A survey of the activity patterns of young people and their attitudes and perceptions of physical activity and physical education in a Local Education Authority

For some time there has been a suspicion that young people are not as physically active as previous generations and this, coupled with the discovery of risk factors associated with coronary heart disease becoming observable in young people, changes in diet and the development of sedentary life styles in Western society, suggests that there could be serious implications for the short- and long-term health of young people. If this situation exists then it would appear that there is an educational role in schools to provide courses which raise these issues and provide a suitable medium for young people to become knowledgeable about themselves and exercise. However, to date, a data base does not exist which would provide evidence about how active young people are and about their attitudes towards physical activity and Physical Education. This study attempts to contribute towards this data base by providing evidence about the activity patterns of a large random sample of 500 young people between the ages of 11 to 16 years, from a local education authority in the West Midlands. This phase of the study was followed by interviews of over 100 young people who had been involved in the activity survey, to ascertain their attitudes towards physical activity and Physical Education. In order to make a stronger contribution to this data base and to place this survey into context, the study also addresses itself to a review of existing literature related to this area, the development of research tools for this kind of survey and discusses the implications the results have for Physical Education in this country.