Perception of motivational climate in physical education classes

Motivational climate is an important variable in the educational setting since it determines a situational goal structure. The aim was to study how pupils' gender and age influence their perception of PE classes' climate. 171 pupils (39% boys, 61% girls) from two age groups (7(th) grade of primary and 2(nd) grade of secondary schools) took part in the study. Learning and performance orientations in physical education classes questionnaire (LAPOPECQ; Papaioannou, 1994) was used to study the motivational climate. Results of present study show that gender and age separately influence how adolescents perceive the motivational climate in PE classes. Teachers' directions and leadership behavior toward the effective learning process therefore may not be universal but as much as possible adapted to the developmental characteristics of pupils.