Master grunnskolelærerutdanning for trinn 5-10, 5-årig masterprogram IDR507 - Universitetet i Agder 2018Background and purpose: The purpose of physical education is a highly discussed theme today, mostly because of the unclear core of the subject. This study aims to investigate the emergence of the health-discourse, the sports-discourse and the «bildung» -discourse, as well as to examine which of these discourses that are the most prominent within Norwegian physical education. The study also aims to investigate the emergence of gender differences in the discourses in the subject, if there is a difference in experienced discourses based on schooling as well as investigating if students' wellbeing makes a difference in the understanding of discourses in physical education.
Method: The design of this study was a cross-sectional method. The collection of data for the survey was conducted in 2016 as a part of a larger project, REPAC. The responders in the study were physical education students (N =2680) in the 8th grade at secondary school and 3rd grade at high school. The participants were from schools in Agder, Oslo/Akershus and Østfold. An instrument aimed to measure the emergence of the three discourses health, sport and «bildung»-discourse, was developed for this study.
Results: The study showed that the health-discourse was the most prominent discourse within Norwegian physical education. The results showed a significant difference between gender and experienced health- and «bildung»-discourse in the subject, but no gender-difference between experienced sports-discourse of the subject, where the girls reported higher levels than the boys. There was no significant difference between experienced discourses based on schooling. The results also showed a significant difference between experienced purpose of the subject and student's well-being in physical education. In other words, the students that like the subject reported higher levels on all of the discourses, and the students that do not like the subject reported lower levels on all of the discourses.
Key words: Physical education, the purpose of physical education, aim of the subject, health-discourse, sports-discourse, «bildung»-discours
