4th, 5th and 6th grade elementary education student thoughts and attitudes toward physical education subject and teacher

The present study was to assess the beliefs and attitudes toward physical education in Galician students from 4th, 5th and 6th grade of Elementary Education. A descriptive, comparative, comparative, cross-sectional analytical design was used. The sample was constituted by 375 children from Galicia aged between 9 and 12 years (M = 10.92; DT = .792). The Attitudes Toward Physical Education Questionnaire (CAEF) was used to data collect. The statistical analysis showed statistically significant differences in the difficulty of physical education as a function of gender (p = .002). Statistically significant differences were also located as a function of age in the following dimensions: physical education usefulness (p = .036), empathy with the teacher and the subject (p < .001), preference for physical education and sport (p < .001) and physical education as sport (p = .002). Furthermore, there was a trend towards less positive attitudes as age increases. Specifically, both the perceived usefulness of the subject and empathy with the teacher decreased with age while perceived difficulty increased. The results of this research indicated that, independently of age and gender, there was a favourable thought and disposition towards physical education and teachers should take advantage of it in order to achieve much more meaningful learning and to foster active lifestyles by generating a motivation towards the participation in out-of-school physical activity.