Similar but different: Profiling secondary school students based on their perceived motivational climate and psychological need-based experiences in physical education

profiles by aligning teaching style, curricular and pedagogical decisions, and learning tasks and strategies with the motivational demands of students in a specific profile. For example, it is conceivable that students in one profile benefit more from providing choice during learning activities than students in another profile. Or students in one profile may thrive better in a per- formance orientated learning climate than students in another profile. Past studies mainly focused on profiling based on type of motivation (e.g. [6], type of motivation regulation [13], or type of achievement goal orientation [51]. The present study aims to expand on the current profiling research, by exploring how students perceive the learning environment in PE by combining the motivational frameworks of AGT and SDT. In line with the study conducted by Vansteenkiste and Mouratidis [31], and several other studies [20,43,52] we hypothesise that profiling students based on a combination of theoretical motivational frameworks, can gener- ate new useful insights for professional practice. PE teachers can directly impact the motivational climate by differentially emphasizing a mastery or performance climate as well as the perceived need satisfaction and frustration of their students. This study therefore investigates how these constructs combine into distinct motivational profiles in secondary school PE. In order to subsequently characterize, validate and compare these profiles, we explore whether profile membership is related to demographic

variables, motivational regulation, achievement goal orientation, valuation of PE and self- reported leisure time sport participation (LTSP). Methods Participants and procedure Participants were 2,562 secondary school students (44% boys; 56% girls), aged 12–18 years (M age = 14.65; SD = 1.38), across 24 different secondary schools from 16 different cities in the Netherlands. PE in the Netherlands is mixed gender grouped and mandatory within all types of secondary school education. On average, secondary school students in the Netherlands par- ticipate in two lessons (of 50–60 minutes) of compulsory PE per week throughout the school year [53]. Ethical approval was obtained by the Ethical Research Committee of Fontys University. Permission to collect data with the students was obtained from the local school boards. The students were explained that the participation in the study was voluntary, there was guarantee of confidentiality and anonymity and that non-participation would not cause them any harm. They could also choose to withdraw from the study at any time without giving any reason. Secondary schools were recruited from the existing network of the university. The ques- tionnaire was administered to students at school near the end of the school year. The questions concerned students’ perceptions of the PE motivational climate and experiences during the past schoolyear. The students took an average of 10 minutes to complete the questionnaire and were supervised by a teacher (i.e. not the PE-teacher) who was well informed about the procedure. Measures

Motivational variables used to construct profiles. Psychological need satisfaction and frustration. Students’ perceived psychological need (autonomy, competence and relatedness) satisfaction and frustration during the PE-lessons in general, were assessed by a modified version of the validated Basic Psychological Need Satisfac- tion and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) [54]. The total number of items in the questionnaire (i.e. 24) used in this research was reduced to enhance the usability for the target group. For each construct, experts (N = 4) independently determined which three of four items per construct Similar but different PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228859 February 10, 2020 4 / 17