Teachers motivational climate and target strategies intervention effect on secondary school physical education classes

Previous studies have shown that the motivational climate articulated by the in the Physical Education (PE) teacher present a favorable impact on the levels of student participation physical activities. This study aimed to assess the effects, of Epstein’s TARGET strategies on PE classes given by teachers who had previously taught in motivational climates. 323 Students participated aged between 12 and 17. A pretest-posttest comparison group and repeated measures design was used. In the control group there were reduced levels of satisfaction of basic psychological needs, lower indexes of self-determined motivation, fair play, intention to do sport, and time spent on physical activities. For its part, TARGET strategies intervention showed a positive impact on the perception of autonomy, competence, social relations, as well as on the levels of self-determined motivation and participation on sports activities. These results are encouraging, because they provide a means to modify teacher attitudes still rooted in the historical tradition of aiming for high performance in their Physical Education classes.