Barriers to the provision of physical education in Victorian state secondary schools: informing a peer-led physical activity and school connectedness intervention (The GLAMA & BLAST programs)

This PhD thesis set out to explore Victorian state secondary school teachers’ awareness and knowledge of mandated physical education, sport and physical activity policies. Evidence suggests physical education teachers’ and schools could not meet mandated requirements. In addition, the largely institutional barriers that impacted on teachers’ provision of and student participation in physical education provided insight into where within the school environment a physical activity intervention could be placed; including opportunities outside physical education classes.

Therefore, this stealth intervention was delivered outside physical education classes. The Year 7 transition program, which already involved some peer- assisted learning, was modified to include physical activity opportunities for students. The GLAMA (Girls! Lead! Achieve! Mentor! Activate!) and BLAST (Boys! Lead! Activate! Succeed Together!) programs were designed to provide opportunities to develop the primary outcomes of school connectedness (Yr7) and leadership self-efficacy (Yr10). The 8-week intervention did not result in any significant group-by-time intervention effects, however Year 7 student’s school connectedness in both the control and intervention schools significantly declined (p<0.001). The significant increases in self-reported physical activity self-efficacy over time for Year 10 students (p<0.001) and a trend toward significance for Year 7 students (p=0.054) warrants further investigation as it refutes previous research that suggests physical activity self-efficacy declines during adolescence.

Future research should investigate transition programs over a longer duration, with greater capacity for interaction between peer leaders and tutees to further promote physical activity self-efficacy opportunities as well as school connectedness and leadership self-efficacy. Furthermore, the barriers to providing physical education and the inability of schools to meet mandates needs to be addressed particularly as Australia heads towards a national curriculum. Physical activity opportunities need to be considered not only in physical education classes but throughout the school day to encourage adolescents to be physically active.