“PE is basically about being active” – Students’ perspectives on media education in physical education

Abstract

Digital media is playing an increasingly important role in the sport culture of children and adolescents. In line with educational policy guidelines, physical education (PE) teachers are expected to address media-educational tasks as part of their teaching. To gain deeper insight into how this is implemented in everyday school practice, this study explores students’ perspectives on the integration of such tasks in PE. Based on qualitative interviews with upper secondary school students in Germany, the findings show that digital media in PE is primarily used to support students’ initial understanding of movements, to enable the analysis of their own performance, and to organise lessons. The critical-reflective dimension of learning about media, however, is rarely addressed. Consistent with previous studies involving teachers, the results also reveal a certain scepticism among students regarding the use of digital technologies in PE. This scepticism appears to stem from the perception that the use of technology and related reflection processes conflict with PE’s primary focus on physical activity. As a result, students tend to view digital media as a potential threat to movement time. Additionally, they express concerns about data privacy and bodily exposure. These findings provide valuable reference points for the targeted further development of media-educational tasks in physical education.