PERCEIVED MOTIVATIONAL CLIMATE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION IN SCHOOL PHYSICAL-EDUCATION CLASSES

Research has shown that dispositional achievement goal orientations have important effects on motivation, affect and behaviour in sport and physical activity. However, rather less is known about the relationship between perceived ethos, or climate, of physical education (P.E.) classes and subsequent motivation. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate the psychometric properties of an inventory assessing P.E. class climate and the relationship of subscales of the inventory with intrinsic motivation. Second order factor analysis revealed class climate dimensions of 'mastery' and 'performance', confirming prior research. The mastery dimension scores were found to significantly enhance the prediction of intrinsic motivation beyond that accounted for by perceived competence, whereas this was not the case for performance climate scores. MANOVA showed that children perceiving their P.E. class to be high in both mastery and performance climate reported greater intrinsic motivation and perceived competence.