The “Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale” in Greek Educational Context: Psychometric Properties and Gender Effects

a Gregory Masadis, Department of Physical Education & Sport Science/Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. E-mail: gregmas1971@gmail.com b,*Corresponding Author: Filippos Filippou, Department of Physical Education & Sport Science/ Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. E-mail: ffilippo@phyed.duth.gr c Olga Kouli, Department of Physical Education & Sport Science/Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. E-mail: okouli@phyed.duth.gr d Dimitrios Gargalianos, Department of Physical Education & Sport Science/Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. E-mail: dimitris_gargalianos@hotmail.com e Stella Rokka, Department of Physical Education & Sport Science/Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. E-mail: srokka@phyed.duth.gr f Evangelos Bebetsos, Department of Physical Education & Sport Science/Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. E-mail: empempet@phyed.duth.gr g Vasiliki Derri, Department of Physical Education & Sport Science/Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. E-mail: vaderri@phyed.duth.gr h Sofia Damianidou, Care Center for People with Special Skills, Greece. E-mail: s.damianidou@yahoo.com i Aikaterini Koupani, Department of Physical Education & Sport Science/Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. E-mail: kat_koup@yahoo.gr j Eleni Samara, 5th High School of Katerini, Greece. E-mail: samara_eleni@yahoo.com k Dafni Siarenou, 15th Elementary School of Rhodes, Greece. E-mail:mail@15dim-rodou.dod.sch.gr l Dafni-Anastasia Filippou, Langues Etrangères Appliquées, Université de Strasbourg, France. E-mail: dafnouko1997@gmail.com Abstract


Introduction
Physical education (PE) is an invaluable subject in primary and secondary school curricula because of its great potential for students' physical, mental, emotional, and social development (Bournelli, Koutsouki, Zografou, Aggelonidis, Chatzopoulos, & Agalianou, 2012). The main objective that has been highly prioritized in school curricula in recent years has to do with lifelong physical exercise. In other words, the acquisition of knowledge and experience of physical training so that students will sustain good health after school (Hagger & Chatzisarantis, 2007). During the school years, dealing with health issues promptly and efficiently is crucial (Institute of Educational Policy, 2014; Bournelli et al., 2012).
Despite tangible benefits that derive from PE and after-school sports activities, students, as they grow older, become more reluctant to participate and gradually spare no effort during PE lessons (Iconomescu, Mindrescu, & Popovici, 2018;Ntoumanis, Barkoukis, & Thøgersen-Ntoumani, 2009). The big challenge of PE teachers is whether and how they will succeed in convincing students to exert their energy on activities that fit them, how they will make the most of knowledge and experiences they gain, and finally in which way students come to be motivated for lifelong exercise (Fox, 1992). Therefore, the school climate and the rapport teachers build up with students are essential.
Parents' positive attitude toward school is another element that nourishes a climate of motivation because it influences the quality and quantity of students' interaction (Koun-douras, 2017). Additional contributing factors are character, school subject, and feedback (Parissi, Mouratidou, Koidou, Tsorbatzoudis, & Karamavrou, 2015). According to Treasure and Roberts (1995), the motivational climate has six dimensions reflected on the acronym T-A-R-G-E-T, which stands for Task (classroom activities), Authority (for students to have a say in decision-making), Recognition (when students are prized), Grouping (learning to work together as a team), Evaluation (refers to assessment and feedback), Time (flexible time for task completion) Morgan (2017) supported that the relationship between educator/trainer and trainee should be further explored and that T-A-R-G-E-T should be modified to include "relationships" in the Recognition section.
However, as Colquitt, Walker, Langdon, McCollum, and Pomazal (2012) mentioned, PE's objective to provide an effective learning experience has been strongly criticized. PE teachers must thus know their students' attitude toward the subject, and in particular, its main components and target, and they must explore their students' individual learning needs to improve the learning process by exerting innovative teaching methods (Cid, Pires, Borrego, Duarte-Mendes, Teixeira, Moutão, & Monteiro, 2019). Lastly, students' views on the subject are a key element in the whole assessment of the teaching procedure (Ghofrani & Golsanamlou, 2012).
PE teachers are advised to have at their disposal a reliable measuring instrument of the motivational climate during the lesson to modify the flow of it through a range of activities. By doing so, they can assess the teaching procedure and develop the potential of the climate of motivation. This study aimed to conduct a preliminary validation of the "Motivational Climate in Physical Educational Scale" (MCPES) (Soini, Liukkonen, Watt, Yli-Piipari, & Jaakkola, 2014) in the Greek educational context.

Participants
The sample of the study consists of 184 students of the last two grades from four elementary schools in different geographical areas of Greece (Imathia, Chanea, Kozani, and Rhodes) ( Table 3). The selection of schools was randomly done. Initially, four prefectures from the country were chosen, and then the list was narrowed down to particular schools from these prefectures to which complete questionnaires were given for the survey.

Instrument
The Greek version of the MCPES (Soini, Liukkonen, Watt, Yli-Piipari, & Jaakkola, 2014) was used. The questionnaire consists of eighteen items researching the four parameters of motivational climate during the PE lesson. The 1 st factor, "Autonomy support," consists of five items and examines the opportunities that PE provides to support students' independence, free choices, and the extent to which they can intervene in shaping the lesson (e.g., Students are given the opportunity to affect the way PE lessons are run.). The 2 nd factor, "Social relatedness support," consists of four items and traces the existence of team spirit and cooperation to meet the challenges of a lesson (e.g., During PE lessons, students "pull together."). The 3 rd factor, "Task-involving climate," consists of five items and considers any effort put into for personal improvement and the acceptance of errors as part of the learning procedure (e.g., It is important to keep trying even though you make mistakes.). The 4th factor, "Ego-involving climate," consists of four items and reviews the presence of competitive climate in the lessons, sense of superiority over classmates, and self-evaluation (e.g., During PE lessons, students compete with one another in terms of their performance), and this scale uses a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (totally disagree) to 5 (totally agree).
The translation and amendment of the questionnaire in the Greek language were performed after considering the methodology (back-to-back translation technique) recommended by Banville, Desroriers, and Genet-Volet (2000).
The survey organizers had to ask for permission from the Ethics Committee of the Democritus University of Thrace and the Minister of Education to conduct the survey at schools. The approval was granted by the university in February 2019 and by the Ministry of Education a month later. The study was conducted in March and April 2019. Parental consent was asked to secure students' participation in the research. It was a written permit, and no data revealing the identity of the students for the completion of the questionnaires were required.

Statistical Procedure
For the statistical analysis of the data, the following methods were used: descriptive analysis (means, standard deviation, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett's test of sphericity and measure of sampling adequacy (MSA)), Exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis (Cronbach's α), and one-way analysis.

Suitability of Data and Variables
Researchers have affirmed that the first stage of a factorial analysis should explore the suitability of data and variables that are to be factorized because not all of them will do. This procedure involves checking the specific statistical index, such as a partial connection factor, which is controlled with the value of KMO, Bartlett's Test of Sphericity, and MSA (values that are near 1 indicate the suitability of variable).

Exploratory Factor Analysis
Eighteen questions relating to motivational climate are exploratory factors analyzed using principal component analysis solution with direct oblimin rotation. The analysis yields four factors explaining a total of 72.45% of the variance for the entire set of variables The 1st factor "task involving" explains 19.95% of the total variance and contains five items that examine the efforts to be made for personal improvement (Table 2). Factor one "task involvement" yields a subscale score of M = 4.03 (SD = .94) (Table 3). The 2nd factor "autonomy" accounts for 19.68% of the total variance, comprises five items, investigates the opportunities that PE provides to support students' autonomy (Table  2), and yields a subscale score of M = 3.24 (SD = 1.02) ( Table 3). The 3rd factor "social relatedness" explains 17.37% of the total variance and contains four items ( Table 2) that investigate group mentality and collaboration to cope with the difficulties of a lesson. The 3rd factor yields a subscale score of M = 3.08 (SD = 1.12) ( Table 3). The 4th factor "ego involving" explains 15.46% of the total variance and comprises four items ( Table  2) that investigates the antagonistic environment during a lesson. Factor four yields a subscale score of M = 2.43 (SD = 1.07) ( Table 3).

Reliability Analysis
The internal cohesion of the questionnaire was checked with Cronbach's α test. The results support the structural validity of the questionnaire, and the factors were found to have a high degree of internal cohesion. Table 3 shows that the values of the factors are satisfactory (α > .85) and presents the means and standard deviations of the main variables for the overall sample and for males and females. Generally, students perceived a high task-involving climate, relatively positive autonomy climate, moderate relatedness, and weak ego-involving climate.

Differences in Relation to Gender
For the determination of whether there are statistically significant differences in the scale factors between boys and girls, the one-way ANOVA analysis was conducted. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences for the factors "task involving climate" [F (1,183) = 12.8; p < .001, n 2 = .08]; "autonomy" [F (1,183) = 9.40; p< .001, n 2 = .05]; "relatedness" [F (1,183) = 22.4; p < .001, n 2 = .11]; and "ego involving climate" [F (1,183) = 24.6; p < .001, n 2 = .12]. More specifically, the results indicate that (a) male students presented a statistically higher score (M = 3.44 and SD = .99) regarding the factor "autonomy" in relation to female students (M = 2.99 and SD = .99), (b) male students presented a statistically higher score (M = 2.78 and SD = 1.20) regarding the factor "ego involving climate" in relation to female students (M = 2.01 and SD = .71), (c) female students presented a statistically higher score (M = 4.29 and SD = .69) regarding the factor "task involving climate" in relation to male (M = 3.81 and SD = 1.05), and (d) female students presented a statistically higher score (M = 3.49 and SD = .98) regarding the factor "relatedness" in relation to male students (M = 2.75 and SD = 1.13) ( Table 3).

Discussion
One of the main objectives of PE is students' motivation for active participation in the lesson, which for many, is the result of the motivation climate that prevails during the learning process. Students' active involvement is essential and a basic requirement to fulfill the potential of lifelong exercise. Consequently, a PE teacher needs an instrument to monitor the effort that a student makes to enhance his performance in a lesson. Therefore, this study aimed to update the ques-tionnaire MCPES (Soini et al., 2014) in the Greek educational context and to look into gender as a differentiation factor of the motivational environment. PE teachers and the teaching methods they adopt appear to shape a motivational environment focused on learning itself and on instilling a sense of autonomy among students because the factors "task involving" and "autonomy" have the highest score. Moreover, the lesson favors the development of social bonds and cooperation as the factor relatedness is relatively high. By contrast, the factor ego comes at the bottom of the table. The findings of the study justify the writers' claim that PE educators succeed in their ultimate aim to achieve lifelong exercise through the program given that those who are determined to take their fitness level to a higher level usually continue doing so with patience and commitment for a long time regardless of their views on the matter (Papaioannou, Theodorakis, & Goudas, 2003).  Gender proves a differentiation factor of the motivational environment. Males, in particular, are more independent and self-oriented, unlike females who are more sociable and task-oriented. The results of the study coincide with those of Castro-Sánchez, Zurita-Ortega, Garcia-Marmol, and Chacón-Cuberos (2019) who stated that for boys' collaboration is not their first priority because they believe that they can cope on their own no matter how complicated a problem may be. Conversely, girls cooperate effort lastly and develop social relationships. The results of the survey partly match those of Jaakkola, Wang, Soini, and Liukkonen (2015), but it also negates it. They agree that boys are more autonomous and ego-involved (M autonomy = 3.02 and ego = 3.24) from girls (M autonomy = 2.91 and ego = 2.86). Nevertheless, Jaakkola, Wang, Soini, and Liukkonen (2015) suggested that boys are more sociable (M = 3.23) than girls (M = 3.11) and that there is no difference between the genders regarding task-involving climate. Any disparities between the surveys might arise from the different age samples as the Jaakkola, Yli-Piipari, Barkoukis, and Liukkonen (2017) work involved 15 years old students (9 th graders) and the current 11-12 (5 th and 6 th graders).
Given the survey and the discussion, the following conclusions can be drawn: a. The Greek version of MCPES is established as a reliable measuring instrument of the climate of motivation in the field of primary education in Greece.
b. Gender is a differentiation factor of the climate of motivation with, male students obtaining scores higher in ego involving and autonomy and female students performing better in a task involving and relatedness.