L’incidence des buts d’accomplissement induits par les enseignants d’éducation physique sur la motivation de leurs élèves
According to achievement goal theory, physical education teachers may influence the motivation of their students with their attitudes and the teaching practices they use. The goals of this study were first to document the annual evolution of motivation in physical education students at the beginning of their secondary education according to gender and school level; then to verify the predictive value of the achievement goals induced by physical education teachers as well as the perception of these goals by the students themselves; and finally to evaluate the moderating effect of the perceived competence and student gender on the predictive value of the achievement goals. The results show that female students are generally less motivated than male students in physical education classes and that motivation decreases as the students age, regardless of gender. Our results also show that the attitudes and teaching practices of the teachers as well as the students' perception of the climate induced by the teachers can influence certain motivational characteristics of students like adopting mastery and performance-approach goals, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation (through introjection and external regulation), amotivation and the utility value they give to their physical education classes. The research also  demonstrates that the predictive value of the achievement goals and of the perception of these goals by the students was moderated by the students' perceived competence for the following motivational variables: mastery goals, intrinsic motivation, amotivation and utility value. Thus, the teachers’ attitudes and teaching practices as well as the perception of the class climate have a significant effect only if the perceived competence of the students is low. The predictive value of the achievement goals and of the perception of these goals by the students was also moderated by the gender of the students for the following motivational variables: performance-approach goals, performance-avoidance goals and amotivation. When student gender changes the relation, this is generally reversed according to the gender of the students: it is positive for male students and negative for female students. The results of this study lead us to believe that physical education teachers would be well advised to implement a mastery climate in their classes and to allow students to meet personal challenges, insisting on the value of the task. In order to satisfy the special needs of every classmate, it would be interesting if students could be grouped according to their abilities in sports. By doing so, the teachers would be able to establish a motivational climate better suited to the class.
Motivation Perceived competence Motivation Self-determination Utility value Motivational climate Achievement goals