Attitudes of high school students towards physical education and sports classes

This research aims to determine the attitudes of students studying in different secondary schools towards physical education and sports courses and to compare the differences between the attitudes of the students towards physical education and sports courses according to their personal characteristics and other variables. The study group consists of high school students studying at the secondary level in the Serik district of Antalya province in 2023-2024. The aim of the research is to examine the factors affecting the attitudes of students studying in different high schools towards physical education and sports courses, which affect their academic and social skills. The research group consists of students studying in different secondary schools in the 2023-2024 academic year. Students were randomly selected from 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades. A two-part survey form was used as the data collection tool in the study. The first part of the survey form consists of questions about the students' personal information and characteristics; the second part consists of the attitude scale towards physical education and sports courses. Statistical analysis of the data was conducted using the SPSS 22.0 package program. The Shapiro-Wilk Test and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test were used to analyze whether the variables in the questionnaire form and the attitude scale showed normal distribution. The Mann-Whitney U Test was used for pairwise comparisons in data analysis, and the Kruskal-Wallis Analysis of Variance was used for multiple comparisons. The significance level was set at 0.05. The personal information form prepared by the researcher and the "Attitude Scale Towards Physical Education Course" developed by Güllü and Güçlü were used to collect data. According to the findings of the study, there is no significant difference between girls and boys based on gender. When the attitudes of students towards physical education classes are examined according to grades, it is seen that there is a statistically significant (p=0.02)*. It is understood that the attitudes of students in high schools that accept students by exam are significantly more positive and higher towards physical education class than those in high schools that accept students without exams. When we examine whether there is a significant difference in the attitudes of the students towards physical education class according to the educational background of their mothers, a significant difference was found. When examining whether there was a significant difference in students' attitudes toward physical education based on their fathers' educational background, no difference was found. When examining whether there was a significant difference in students' attitudes toward physical education based on their families' average monthly income, no difference was found. When examining whether there was a difference between their responses regarding the frequency of exercise and sports in their free time, the difference was found to be significant. When examining whether there was a difference between the students' statements regarding their involvement in sports at a sports club, the difference was found to be significant.