Introduction
Finding professional and innovative approaches to cope with increasingly complex aspects of heterogeneity in physical education (PE) is one of the central future challenges of sports pedagogy. Mostly – and certainly not without reasonable justification – the focus is on those who perform less well in PE. The project „LeSeif“ at Augsburg University focuses on ways to increase teacher professionality concerning the support of student athletes.
Student athletes are often confronted with motivational conflicts concerning the challenge of balancing conflicting academic, athletic and leisure goals. Common examples for strategies to cope with these conflicts are multitasking or sticking to a linear and time-saving order. Empirical findings on motivational conflicts confirm their negative influence on performance in at least one of the conflicting areas as well as on Well-Being and achievement motivation (Hofer, 2017).
"LeSeif" examines specific parameters which determine the occurrence and frequency of inner motivational conflicts. Further research questions are: Which influences on the execution of actions do these conflicts have? Which strategies on how to deal with these conflicts do exist and which ones are most effective?
Methods
The survey focuses on two different sport-related school types in the German school system, offering the possibility to take into account their respective concepts of individual support for student athletes. A validated questionnaire based on Hofer’s (2017) theory of motivational action conflicts is used as well as scales on Well-Being and performance. Several items have been modified for the sports context. Data acquisition starts in January, 2018.
Results and Conclusion
The data is analyzed with regard to the most effective concept of dealing with motivational conflicts for student athletes and the relationship to Well-Being, achievement motivation and performance. In July 2018, first results of the survey will be presented at the AIESEP conference and first conclusions can be discussed.
