Quality in physical education: an overview from the perspective of physical education teacher associations

In the frame of the general discussion about quality in physical education, it is a first step to determine the factors or criteria that are subject to have an influence on the quality of physical education. Several authors give various structures for equivalent factors, as e. g. Altrichter and Buhren (1997), Egger (2002) or Serwe (2008). Generally, a similar structure can be identified by differentiating between structure, process and product factors having an impact on quality physical education. Besides this, these factors can work on different levels of the school system, namely the system level, the school level and the classroom level, whilst specific factors can impact on more than one level at a time. The view on these determining factors then can come from different perspectives: a practical perspective, a political perspective and a scientific perspective. In this article, the focus lies on the perspective of several physical education teacher associations in – mainly – Europe on quality physical education. Several guidelines, positions statements and recommendations of these associations have been examined in order to identify their position in relation with different factors impacting quality physical education. This was done simultaneously by differentiating between structural, process and product factors on one side and between factors on the system level, school level and classroom level on the other side.