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Johansson, M., Hiswåls, A.-S., Svennberg, L. & Macassa, G. (2022). What do we know about corporate social responsibility and stakeholders physical activity? A public health perspective. Journal of Public Health Research, 11(2), 1-9
Open this publication in new window or tab >>What do we know about corporate social responsibility and stakeholders physical activity? A public health perspective
2022 (English)In: Journal of Public Health Research, ISSN 2279-9028, E-ISSN 2279-9036, Vol. 11, no 2, p. 1-9Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In the past decade and in the context of sustainable development, business organizations have been expected to partner with governments and others to address societal problems, including those pertinent to population health. Accordingly, through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies and policies, companies should collaborate in health promotion efforts to modify the effects of the health determinants (including those concerning behavior change) affecting internal and external stakeholders. Although CSR strategies and policies are linked to stakeholder health and wellbeing (e.g. employee satisfaction), little is known of how these strategies affect physical activity. Thus, this perspective paper aims to contribute to the discussion of the topic by investigating what scientific evidence exists regarding the relationship between CSR and physical activity. So far there are indications that some business are implementing CSR activities targeting internal (e.g. employees) and external (e.g. consumers) stakeholders, especially in developed countries. Furthermore, among external stakeholders, CSR activities with a physical activity component targeted children, youth, the disabled, the under-privileged, and the elderly. However, there is still very little empirical evidence available using appropriate quantitative and qualitative designs. Public health and health science researchers in general should strive to advance our understanding of how CSR affects population health behavior, paving the way to develop frameworks for resilient, ethical, and sustainable health promotion.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sage, 2022
Keywords
Corporate social responsibility, business organizations, internal and external stakeholder’s physical activity, public health
National Category
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-39698 (URN)10.1177/22799036221102490 (DOI)000842897800001 ()2-s2.0-85138738695 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2022-08-16 Created: 2022-08-16 Last updated: 2022-10-10Bibliographically approved
Svedsäter, G., Svennberg, L., Westfelt, L., Qvarfordt, A. & Lilja, M. (2021). Performance and image enhancing substance use among young people in Sweden. Performance Enhancement & Health, 9(2), Article ID 100194.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Performance and image enhancing substance use among young people in Sweden
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2021 (English)In: Performance Enhancement & Health, E-ISSN 2211-2669, Vol. 9, no 2, article id 100194Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of performance- and image-enhancing substances (PIES) use, and factors related to this, among a representative sample of the general Swedish population aged 16–25. We used a quantitative cross-sectional self-report design to examine prevalence and possible relationships between PIES use and socio-demographics, physical activity, attitudes towards muscle building and doping, friends’ use, body image, and body modification. Approximately 12% of the respondents reported that they used or had used PIES. A logistic regression analysis pointed out the importance of the social context – friends who used PIES, how body image affected social life, and how others viewed one's body – as more important factors for using PIES than attitudes towards muscle building and doping. Taken together, these results indicate a need to pay attention to the use of PIES among young people as a potential public health problem.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2021
Keywords
Performance- and image-enhancing substances, Attitudes, Body image, Body modification, DopingDrugs
National Category
Sport and Fitness Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-37076 (URN)10.1016/j.peh.2021.100194 (DOI)001021820300001 ()2-s2.0-85109749736 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2021-10-01 Created: 2021-10-01 Last updated: 2025-02-11Bibliographically approved
Svennberg, L. & Redelius, K. (2018). PE Assessment Policy and Enactment in Sweden. In: : . Paper presented at AIESEP specialist seminar 'Future Directions in PEAssessment', 18-12 October 2018, Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>PE Assessment Policy and Enactment in Sweden
2018 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation only (Other academic)
National Category
Sport and Fitness Sciences
Research subject
Innovative Learning
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-28819 (URN)
Conference
AIESEP specialist seminar 'Future Directions in PEAssessment', 18-12 October 2018, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Available from: 2018-12-13 Created: 2018-12-13 Last updated: 2025-02-11Bibliographically approved
Svennberg, L., Meckbach, J. & Redelius, K. (2018). Swedish PE teachers struggle with assessment in a criterion-referenced grading system. Sport, Education and Society, 23(4), 381-393
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Swedish PE teachers struggle with assessment in a criterion-referenced grading system
2018 (English)In: Sport, Education and Society, ISSN 1357-3322, E-ISSN 1470-1243, Vol. 23, no 4, p. 381-393Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In the field of education, the international trend is to turn to criterion-referenced grading in the hope of achieving accountable and consistent grades. Despite a national criterion-referenced grading system emphasising knowledge as the only base for grading, Swedish physical education (PE) grades have been shown to value non-knowledge factors, such as students’ characteristics and behaviour. In 2011, a new national curriculum was implemented which attempts to deal with the problem by prescribing specific knowledge requirements with a clear progression as the only basis for different grades. The aim of the present study is to explore the impact of the new knowledge requirements on what teachers consider important when assigning grades. It is also to discuss what non-knowledge-related aspects (if any) teachers continue to look for and why these seem to remain resilient to the reform. The Repertory Grid technique was employed to interview the teachers before (2009) and after the implementation (2013). During the interviews, the grading of 45 students was discussed, which generated 125 constructs. After the implementation, there was a near doubling of knowledge constructs, half as many motivation constructs and an almost total elimination of constructs based on confidence and social skills. While motivational factors were still considered valuable for the award of a higher grade, clear criteria seemed to be important, but too limited for the teachers’ needs. In order to understand the persistence of motivational factors, we discuss the results in relation to Bernstein’s interrelated message systems of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. We emphasise the need to discuss how valid grades can be achieved and, at the same time, give value to the regulative discourse in order to realise the overarching national goals of values and norms in education and PE. 

Keywords
Bernstein, curriculum regulation, interrelated message systems, motivation, pedagogic discourse, physical education, regulative discourse, repertory grid, standards-based grading, teachers grading practice
National Category
Sport and Fitness Sciences Educational Sciences
Research subject
Innovative Learning
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-22109 (URN)10.1080/13573322.2016.1200025 (DOI)000427952300009 ()2-s2.0-84975479104 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2016-07-06 Created: 2016-07-06 Last updated: 2025-02-11Bibliographically approved
Svennberg, L. & Högberg, H. (2018). Who gains?: Sociological parameters for obtaining high grades in physical education. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 4(1), 48-60
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Who gains?: Sociological parameters for obtaining high grades in physical education
2018 (English)In: Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, ISSN 2002-0317, Vol. 4, no 1, p. 48-60Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The aim of this study was to investigate factors contributing to higher grades in Swedish physical education (PE) by analysing register data from the Swedish National Agency for Education for all students graduating from compulsory school in 2014 (n = 95,317). The results show that the chances of gaining a high grade in PE are affected by (in decreasing order) migration background, parents? education, attending an independent or a municipally operated school and gender, and that this also holds true after controlling for the other background factors. The results also show that PE grade differences between boys and girls are bigger in the group that moved to Sweden after school start than in the group that had lived in Sweden since school start. In addition, the results point to substantial inequalities between students with a combination of the highest odds and those with a combination of the lowest odds. Bernstein?s concept of the pedagogic device is used to discuss ways of understanding what knowledge becomes valued in PE and which groups have better possibilities to assimilate this valued knowledge.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2018
Keywords
Assessment; Bernstein; equity; school marketization; standards-based grading
National Category
Sport and Fitness Sciences Educational Sciences
Research subject
Innovative Learning
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-26210 (URN)10.1080/20020317.2018.1440112 (DOI)2-s2.0-85091724006 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2018-03-06 Created: 2018-03-06 Last updated: 2025-02-11Bibliographically approved
Svennberg, L. (2017). Swedish PE teachers' understandings of legitimate movement in a criterion-referenced grading system. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 22(3), 257-269
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Swedish PE teachers' understandings of legitimate movement in a criterion-referenced grading system
2017 (English)In: Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, ISSN 1740-8989, E-ISSN 1742-5786, Vol. 22, no 3, p. 257-269Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Background: Physical Education (PE) has been associated with a multi-activity model in which movement is related to sport discourses and sport techniques. However, as in many international contexts, the Swedish national PE syllabus calls for a wider and more inclusive concept of movement. Complex movement adapted to different settings is valued, and in the national grading criteria qualitative measures of movement are used. This research seeks to examine how the wider concept of movement is interpreted and graded. Drawing on Bernstein’s concept of the pedagogic device, the paper explores teachers'€™ roles as active mediators in the transformation of national grading criteria for movement and the kinds of movement that are valued in teachers’ grading practices. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate what PE teachers consider legitimate movement in a criterion-referenced grading system and the factors that influence their grading practice. The Repertory Grid (RG) technique was employed in order to access their tacit knowledge.

Methodology: Seven Swedish PE teachers were interviewed, all of whom teach and grade years seven to nine in different compulsory schools. Using the RG technique, the teachers were asked to reflect on the aspects they considered important for achieving a high grade. The national grading criteria for years seven to nine were then presented one at a time and the teachers were asked to describe how they assessed and graded each requirement. The teachers were also asked whether any specific factors had influenced their grading. In the content analysis, the second part of the interview was attended to first and the results were interpreted in light of Bernsteins'€™ concept of the pedagogic device.

Findings: Sport techniques and competitive sports influenced the teachers'€™ interpretations of what constitutes complex movement. The aspect of fitness also appeared to be valued by the teachers in that it facilitates the valued movement. In some cases the difficulty of describing movement qualities in words could reduce the concept of movement to something measurable and quantifiable. The teachers' concerns about students'€™ unequal opportunities to develop and demonstrate their skills also influenced the teachers’ interpretation of complex movement.

Conclusions: In the transformation of national grading criteria to grading practice, the pedagogic actions taken inform and limit the way in which legitimate movement in PE is conceptualised. Adopting a concept of movement that is wider than competitive sports allows the structures of inequality to be addressed and enables the movements performed by students with other moving experiences than competitive sports to be valued. The tension between the demands of transparency in a high stakes grading system and the inability to articulate the quality of complex movements is problematic. There is a need to verbalise teachers’ conceptions about physical education knowledge to be able to discuss and develop the concept of movement. In this process, the RG technique is a potentially useful tool. Having the language to discuss movement qualities also enables us to strengthen the interrelation between curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.

Keywords
Assessment, grading, movement, standards-based, teachers’ grading practice
National Category
Sport and Fitness Sciences Pedagogy
Research subject
Innovative Learning
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-21493 (URN)10.1080/17408989.2016.1176132 (DOI)000398195100004 ()2-s2.0-84964474239 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2016-05-13 Created: 2016-05-13 Last updated: 2025-02-11Bibliographically approved
Svennberg, L., Meckbach, J. & Redelius, K. (2015). Swedish PE Teachers’ Grading Practice in a Standard Based Grading System. In: Radman, A., Hedenborg, S., & Tsolakidis,E. (Ed.), 20th annual Congress of the EUROPEAN COLLEGE OF SPORT SCIENCE 24th - 27th June 2015, Malmö – Sweden: BOOK OF ABSTRACTS. Paper presented at 20th annual Congress of the European college of sport science, 24th-27th June 2015, Malmö, Sweden (pp. 153). , 1
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Swedish PE Teachers’ Grading Practice in a Standard Based Grading System
2015 (English)In: 20th annual Congress of the EUROPEAN COLLEGE OF SPORT SCIENCE 24th - 27th June 2015, Malmö – Sweden: BOOK OF ABSTRACTS / [ed] Radman, A., Hedenborg, S., & Tsolakidis,E., 2015, Vol. 1, p. 153-Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

A standard based grading system is supposed to support equality and accountability. Nevertheless teachers sometimes refer to an internalized grading (Hay & McDonald, 2008; Svennberg, Meckbach & Redelius, 2014) and the validity of the grades have been questioned (Annerstedt & Larsson, 2008). Our aim is to explore Swedish PE teachers’ grading practice and what they value in the grades they have given their students.

Four PE teachers in compulsory school were interviewed with the Repertory Grid (RG) technique. The RG technique can be used to reveal a person’s perception of a specific topic that the person is familiar with, by examining the similarities and differences between well-known elements (Fransella, Bell & Bannister, 2004). In the first step, the teacher was asked to select seven to eight students from a class that he or she was teaching and grading in PE. The students selected must represent all possible grades (Fransella et al., 2004). In the second step, the names of three of the students at the time were presented to the teacher who was asked in what way, relevant for the grades, two of the students were similar and different from the third (Fransella et al., 2004). In the third step the teachers were asked to rate the students on how they corresponded to the similarities and differences mentioned. The resulting grids were analysed with the programme WEBGRID5.

Besides knowledge and skills all four teachers valued standard irrelevant criteria. Their rating of the students on the standard irrelevant criteria generally matched the grades given. Among the national standards mentioned there were differences in how they matched the given grades. Other national standards were not mentioned at all. It seems like some standards have been better implemented then others.

The results indicate the need for a discussion of why it seems to be an urge to use standard irrelevant criteria such as motivation and effort that is stronger than the desire for compliance to the national grading criteria. Bernsteins’ interrelated systems of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment (2003) can contribute to the understanding. It is also important to discuss why some national grading criteria are easier for the teachers to implement then others.

References: Annerstedt C, Larsson S. (2010). European Physical Education Review, 16(2), 97-115. Bernstein B. (2003). Class, codes and control. (Vol. 3) Towards a theory of educational transmission, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. Fransella, F., Bell, R. & Bannister, D. (2004). A manual for repertory grid technique. (2nd. ed.). Wiley, Chichester, West Sussex. Hay P, MacDonald D. (2008). Assessment In Education: Principles, Policy & Practice 15(2): 153-168. Svennberg L, Meckbach J, Redelius K. (2014). European Physical Education Review, 20(2), 199-214.

National Category
Educational Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-25803 (URN)978-91-7104-567-6 (ISBN)
Conference
20th annual Congress of the European college of sport science, 24th-27th June 2015, Malmö, Sweden
Projects
Thesis: Grading in physical education
Available from: 2017-12-14 Created: 2017-12-14 Last updated: 2020-01-22Bibliographically approved
Svennberg, L., Meckbach, J. & Redelius, K. (2015). To Grade or not to Grade Motivation and Effort: Swedish PE Teachers’ Grading Practice in Relation to National Grading Standards. In: : . Paper presented at ECER 2015, European Educational Research Conference, "Education and Transition. Contributions from Educational Research", Corvinus University of Budapest, 7-11 September,. (pp. 654).
Open this publication in new window or tab >>To Grade or not to Grade Motivation and Effort: Swedish PE Teachers’ Grading Practice in Relation to National Grading Standards
2015 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

General description

There has been an international trend to turn to standard-based grading in order to obtain accountable and consistent grades. Countries have different solutions to meet the challenge to find a balance between curriculum regulation and providing space for adjustment to local context and student populations (Kuiper & Berkvens, 2013). In Sweden a national standard-based grading system has been in use for the last 20 years. Nevertheless, the validity of grades has been questioned in Sweden as elsewhere. PE teachers’ internalized criteria or gut-feeling (Annerstedt & Larsson, 2010; Hay and MacDonald, 2008; Svennberg, Meckbach & Redelius, 2014), as well as standard irrelevant factors such as motivation and effort (Chan, Hay & Tinning, 2011; Larsson, Fagrell & Redelius, 2009), have been identified to influence the grades. Curriculum regulation has been employed in Sweden to improve the validity of the grades and the grading standards have been reformed in 2011 (Swedish National Agency for Education [SNAE]) to make clear that only specified knowledge requirement are to be considered when grading. But will the implementation of more specific standards be enough to keep the teachers’ judgment focused on knowledge only?

Our intention is to study PE teachers’ alignment with national grading criteria when exposed to a government’s attempt to prescribe the knowledge requirements for different grades. More specific, this is done by enlightening the teachers’ use of nonachievement standard irrelevant factors before and after the implementation of more specific standards and more support. The results will be discussed in light of Bernstein’s three interrelated message systems of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment (2003). Several scholars have discussed assessment as an important message system of what count as important knowledge and the influence of assessment on learning (Chan et al., 2011; Hay and Penney, 2013; Redelius & Hay, 2009; Thorburn, 2007). To better understand teachers’ grading practices, we are also interested in how the interrelation works in the other direction—how curriculum and pedagogy influence assessment and grading. We take a starting point in our study of the teachers grading practice before and after the implementation of more specific grading standards and relate the results to the Swedish national curriculum and Bernstein’s definition of a pedagogic discourse. The official message in the Swedish curriculum is that both knowledge and values and norms are important in order to reach the overarching goals of education and the goals for PE (SNAE, 2011). However, only knowledge is to be graded and no attention is to be given to values and norms in the grades. To bring light to the influence of values and norms in the teachers pedagogic work we turn to Bernstein’s (1996) pedagogic discourse that comprise both an instructional discourse, which creates specialized skills (knowledge), and a regulative discourse that creates order and relations (values and norms). In Bernstein’s (1996) concept of the pedagogic discourse, the instructional discourse is embedded in the regulative discourse, with the regulative discourse being the dominant of the two. They are to be considered as one inseparable discourse (Bernstien 1996). Applied in a classroom situation this is illustrated by Lund and Veal (2008): “Student teachers know that if they lose control of a class from a managerial standpoint, desired learning will not occur” (p. 503).

 

Method 

To enable the teachers to verbalise the explicit as well as the implicit criteria they use when grading, the Repertory Grid (RG) interview technique was employed. The RG technique can be used to reveal a person’s perception of a specific topic that the person has experienced and is familiar with by examining the similarities and differences between well-known elements (Fransella, Bell & Bannister, 2004). For instance, even if the teachers find it difficult to express what they find important to get a high grade they can still tell the difference between a student with a high grade and another student, if it is their own students that they know well. George Kelly (1955), who first developed the technique, believed that our behavior can be understood through personally constructed patterns that we use to explain how the world works. These patterns are called constructs, and they enable us to predict our surroundings and choose a direction of our behavior. The method helps us to reveal not only the presence of standard irrelevant constructs but also their content. Three PE teachers, one woman and two men, were interviewed in 2009 and in 2013, before and after the implementation of the new curriculum. Each of them was grading a class of students, 15 to 16 years of age, in different compulsory schools. All grades were represented in the class they were teaching and they had all received a teacher education in PE. In total, 45 students were discussed during the six interviews. The RG interviews lasted for about 90 minutes. In the first step, the teacher was asked to select seven to eight students from the same class that he or she was teaching and grading in PE. The selected students must represent all possible grades (Fransella et al., 2004). In the second step, the names of three of the students at a time were presented to the teacher who was asked in what way, relevant for the grades, two of the students were similar and different from the third (Fransella et al., 2004). By letting the teachers generate their own constructs around a topic they are familiar with, the risk to direct the interview with questions based on another precondition than their own is minimized. The RG interviews generated 125 constructs about aspects that teachers thought were relevant for grades in PE.

 

Results

The use of national grading standards in Sweden illustrates how professional judgment is not reliant on the stated standards only. The results indicate that more specific criteria guide the teachers to pay less attention to what Hay and Penney (2009) label “irrelevant factors such as students’ dispositional and behavioral characteristics” (p. 398). Standards seem to be important but not enough. All three teachers still valued standard irrelevant criteria that reflect the norms and values in the curriculum and the goals for the subject. The standard irrelevant criteria used by the teachers also put focus on their concern of the impact of the regulative discourse on the students learning.

Since the regulative discourse is always present in the pedagogic discourse (Bernstein, 1996) and values and norms are important goals of the curriculum and of the PE subject, it can cause confusion in teachers’ interpretation of the alignment of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment in a grading system in which the regulative discourse is not to be graded. Future research is needed about how to achieve valid grades while simultaneously acknowledge the need to give value to the regulative discourse. Grades are often regarded as a reward for achieving knowledge requirements in the curriculum, but what are the rewards for achieving norms and values?

References

Annerstedt, C. & Larsson, S. (2010). ‘I have my own picture of what the demands are ... ’: Grading in Swedish PEH - problems of validity, comparability and fairness. European Physical Education Review, 16(2), 97-115.

Bernstein, B. (1996). Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique. London, England:Taylor & Francis Ltd.,

Bernstein, B. (2003). Class, codes and control. (Vol. 3) Towards a theory of educational transmission. London, England: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Chan, K., Hay, P. & Tinning, R. (2011). Understanding the pedagogic discourse of assessment in Physical Education. Asia-Pacific Journal Of Health, Sport & Physical Education, 2(1), 3-18.

Fransella, F., Bell, R. & Bannister, D. (2004). A manual for repertory grid technique. (2nd. ed.). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley.

Hay, P. & MacDonald, D. (2008) (Mis)appropriations of criteria and standards-referenced assessment in a performance-based subject. Assessment In Education: Principles, Policy & Practice 15(2): 153-168.

Hay, P., & Penney, D. (2009). Proposing Conditions for Assessment Efficacy in Physical Education. European Physical Education Review, 15(3), 389-405.

Hay, P. & Penney, D. (2013). Assessment in Physical Education: a sociocultural perspective. London: Routledge.

Kelly, G. (1955). The Psychology of Personal Construct. A Theory of Personality (Vol. 1). New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc.

Kuiper, W., & Berkvens, J. (Eds.). (2013). Balancing curriculum regulation and freedom across Europe. CIDREE Yearbook 2013. Enschede, the Netherlands: SLO.

Lund, J.L. & Veal, M. (2008). Chapter 4: Measuring Pupil Learning – How Do Student Teacher Assess Within Instructional Models?. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 27(4), 487-511.

Redelius, K. & Hay, P. (2009). Defining, acquiring and transacting cultural capital through assessment in physical education. European Physical Education Review, 15(3), 275-294.

Redelius, K., Fagrell, B. & Larsson, H. (2009). Symbolic capital in physical education and health: to be, to do or to know? That is the gendered question. Sport, Education & Society, 14(2), 245-260.

Svennberg, L., Meckbach, J. & Redelius, K. (2014). Exploring PE teachers’ ‘gut feeling’: An attempt to verbalise and discuss teachers’ internalised grading criteria. European Physical Education Review, 20(2), 199-214.

Swedish National Agency for Education. (2011). Curriculum for the compulsory school system, the pre-school class and the leisure-time centre 2011. Stockholm: Author.

Thorburn, M. (2007). Achieving conceptual and curriculum coherence in high-stakes school examinations in Physical Education. Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy, 12(2), 163-184.

National Category
Educational Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-20316 (URN)
Conference
ECER 2015, European Educational Research Conference, "Education and Transition. Contributions from Educational Research", Corvinus University of Budapest, 7-11 September,.
Note

The paper was presented within the network Network "Research in Sport Pedagogy".

Available from: 2015-09-21 Created: 2015-09-21 Last updated: 2019-12-18Bibliographically approved
Svennberg, L., Meckbach, J. & Redelius, K. (2014). Exploring PE teachers' 'gut feelings': An attempt to verbalise and discuss teachers' internalised grading criteria. European Physical Education Review, 20(2), 199-214
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Exploring PE teachers' 'gut feelings': An attempt to verbalise and discuss teachers' internalised grading criteria
2014 (English)In: European Physical Education Review, ISSN 1356-336X, E-ISSN 1741-2749, Vol. 20, no 2, p. 199-214Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Research shows that teachers’ grading is influenced by non-achievement factors in addition to official criteria, such as knowledge and skills. Some grading criteria are internalised by the teacher, who is sometimes unable to verbalise the criteria used and refers to what is called a ‘gut feeling’. Therefore, transparency, validity and reliability are problematic. The aim of this study was to explore which criteria physical education teachers consider important when grading. Such an exploration makes it possible to discuss how the verbalised criteria and the value they are given by the teachers can be understood. Four Year 9 teachers at different Swedish compulsory schools were interviewed using Kelly’s Repertory Grid technique. Among the verbalised criteria, four themes were identified: motivation, knowledge and skills, self-confidence and interaction with others. The teachers sometimes had difficulties predicting which criteria had relevance to the grades given, and the criteria considered important by the teachers were not always reflected in the grade. The verbalised criteria revealed teachers using grades to encourage such student behaviours that helped them to handle the classroom situation and to facilitate students learning. To become cognisant of and develop their grading, methods to verbalise their individual grading criteria were needed, and Kelly’s Repertory Grid technique is one possible option. The results provide discussion points about reasons for the way teachers are grading.

Keywords
Assessment, grading practice, physical education, repertory grid
National Category
Pedagogy
Research subject
Social Sciences/Humanities
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-17660 (URN)10.1177/1356336X13517437 (DOI)000333766700004 ()2-s2.0-84898908436 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2014-10-09 Created: 2014-10-09 Last updated: 2022-09-16Bibliographically approved
Svennberg, L., Redelius, K. & Meckbach, J. (2014). Repertory Grid: makes people talk. In: ECER 2014: . Paper presented at ECER 2014, The Past, Present and Future of Educational Research in Europe, Porto, Portugal, 1-5 September 2014.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Repertory Grid: makes people talk
2014 (English)In: ECER 2014, 2014Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Teachers sometimes have difficulties expressing what they value when grading students in Physical Education and refer to a “gut-feeling” or internalised criteria (Annerstedt and Larsson, 2010; Hay and MacDonald, 2008). The internalised criteria consists of the teacher’s own values that have an impact on the grades regardless if they are consistent with the official grading criteria or not (cp. Penney et al., 2009). In this line research also suggests that teachers use a “hodge-podge grade of attitude, effort and achievement” (Brookhart, 1991: 36). Assessment and grading in Physical Education (PE) are no exceptions (Chan, Hay and Tinning, 2011; Redelius, Fagrell and Larsson, 2009; Svennberg, Meckbach and Redelius; 2014). In a criterion-referenced grading system the criteria need to be transparent to ensure validity and fairness. Otherwise the students do not know the reason for their grades and the grades are not possible to be discussed and evaluated. When the stated criteria are inconsistent with how the grading is done, it affects the learning-teaching process since the assessment is sending out a different message regarding what is important to learn (Chan, Hay and Tinning, 2011; Hay and Penney, 2012; James, Griffin and France, 2005; Redelius and Hay, 2009). In Sweden a criterion-referenced grading system was introduced in 1994, and grades are supposed to be awarded on the basis of how well the student meets the knowledge criteria or learning outcomes stated in the national curriculum. Conversely several studies carried out on Swedish PE indicate that how the student behaves is just as important as knowledge and skills (Annerstedt and Larsson, 2010; Redelius, Fagrell and Larsson, 2009).

The aim of this study is to explore what four Swedish PE teachers consider important when talking about grading and to analyse the relevance the expressed criteria have to the grades they have given their students. Such an exploration makes it possible to discuss how the verbalised criteria and the value they are given by the teacher can be understood in relation to the official grading criteria

Bernstein (2003: 85) points out the importance of the curriculum: ‘Curriculum defines what counts as valid knowledge, pedagogy defines what counts as valid transmission of knowledge, and evaluation defines what counts as a valid realisation of the knowledge on the part of the taught’. Linde (2012) discusses Bernstein’s thesis that curriculum defines what counts as valid knowledge and raises the question as to whether it is the written official curriculum that counts, or the mediated curriculum that results from the teachers’ transformations. He then points to the fact that the content and subject matters taught by teachers or learnt by students are not always the content expressed in the written official curriculum. The impact of the teachers’ transformation of the curriculum can also be applied on grading. How is it possible to understand the teachers’ transformation of the official grading criteria?

According to the Personal Construct Theory (PCT) by George Kelly (1955) our behaviour can be understood in the light of personally constructed patterns. These patterns of constructs help us to explain our experiences, to predict our surroundings and to choose a direction of our behaviour. The constructs are sometimes articulated, but they can also be unarticulated and experienced as a vague feeling. Constructs are sometimes described as the intuition, gut feeling or perception that guides our actions without necessarily being verbalised (Björklund, 2008).

Method

For this study we used the Repertory Grid (RG) technique, which is based on PCT. It can enable people to verbalise what they intuitively feel (Björklund, 2008). The technique used in interviews is employed to map and find patterns in the individual constructs, the ones a person is both aware and unaware of, in a given area (Fransella, Bell and Bannister D, 2004). Four Swedish PE teachers who were about to grade a group of 15 year old students were interviewed using the RG technique. The interview with each teacher was performed in different steps (Fransella, Bell and Bannister D, 2004). In the first step the teachers were asked to select eight of their own students that represented the different grades (step one: generating elements). Thereafter they were asked to compare three students at the time and describe in what way two of them were similar and how they differed from the third concerning things that mattered for the grades. The similarities and differences made up the two poles of the constructs, for instance doesn’t care - takes responsibility (step two: generating constructs). To understand the meaning of the first pole, it is important to know the opposite pole (Fransella, Bell and Bannister, 2004). In the third step, the teachers were asked to rate the eight students on a five-point scale for every construct they had generated in the grid. On the scale, one represents the first pole in the construct, for instance doesn’t care, and five the opposite pole, takes responsibility. When all eight of the students were rated between one and five on every construct, the results composed a grid (step three: rating elements). In addition to the Repertory Grid interviews the teachers were asked to rate how important they considered their constructs to be on a five-grade scale, with five being the most important.  To explore what the teachers valued in their grading, their constructs were summarised and categorised. Thereafter the data in the four grids were analysed with the software WEBGRID5. The resulting PrinGrid maps were analysed to investigate how well the constructs matched the grades given. 

Expected Outcomes

Data from the four teachers, concerning together 32 students, resulted in 86 constructs. The constructs were categorised in four themes: Motivation, Knowledge and skills, Confidence and Interaction with others. Only Knowledge and skills is acknowledged to have influence on the grades in the official grading criteria.  The need to pay attention to the teachers’ beliefs and values and their influence on professional practice has been stressed by Penney et al. (2009). The teachers’ beliefs and values are also reflected in what criteria that are relevant for the grades given. Some common patterns can be detected in the official criteria that have low relevance or are missing in the constructs. The teachers sometimes had difficulties predicting which criteria had relevance to the grades given, and the criteria considered important by the teachers were not always reflected in the grades. Repertory Grid can be one conceivable option to make teachers’ grading visible and possible to understand. Drawing on the results of the study we want to discuss how to understand the inconsistency between teachers’ constructs and the official grading criteria. In particular we are interested in why the teachers tend to use internalised criteria and to discuss why they use curriculum-irrelevant criteria, why official criteria are missing and how to understand teachers’ inability to predict some constructs’ relevance to the grades. 

References

Annerstedt C and Larsson S (2010) ‘I have my own picture of what the demands are ... ’: Grading in Swedish PEH - problems of validity, comparability and fairness. European Physical Education Review 16(2): 97-115. Bernstein B (2003) Class, codes and control. Vol. 3, Towards a theory of educational transmission. London: Routledge. Björklund L-E (2008) The repertory grid technique, Making Tacit Knowledge Explicit: Assessing Creative work and Problem solving skills. In: Middleton H (ed) Researching Technology Education: Methods and techniques. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, pp. 46-69. Brookhart SM (1991) Grading practices and validity. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice 10(1): 35-36.  Chan K, Hay P and Tinning R (2011) Understanding the pedagogic discourse of assessment in Physical Education. Asia-Pacific Journal Of Health, Sport & Physical Education 2(1): 3-18.  Fransella F, Bell R and Bannister D (2004) A manual for repertory grid technique. 2. ed. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley. Hay P and MacDonald D (2008) (Mis)appropriations of criteria and standards-referenced assessment in a performance-based subject. Assessment In Education: Principles, Policy & Practice 15(2): 153-168. Hay P and Penney D (2012) Assessment in Physical Education: a sociocultural perspective,, London: Routledge James A, Griffin L and France T (2005) Perceptions of Assessment in Elementary Physical Education: A Case Study. Physical Educator 62(2): 85-95. Kelly GA (1955) The psychology of personal constructs vol. 1. A theory of personality. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc. Linde G (2012) Det ska ni veta!: En introduktion till läroplans teori (This you should know!:An introduction to the theory of curriculum). 3rd ed. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Penney D, Brooker R, Hay P and Gillespie L (2009) Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment: three message systems of schooling and dimensions of quality physical education, Sport, Education and Society, 14(4): 421-442. Redelius K and Hay P (2009) Defining, acquiring and transacting cultural capital through assessment in physical education. European Physical Education Review 15(3 ): 275-294. Redelius K, Fagrell B and Larsson H (2009) Symbolic capital in physical education and health: to be, to do or to know? That is the gendered question. Sport, Education & Society 14(2): 245-260.  Svennberg L, Meckbach J, and Redelius K (2014) Exploring PE teachers’ ‘gut feelings’: An attempt to verbalise and discuss teachers’ internalised grading criteria European Physical Education Review, first published on January 20, 2014 as doi:10.1177/1356336X13517437 

This proposal is part of a master or doctoral thesis.

National Category
Educational Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-18196 (URN)
Conference
ECER 2014, The Past, Present and Future of Educational Research in Europe, Porto, Portugal, 1-5 September 2014
Available from: 2014-11-26 Created: 2014-11-26 Last updated: 2022-09-16Bibliographically approved
Organisations
Identifiers
ORCID iD: ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0003-4225-2014

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