Zoltán Szatmári 1 – Andrea Németh 2 – Tímea Hocza 3
1College of Szeged Institute for Physical Education and Sport Science, Eger, Hungary [Bio]
2University of Szeged Institute for Physical Education and Sport Science, Szeged, Hungary [Bio]
3Timea Ui Shuibhne, Cork, Co. Cork, Ireland [Bio]
Email: szatmari.zoltan@ektf.hu
Abstract
Our coauthor is the manager of a leisure department of one of Ireland`s hotel chains, by profession she is swimming instructor and fitness trainer. During her more than four-year practical experience she had the possibility to face the physical education system of the Irish secondary school. After a short time she surprisingly realized that the Irish children, despite the only one weekly physical education class, are not behind with the movement development and movement culture – compared to their Hungarian fellows, who have more physical education classes – moreover, they regard the sport and physical avtivity as an unbound source of joy. Both of us experienced the practice of Hungarian secondary school physical education as a student and as a teacher as well, so now our present foreign experience made us interested in the research of this field.
During our examination which was proceeded with the help of a questionnaire we tried to compare and analyse the secondary school (Irish students is n=111 und Hungarian students is n=122) physical education program of the two countries.
Antecedents
The cultural roots of the two countries, including the physical education and sport traditions, show serious formal and content differences. This is well traceable in the concept of physical education ordered by the state of the two nations. The Irish education program has limitations as well but provides more freedom for both the teachers and the students, furthermore the Irish state supports more the students` out of school sport possibilities so they can choose from more options than their Hungarian fellows. It is also remarkable that the compilers of the Irish program do not bind the physical education to a gym or the school yard as their Hungarian colleagues do. Considering the amount of physical education classes it can be regarded as a fact that the Hungarian physical education class is more efficient from the structural and effective point of view, though in Ireland the out of school sport system is more extensive and better supported.
The problem
We presume that the Irish curriculum program is more effective as the students are more motivated to do out of school sport despite they have only one physical education lesson unlike their Hungarian fellows who have at least two physical education lessons a week.
The root of the problem why the Hungarian students are not motivated enough to pursue physical activity in their free time is that to attend the physical education classes is compulsory for them so there is no real motivation for the movement development. Sport does not become the source of joy so when they finish school they will not really hold onto it.
According to the above I formulated the following questions:
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which country`s concept, point of view is more effective regarding the efficiency,
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why do Irish students do more sport in their free time,
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is there a significant difference between the body mass index (BMI) of the students of the two countries,
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which are the methods that the less effective country`s physical education could use by taking them over from the other country`s education,
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whether it is possible to determine the presence of the economical welfare regarding the sport facilities,
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do we have to keep the long standing traditions in the pysical education,
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is it possible to prove that the Irish physical education is more effective regarding the efficiency than the Hungarian education,
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are some of the elements of Irish physical education suitable for the introduction in Hungary as well,
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is it possible to prove that the sport motivation of the students depends on the effect of the physical education in school?
About the research
As the location of the research we chose three mixed secondary schools in Cork, the second biggest city in Ireland, and in Cork area.
We examined only one school in the city as two third of the Irish secondary schools can be found in the country. The examination took place in the following locations in February 2008:
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Kinsale Community School: in the school that is about 20 kms from the city we can find children from the nearby villages and farms.
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St Brogan’s College: the children who go to this school are mainly professional and wealthy people`s children who live in the country.
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Deerpark National Secondary School: this is the only school in the research which is located in the city.
The Hungarian locations are one school in the capital and two in the country. The main aspect was to get information about students who go to the most average secondary schools. The examination took place in the following locations in March 2008:
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II. Rákóczi Ferenc Economical Technical College (Budapest). The students of this school are typical secondary school students from the capital as this is one of the most general and complex secondary school in Budapest.
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Tevan Andor Print Industry Technical College (Bekescsaba): between the two country schools this is the one that concentrates most the students from nearby villages and towns.
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Földes Ferenc Secondary School (Miskolc): the school is a typical average Hungarian town school.
The number of students in the examined Irish schools is n=111 from which the number of girls is 47, boys 54. Regarding the age they are 13, 15 and 17. All three schools students attend normal courses and there are no specialities in their physical education.
The number of the examined Hungarian students is n=122 from which the number of girls is 71, boys 51. The characteristics of these three schools are equal to the ones mentioned about Irish secondary schools.
During the examination we used questionnaire method, where the students of the two nations answered the same questions but obviously in different languages. (See appendix)
For the record and processing of the datas we used simple mathematical-statistical methods. Along with the usual statistics the following parameters were defined: average bodyweight, average tallness, BMI (body mass index).
Results
According to the answers given to the nine questions the following statements can be highlighted.
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Personal details
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The average body mass index is shown in chart 1-2 chart.
|
Ireland |
54 boys |
47 girls |
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Average bodyweight |
64 kg |
60 kg |
|
Average height |
165 cm |
159 cm |
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Average BMI |
23.52 Normal |
23.73 Normal |
1. chart: BMI of Irish students
|
Hungary |
51 boys |
71 girls |
|
Average bodyweight |
69 kg |
65 kg |
|
Average height |
171 cm |
168 cm |
|
Average BMI |
23.63 Normal |
23.04 Normal |
2. chart: BMI of Hungarian students
According to the results we can say that there is no significant difference in the counted average BMI (body mass index) of the examined Irish and Hungarian students.
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Qualification of parents
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There is a considerable difference in the qualification of the parents. Among the Irish students the highest qualification level of the parents is higher education diploma while the parents of most of the Hungarian students have only technical college certificates.
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Importance of physical education
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The Irish students rank physical education subject as second best while Hungarian students rank it only fith best. (1. diagram) Unfortunately this definitely qualifies the content and form of Hungarian physical education.
1. diagram: Ranking of the importance of physical education
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Out of school sport
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To the question whether they do sport out of school 73% of Hungarian students answered no while 86% of their Irish fellows take part in some out of school sport activity.
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Most frequent free time activities
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The Hungarian students spend most of their free time with their PC and other activities and sport comes only after these.
In Ireland regarding sport we can see better relation. Here the most popular activities are sport and watching TV. (diagram)
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Attendance of non-compulsory sport programs at school
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I received very surprising answers to this question. Neither the Hungarian nor the Irish secondary school students like to attend non-compulsory sport programs at school.
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Membership of sport associations, sport clubs
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According to the answers we can see that only few of the Hungarian students are members of any sport association or sport club while in Ireland this is totally opposite.
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Necessity of physical education lessons
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In Hungary the necessity of physical education is regarded less important while in Ireland in the opinion of the students is important.
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Influence of the physical education on the chosen sport
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Regarding the effectiveness of the physical education lessons in the chosen sport activity we received interesting answers. We got similar answers on both the Irish and Hungarian questionnaires. When analyzing these we found that the physical education lessons were not effective for the chosen sport. Among Hungarian children the rate of children doing no sport is still quite high.
Conclusion
The connection between the expected and received results can be defined as follows:
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The detailed physical education program will not be automatically effective at the same time.
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The Irish education program provides more freedom for both the teachers and students and it seems to be even more efficient than the Hungarian system.
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The Irish state supports better the out of school sport facilities of the students so they have more possibilities to choose as they wish.
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There is no connection between the physical education lessons that provide different interest and the body mass index of the students.
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In a country where more financial sources can be used for the scool or out of school sport and the education is more liberal, physical activity means more pleasure as well. This is present only in Ireland at the moment.
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For more effective secondary school physical education is not enough to have more lessons. It works only by creating extensive, well functioning out of school sport facilities.
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Based on our research we cannot say that the motivation depends only on the school education but for sure the Irish physical education has an important role in making the students of the nation spend more time with free time sport activities.
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Summary
The aim of our research was to compare the Irish and Hungarian secondary school physical education system according to the opinion of the students. The base of the examination was the definition of the average body mass index and discovery of the motivation background of physical education with the help of the questionnaire method.
The most important result by analyzing the questionnaires is that there is no significant difference between the body mass index of the students of the two countries although there is a big difference in their relation with school physical education and free time sport habbits.
In Hungary the students attend 2-3 compulsory physical education lessons but have no proper motivation for free time sport activities. Though the Irish students have only one compulsory PE lesson in secondary school, they have the same average body mass index as the Hungarian students. One reason of this can be the fact that they move and do more sport in their free time than their Hungarian fellows.
Traditions can have a big role in the difference of free time sport quantity ratio. Ireland still holds on to its national sports (Hurling, Gaelic football) and that is why in Ireland to do these sports is more popular than for example football in Hungary.
We also cannot forget the financial background of the families and that in Hungary the financial situation of the students and families is worse than the same people`s in Ireland.
While examining the education system we found out that in Hungary the free time sport facility support by the state is not the same level as in Ireland.
During the analysis of the answers we revealed one more intersting thing: the Irish students have better positive relation with physical education, they think of it as a more important subject than their Hungarian fellows.
With this article we do not want to judge any country`s physical education. We just wanted to show that there are more possible ways to reach targets related to physical education and sport.
Bibliography
Liskó Ilona (2002): A közoktatás és a szakképzés illeszkedése. Budapest, Oktatáskutató Intézet 5. (2)
Department of Education and Science: Curricullum /Syllabus and Teaching Guides (2006)
Junior Certificate, Junior Cycle Physical Education, Revised Syllabus
Internet
Gergely Gyula (2009): A testnevelés tantárgy helyzete és fejlesztési feladatai. In. Oktatáskutató és Fejlesztő Intézet. URL: http://www.ofi.hu/tudastar/testneveles-tantargy. [zuletzt besucht am 2009-06-17.]
Hamar Pál (2009): A testnevelés tartalmi korszerűsítésének nemzetközi trendjei a közoktatásban. In. Oktatáskutató és Fejlesztő Intézet. URL: http://www.ofi.hu/tudastar/testneveles-tartalmi. [zuletzt besucht am 2009-06-17.]
Szabadné Hollanda Ottília (2009): A fizikai aktivitásra nevelés hatékonyságának vizsgálata három alternatív középiskolában. In. Oktatáskutató és Fejlesztő Intézet. URL: http://www.ofi.hu/tudastar/ fizikai-aktivitasra. [zuletzt besucht am 2009-06-17.]
John Treaci: Targeting Sporting Change in Ireland 1997-2006. An Roinn Oideachais Department of Education. URL: http://www.dast.gov.ie/pdfs/targeting%20sporting%20change%20in%20ireland%20-%20summary%20report.pdf. [zuletzt besucht am 1997-02.]
URL: http://gyism.gov.hu/fileadmin/download/shat/sporttorveny/2000_evi_sportorveny.pdf