questionnaires were administered during school time in the classroom under the supervision of PE teachers. They have previously specified to the students the purpose of the survey and confidentiality of responses. The duration of the award was an average of ¾ of an hour.
Statistics Analyzes:
Data were analyzed with the Sphinx software. AMC allowed observing relationships between sex, type of schools, department and Physical activity.
We measured the influence of the main variables: type of school and sex with cross tabulations.

RESULTS:

Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA).

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Figure 1.  Multiple correspondence analysis, Variables: dep, type, sex, UNSS o / n, sp recrea Y / N, sp club Y / N freesportY / N.

The map shows the positions of the 18 modalities.
29.05% of the variance is explained by the two axis represented.

 Table 1. Multiple correspondence analyses

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The table 1 gives, for the first 2 factorial axis, the relative contributions (positive and negative) of different modes. We can observe that the major contributions to the two factorial axis are the gender and the type of School. These two factors will be explored using cross tabulations. Furthermore, we can see that “boys”  and Physical and Sport Activity (yesrecre, yesAS, yesfree) are opposed to “girls” and no PSA (norecre, noclub, noAS, nofree) on the first factorial axis. On the second axis, VS, Boy and nofree are opposed to HS, girl, yesclub.

Cross tabulations

• Comparisons between types of school (HS / VS) for all pupils.

Rate of pupils who practise:
For 3 contexts (leisure, holidays, freesport) VS pupils have a rate of practice lower than that of students from HS. For school sport (AS) no significant difference is observed.

Sport in club:

This year, do you practice one (or more) activity (ies) fitness (s) or sport (s) in CLUB?

Table 2. Sport in club x Type of School 

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Dependence is highly significant. chi2 = 108.95, df = 1, 1-p => 99.99%.
Framed in blue (pink) are those for which the actual number is much higher (lower) the effective theory. More HS students are engaged in club.

Type o fSport in club x type of school

If so, what activities do you performe?

Table 3. Nature of sport in clubx Type of School

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Of all students who practice in club, HS students are more engaged in artistic physical activities than those of VS. The difference in the Chi2 test is significant p < .01.

Time in club.

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Using ANOVA, we observed significant differences between the two types of students (general/vocational), with time spent in club longer for the VS pupils.
Fisher’s test for timeclub : V inter = 288867,15, V intra = 27820,41, F = 10,38, 1-p = 99,99%

Pupils interest for PE:

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Table 5. Pupils interest for PE:

Pupils’ interest for PE is not the same according to the type of school. Competition and beauty are more often put forward in VS, pleasure and relaxation are the most important objectives mentioned in HS. 

• The role of gender

TTable 6. Percentage (and number) of boys and girls for physical activity in different sports contexts

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Girls are 30% less than boys to perform in clubs and recreation within the school, and nearly two times less likely to engage in “free” Recreation and Sports Association (UNSS).

Rate comparisons of rate of practices in different school contexts by gender

Table 7. Comparisons of percentage of boys and girls of different types of PA by type of school

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 All differences (in bold) between the % of boys and girls, of HS and VS on the other hand, are very significant (1-p> 99.99 %) except for the difference in practice “free” between VS girls and HS girls which is significant (1-p = 96.38%)

For boys, the type of establishment is linked to the rate practice in club (but not with the corresponding average quantities: The HS students are more likely to engage in a club. Conversely, rates of participation in school sport (AS) and the quantities of PAS ‘free’ are higher among schoolchildren in VS.
For Girls, the type of establishment is very prominent in connection with the rates and amounts of PAS practice: HS girls are over 2.5 times more likely than their counterparts of VS to practice in club, and their average duration of total PAS are higher than those of VS girls (4.7 h HS vs 3.2 h.VS) excluding practices “free” for which the terms are equal. Different rates and amounts of sports are evident between Boys and Girls, Boy’s practice is 2 times longer per week than girls (8h vs. 4 h). The practice rate decrease with age for the 2 sexes, but this decrease was greater among girls particularly in VS.

Gender x motivations:

For you, the practice of sport and physical activity (outside of PE lessons) has major interests.

Table 8. Gender x motivations

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Dependence is highly significant. chi2 = 108.95, df = 1, 1-p => 99.99%.
Framed in blue (pink) are those for which the actual number is much higher (lower) the effective theory. For all students the reasons most often mentioned are relaxation, skill acquisition and maintenance of health. The patterns of practice mentioned differ significantly: boys are more oriented towards competition than girls. Conversely they are more on aesthetic grounds.

DISCUSSION:

The results are relatively consistent with those from the 2005 survey and others recent surveys in France (INSERM, 2008). In this survey, pupils taken together, have a fairly consistent sport activity. The patterns of practice are primarily relaxation, skill acquisition and maintenance of health. We notice a relatively large importance given to health motives. However, the gender variable and context weigh these results. The gender variable distinguished respondents in terms of nature of practice, duration of practice and decrease in activity over the years. For the girls type of institution plays important role in the year amount of sport practiced. These results show that physical activity for girls should receive special attention: they are less engaged and have different patterns of practice. But the PE in France offers content rather masculine. Finally the type of institution plays a very important role for all responses analyzed. Further analysis of this survey should lead to better know students of VS in particular their lifestyle and their satisfaction with regard to their health and their body. These results point to the need to stimulate the physical practice of young students and to implement innovative practices in health as observed in some PE lessons in different VS of the Aquitaine county (Lafont, Rubert and Vincent Morin, 2008).

REFERENCES:

Cogérino G. (1997) : Pédagogie et didactique des pratiques d’entretien corporel en EPS. Revue HYPER, 197 : 10-14.

Courbebaisse J.P., Fauché S. and Lafont L. (2008) : Les élèves du second degré en Aquitaine : style de vie actif, contexte scolaire, contexte de vie. Congrès International de l’ARIS. Rodez.

Lafont and Sauboi, (2010): Role of health objectives in Physical Education (PE) French programs and projects: the example of vocational schools in Aquitaine. Aeisep conference, La Corogne. www. Aeisep.org.

INSERM. (2008): Activité Physique. Contextes et effets sur la santé. Rapport de recherche. Editions Inserm, Paris.

Lafont, L., Rubert, O. and Vincent-Morin, M. (2008): Physical education and health: what guidance procedures and what pedagogical contents? FIEP World congress, Vierumäki, Finland, 6-10 August.

Mandersheidt, J.C. (1994) : Modèles et principes en éducation pour la santé. Revue française de Pédagogie, 114 : 81-96.

Maurice-Tison, S. Saubusse, E.Thibault, H. (2005) Étude de l’activité physique et des habitudes alimentaires et de vie des collégiens et lycéens d’Aquitaine. AEEPS congress www.site.aeeps.org/IMG/pdf/ResultatsPDF.pdf

The Curriculum of the PE for High Schools (2000)
Soundtrack No6, August 31, 2000.

The Curriculum of the PE for professional degrees, baccalaureate (2002).
Soundtrack No. 39, October 24, 2002.

The Curriculum of the OE for professional degrees, baccalaureate (2009).
Soundtrack No. 2, February 19, 2009.

This study was supported by the Aquitaine Regional Council (ConventionR054)
Acknowledgements to Mme M. Chevalier PE Inspectorate and to AEEPS.