Ungdom, kropp og kroppsøving: Videregående elevers syn på egen kropp og erfaringer med ordinær og tilrettelagt kroppsøving

Theme: Youth and physical education Background: Most high-school students thrive in physical education (PE) classes, but there are still students who do not participate in PE, and the reason for non-participation is uncertain. Stricter absence limits have not led to significant changes when it comes to reducing dropouts in PE and students who do not get a grade in the subject. What is worrying is that students who do not get a grade do not get a diploma, and they are prevented from applying for admission to higher education. Some high schools have on their own initiative offered regulated PE for pupils who are struggling to participate in ordinary PE in order for them to get a grade in the subject. The purpose of the dissertation has been to explore high school students' experiences and thoughts about ordinary and regulated PE. Part of the purpose has also been to gain knowledge about the PE teachers' experiences with and views on teaching the subject. Methodology and method: The study is methodologically based on an interpretive tradition, where philosophical hermeneutics, as Gadamer presents it, is central, together with Ricoeur's interpretive theory. The dissertation has a qualitative research design and consists of 3 sub-studies. In study 1, 316 upper secondary students answered a written school assignment, 152 boys and 164 girls with an average age of 17 years. The responses consisted of thorough descriptions and some not quite as thorough, but which nevertheless expressed essential aspects of the PE classes. Study 2 is about students' experience with ordinary and adapted PE, as it was expressed in individual interviews with 4 students, 3 boys and 1 girl, average age 18 years. Here, rich stories emerged about the students' experiences and the meanings the students themselves attach to their experiences. In study 3, PE teachers participated in two focus group interviews, age ranges from 30 to 60 years, average age of 49 years and with an average of 19.5 years of work experience as a teacher. Experiences about common themes, different stories and views were shared, nuanced and discussed in the groups. Different analysis methods were used in the three sub-studies, respectively thematic analysis by Braun & Clark (study 1), a concretization of Ricoeur's interpretive theory (study 2) and systematic text condensation by Malterud (study 3). All approaches to analysis draw on a hermeneutic interaction between part and whole, understanding and new understanding and between text and context - in a hermeneutic spiral. Emphasis has been placed on reflecting on the researcher's role and positioning throughout the research process. Result: The empirical findings are presented and discussed in three separate articles. The first article looks at students' experiences of PE against the intentions of the curriculum. How learning is promoted or inhibited on the basis of teaching methods and in some cases conflicting perspectives that affect the content of the PE subject and teaching are highlighted. The second article highlights experiences that underlie dropouts from ordinary PE, which, as the students have experienced, have contributed to lack of self-confidence and mastery, difficulty performing and pronounced vulnerability to the gaze of others. Experiences typical of regulated PE were to feel included and experience support from the teacher, but at the same time feel outside the larger community in the class. In the group interviews with PE teachers, challenges and tensions emerged related to teaching, the content of the lessons and the assessment basis for grading. How debates in the professional environment and society otherwise affect these questions and PE practice are included. Conclusion: In this dissertation, the first-person perspective is explored, students and teachers, and which has produced insights that contribute to the discussion of what is needed about the goal of stimulating children and young people to exercise and to physical activity, also in a life course perspective, to be achieved. Both the students’ and teachers’ experiences and thoughts have brought forth knowledge that indicates that there is a need to re-think PE. That is, about what should be the content of the subject and how it should be taught in the subject, and what promotes a good learning outcome and facilitates an inclusive learning environment. Whether PE should be a separate learning subject, with learning and with the body as a core, or whether the subject should promote health and physical activity, or both, is an important debate raised by teachers and education authorities. The debate also touches on what the PE subject's contribution should be in the social mission “general education” in school, where the formation of youngsters to good citizens who can participate actively in society is the goal.

Resultatene fra denne studien er et viktig bidrag til Bergen kommunes folkehelsearbeid. Studien vil brukes både i dialog med videregående skoler, og i det systematiske folkehelsearbeidet til Bergen kommune, blant annet som informasjonsgrunnlag til kommunens nye folkehelseplan som er under arbeid. Videre planlegges det en digital kunnskapslunsj hvor ansatte i Bergen kommune, og de andre kommunene som inngår i Kunnskapskommunen Helse Omsorg Vest, vil inviteres til å lære mer om funnene i dette prosjektet. Resultatene vil også presenteres på neste års Kunnskapskommunekonferanse som samler kommuneansatte i flere kommuner på Vestlandet sammen med de største FoU-miljøene.

Dette prosjektet fokuserer på ungdom i videregående skole og deres forhold til kropp og kroppsøving. Søkelyset rettes mot ungdommer som deltar i ordinær kroppsøving og ungdom som har situasjonsangst og/eller emosjonelle og sosiale vansker og som får tilrettelagt kroppsøving. Det er lite kunnskap med utgangspunkt i førsteperson-perspektivet i dette feltet, og det er nettopp ungdommenes eget perspektiv som vil bli utforsket i dette prosjektet. I to delstudier med et kvalitativt forskningsdesign, henholdsvis ved bruk av en skriftlig skoleoppgave og dybdeintervjuer, ønsker vi ungdommenes egne fortellinger om kroppsøving, om forholdet til egen kropp og fysisk aktivitet mer generelt. Teoretisk trekker studien på en fenomenologisk forståelse av kropp og helse, samt et samfunnsvitenskapeliog perspektiv knyttet til kropp og selvforståelse, kropp og identitet. Studiens resultater vil være relevante i det forebyggende og helsefremmende arbeidet. Skolen og skolehelsetjenesten er viktige i dette arbeidet, og skolens ansvar på området har i senere år fått et sterkere søkelys på fysisk fostring for å forebygge livsstilsplager. Kroppsøvingsfaget er i videregående skole det eneste faget hvor fysisk aktivitet og kropp står sentralt. I et forebyggende perspektiv er det betydningsfullt at skole og skolehelsetjenesten har kompetanse til å fange opp ungdommer som står i fare for å falle ut av deltakelse i kroppsøving og hjelpe dem til å delta og fullføre faget. Denne studien vil kunne bidra med nyttig kunnskap for fysioterapeuter i deres rolle som veiledere for lærere så vel som elever, for helsesøstre som møter elever som strever med helseplager og for kroppsøvingslærere som er tett på ungdommene i kroppsøvingstimene.