ABSTRACT:

My initial inquiry question started out wondering about assessment in a Physical and Health Education setting.  As I was completing my short practicum, I noticed that the PHE classes were all coeducational classes, compared to when I went to high school where the only coed PHE classes we had were in the senior (grade 11/12) years.  There is significance in my inquiry question as there has been research completed in the field that suggests educators prefer to teach single gendered classes and that boys and girls tend to perform and learn better in segregated PHE classes. This made me think and I began to wonder why some schools had segregated single gendered classes, while other schools had coed.  Speaking to colleagues working in different distracts and schools, it seems that there has recently been a shift from single gendered PHE classes to having coed PHE classes.  While on my short practicum, I began asking myself questions such as “does the coed classes affect the rate of enrollment in the senior PHE classes?” I pondered this because the school I had been observing had a huge disparity in their senior PHE classes – for example, one class had 28 boys to 2 girls.  While I try to inquire, I am interested to see if students enjoy the coed classes or if they would prefer to have a separate single gendered class.  Is it possible to give students the choice of enrolling in coed or single gendered classes?  There are many questions I hope to discover on my inquiry journey as this is going to be a long process.

INQUIRY QUESTION:

Should high school Physical Education classes be co-educational or single gendered?

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:

My personal experience with my inquiry question is still in the works.  I hope to have some of my questions answered while on practicum – even if it is a small sample, it is still something that can help me with my teaching in the future.  The purpose of inquiry is useful as it helps us connect and collaborate with one another to answer questions and work together.  The journey has been bumpy so far and at times a little confusing, but my feet have set and I’m ready to move forward.  The next step in my experience is to implement and practice what I preach.

SIGNIFICANCE & RELEVANCE:

It is significant because others with similar experiences will probably have questions that are related to the topic of single sex vs coed classes. Coeducational academic classes exist in every public school and it works – but in a physical education setting it is much different. Research done by Gabbrei (2004) in regards to coeducational PE classes showed that more boys than girls ranked PE as a subject “highly”. Boys also indicated more frequently than girls that they were satisfied with their performances, that they were able to demonstrate their ability during lessons. Girls were more negative than boys when asked whether the subject should include competitive aspects (Gabbrei, 2004) and this should raise some red flags as it seems clear that female students are not enjoying physical education classes. Ryan & Poirier (2012) published in an article suggesting that “girls steer clear of participation in elective secondary physical education for several reasons that include: low self-confidence; lack of motivation; low perceived value of physical activity; lack of opportunities for physical activity; marking scheme; competition; coed classes; teaching approach; and peers”. Many of these reasons stem from coeducational PE classes which was listed as one of the reasons why girls try to avoid physical education. In these classes, boys tend to dominate where it then makes girls lack confidence and motivation because they may think they can’t compete with the boys which then leads to a low perceived value of physical activity. My question is relevant because it is a possibility that these coed classes could be a reason why female enrollment into PE is much lower than males. When I went to high school, the ratio of boys to girls in the senior classes was roughly 60% boys to 40% girls. On my practicum, I was observing classes with 1 to 3 girls in each senior class and the rest were boys. The Journal of Physical Education Recreation & Dance posed the question, “should physical education classes return to teaching males and females separately?” All of the responses from physical education specialists were in support of a return to teaching single-sex classes (Hannon & Williams, 2008). Fraser-Thomas and Beaudoin (2004) documented that the female motivational response to previous environmental pressures is significantly altered by the negative behaviour of boys. This is the reason why females will often not fully engage themselves to improve or work more intensely to tax the cardiovascular system in P.E. class as they are protecting themselves from negative male attention. This is another reason why single sex classes could work out better since these females are more likely to participate with a leader of the same sex. “When examining the literature on teacher perceptions, there appears to be a preference by teachers for single-sex physical education” (Hannon & Williams, 2008).

INQUIRY DESIGN:

I may ask students in an informal interview style if they prefer coed or single gendered classes and why they like or don’t like it.  I may also get students to do a survey during their “health” unit to see if they enjoy being in coed PE classes and one thing they would like to have changed in their curriculum.  I will have conversations with other professionals about what they think about coed vs single-sex PE classes.  Hopefully other teachers are open to sharing their experiences and opinions.  It will be a great chance to see what others think since everybody will have a different experience with single sex and coed PE classes.  Comparing between coeducational and single-sex classes, Derry and Allen (2004) found that girls in single-sex physical education classes had significantly higher engaged skill-learning time and initiated more interactions with teachers than girls in coeducational classes. Similarly, Hannon and Ratliffe (2007) reported that female students have more opportunities to participate and tend to receive a greater amount of verbal interaction from their teacher when engaged in single-sex classes.  It would be interesting to conduct some research in British Columbia to compare single-sex PE classes and coed classes and how students feel about them.

LINKS TO PRACTICE:

The links between my inquiry question and what I have learned so far has not been determined. During my practicum, I will have a lesson planned during an invasive team game unit such as soccer, basketball or hockey and the lesson will be planned based upon having a coed game and a single gendered game in the same class. At the end of this lesson, I may get the students to write a reflection about what they liked about the two “different” games of coed / single gendered. During my practicum, I also plan to speak to other PE teachers and ask their opinion and experiences with these classes. It will be interesting to see the range of answers from the students in different grades – does this affect how they feel about coed physical education? During my health unit, I will also have students complete a survey about what they enjoy and dislike about having coed PE classes. I am expecting to have answers from the girls saying that the boys don’t include them enough and the boys will say the girls do not make the games competitive enough which leads to both genders not enjoying/disliking coed physical education classes compared to a single gendered class.

IMPLICATIONS & LIMITATIONS:

School population or staff size may affect the number of students in each class – are there enough qualified PE teachers? Would female teachers only teach females and males only teach males? Gym space – are there enough gyms to split grades into gendered classes? In schools, especially in Vancouver, it may be difficult to find gym space or have enough teachers on staff to teach specific genders. When inquiring, do teacher perceptions influence teacher behavior in the classroom? Simply observing how teachers interact with and teach students in single-sex and coeducational classes is not a sufficient means of understanding teachers’ perceptions. Interviewing teachers about their preferences and how they teach in all environments would help in gaining a better understanding of possible methods to enhance physical education instruction for students in all settings (Hannon & Williams, 2008). Ryan & Poirier (2012) mention that due to the difficulties of creating a workable timetable; several physical education classes are often setup in a coed manner. As previously mentioned, females may feel self-conscious about having to play and participate in front of boys. Something that I feel I can relate to is that “physical educators would rather have classes divided by gender so that the level of competition is consistent with their ability and everyone who is taking part in the course feels welcome” (Ryan & Poirier, 2012). It is definitely puzzling to try to optimally challenge all students, especially when there are students that do not want to participate or exert any energy – adding in all the factors where boys/girls may not want to interact with one another makes it all the more difficult.

FUTURE QUESTIONS / DIRECTIONS:

It has also been observed that some female students are more motivated to prioritize academic excellence (such as their grades) and focus predominantly in courses that will grant them a better chance at post-secondary institution acceptance than athletics, sport and fitness (Ryan & Poirier, 2012). I want to try to inquire to see if this is true – do male students take PE in the senior grades because they enjoy it / expect a good mark? It is believed that girls would like to see classes separated by levels and ability so that they can participate and not feel as though they cannot contribute to the game, because the level of competition is too high. Females will avoid P.E. classes based on this barrier alone yet inherent in most competition where intensity is common (Ryan & Poirier, 2012). Also, testing the athletic ability of a student in front of classmates can be very difficult. Girls may not want to be the subject of attention during a class and dislike the possibility of being humiliated in front of their peers. Since girls are already highly scrutinized in their academic life, being judged in their free-time/stress-relieving activities seems counterproductive (Ryan & Poirier, 2012).