General description on research questions, objectives and theoretical framework

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), states in the declaration of Berlin (2013) that physical education (PE) “is the most effective means of providing all children and youth with the skills, attitudes, values, knowledge and understanding for lifelong participation in society” (UNESCO, 2013, p. 3). There are undoubtedly several important outcomes in PE and according to the Swedish Education Act, all students (regardless of their gender, nationality or socioeconomic background) should have: a) equally good possibilities to education in PE; and b) students with poorer prerequisites should obtain additional resources in PE, as a compensatory function (Gustafsson, Sörlin & Vlachos, 2016).

Students’ perceptions of PE is an important outcome, mainly due to its positive relation to students’ participation in sports/physical activity (PA) during leisure time and, maybe more importantly, to a lifelong interest in PA and health (Chung & Phillips, 2002; Kjønniksen, Fjørtoft & Wold, 2009; Portman, 2003; Solmon & Lee, 1996; Wallhead & Buckworth, 2004). Furthermore, gender equality has been described as one of the single-handedmost important challenges in PE, both internationally and in Sweden (Larsson & Redelius, 2008). Research has shown that gender inequality in PE has been a long-standing problem that have significant negative effects in several domains (Chzhen, Gromada, Rees, Cuesta & Bruckauf, 2018; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2015a, 2015b; OECD, 2017).

Although several international and Swedish studies have examined gender equality in PE, most studies have focused on only one aspect of equality, that is, equal opportunities, which briefly means whether equal opportunities are provided for students to gain positive perceptions of PE. However, little is known about gender equality in PE from other aspects of equality. One of these aspects is the compensatory function in PE. An important question regarding the compensatory function that needs to be analyzed is whether gender gaps in students’ perception of PE are decreasing or increasing. Drawing on the concept of gender equality, large gender gaps in students’ perceptions of PE can indicate inequalities. Additionally, research has shown that boys may be `favored´ by how the subject manifests itself in the everyday practice in Sweden. In other words, large gender gaps in students’ perceptions of PE indicate that “certain HPE practices reward students based on gender […] and contribute to inequality and discrimination” (Gerdin et al., 2019, p. 274).

In several Swedish studies, research has shown that boys, in general, report more positive perceptions of PE (Swedish Schools Inspectorate, 2018; Quennerstedt, Öhman & Eriksson, 2008, see also Swedish National Agency for Education, 2010). Although that the `favored boys´ hypothesis (also referred to as `PE on boys conditions´ hypothesis) is frequently cited and used in Swedish PE-research, few studies are methodology and empirically conducted in a way that allows the hypothesis to be tested. In Sweden, most studies in PE-research are conducted in line with null hypothesis significance testing. However, the effects sizes (ES) are only in rare cases reported. Consequently, little is known about the magnitude of gender differences’ in students’ perceptions of PE. Hence, an important aspect of gender equality in PE is lacking. That is, if PE is fulfilling its compensatory function in that the subject close gender gaps in students’ perceptions of PE. Increased knowledge about the magnitude of gender differences in PE is important to strengthen gender equality, so that all students, regardless of gender, can get positive perceptions from their PE lessons. Against this background, the aim is to analyze the magnitude of gender differences in students’ perceptions of PE in Sweden from equality perspective.

Methods/methodology

The data consists of students (N= 32 610) perceptions of PE. The data was collected from the largest studies/projects in Sweden between 2005 and 2018: Evaluation through follow-up (UGU) (N= 19 670); School-Sport-Health (SIH) (N= 3 537); Swedish Schools Inspectorate (SSI) (N= 6 996) and Swedish National Agency for Education (SNAE) (N= 2 407). The data consists of students’ self-reported answers on a large variety single-items questions about their perceptions of PE with likert-scales response alternatives. The participants were a national sample of students and the schools/classes were randomly selected. In addition to gender, the background data include national background, participation in PA outside school and their parents’ educational level.

The statistical analyses were conducted through T-test and Mann–Whitney U-test in which gender was the independent variable and the single-items questions (of students’ perceptions of PE) were the dependent variables. In the analyses, several important factors and possible confounders were controlled for. To control for confounding factors, the analyses (T-test and Mann–Whitney U-test) were conducted separately for students’ national background (dichotomously coded), high/low participation in PA outside school (dichotomously coded) and parents educational level (six categories). Effect sizes (ES), in terms of Cohens d and eta squared (η²), were calculated for each question/item. Thereafter, and based on the ES for each question/item, a mean ES (MES) was calculated, separately for each study (UGU, SIH, SSI and SNAE) and separate for students’ national background, high/low participation in PA outside school and parents' educational level. 

Expected outcomes/results 

Based on the primary findings, boys report more positive perceptions towards PE in general. However, in terms of Cohens d, eta squared (η²) and the well-known guidelines from Cohen (1988), the general MESdifferences for each study are small and varies – for Cohens dbetween .48 – .085. Furthermore, gender differences in PE seems to be closely related to parents’ educational level. The MESfor gender differences seems to be substantially larger within the group with low-educated parents and slightly larger within the group of students with a foreign background. Furthermore, the MESof the gender differences, does not, seem to be larger/smaller within the group of students reporting that they regularly conduct PA during leisure time. Finally, the MESfor the gender differences seems to have decreased between the years of 2005 and 2018. However, this only applies within the group with high-educated parents. In general, the results show that: (i) PE in Sweden is challenged with the important but complex task to provide a PE that promote positive perceptions for all students’ and counteract gender inequality; (ii) when controlling for theoretically important confounders, such as socioeconomic background, the gender differences are extremely small. This raises new questions about the possibilities to understand and analyze gender differences in students’ perceptions of PE, without considering students socioeconomic background, national background and participation in PA outside school?

References

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