Book Description
Despite the well-known holistic benefits of regular participation in physical activity (Blair et al., 2001; Mears, 2007), secondary school students worldwide do not meet the recommended guidelines (Hallal et al., 2013), and female students report significantly lower rates of physical activity than male students (Oh et al., 2019; Wilkinson & Bretzing, 2011). Moreover, research indicates that girls’ physical activity rates decline in adolescence (Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2003), and their levels of enjoyment and confidence in secondary school physical education influence their physical activity later in life (Davison et al., 2010; Woodson-Smith et al., 2015). There is a lack of research conducted on female students’ physical activity in secondary schools in East Asian contexts, and in South Korea in particular. Thus, this qualitative study utilized theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) to explore the beliefs of South Korea physical education teachers and their female secondary school students regarding girls’ physical activity. Data was collected from teacher and student demographic questionnaires, semi-structured teacher and student interviews, and non-participant classroom observations, which were analyzed through thematic analysis (Given, 2008). Findings were presented in relation to the central research questions which examined teachers’ and students’ beliefs about girls’ physical activity, the function of gender, barriers to girls’ physical activity, and ways to motivate them to engage in more physical activity in physical education. Implications of these findings are described to address how girls often move away from physical activity for complex reasons related to teachers’ behaviors, the physical education curriculum, and class environment.
