The importance of assigning responsibility during evaluation in order to increase student satisfaction from physical education classes: A model of structural equations

Considering the benefits that students report when evaluating physical education classes, the purpose of the present study was to analyse the relationships between the assignment of student responsibility in the evaluation, motivational variables and the satisfaction with the physical education classes, using The Theory of Self-determination as a support method. The sample for this study was 922 students, of both genres and in Compulsory Secondary Education, aged between 14 and 18 years. To carry out the study, the Student’s Scale of Responsibility was used in the physical education assessment, the Basic Psychological Needs Measuring Scale, the Percentage Scale for Physical Education Causality and the Satisfaction Scale in Physical Education. The results of the structural equations model revealed a good adjustment to the data. This finding highlights the importance of giving responsibilities to the students in the evaluation process, in order to satisfy the psychological needs of the students and, therefore, self-determined motivation, thus increasing satisfaction towards physical education classes.

Physical education (PE) has become a framework for many youngsters 51 to carry out physical activities, which then increases their motivation and 52 adherence to do exercise after school [1, 2, 3].

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The teacher is one of the main promotors of the practising of physical Similarly, enjoyment can be understood as the valued sense of the 140 activities carried out in PE classes by the students [48]; and this variable 141 (satisfaction with PE classes) is even related to the obtaining of a better 142 academic qualification [49,50]. As some studies have indicated, to avoid the 143 abandonment of physical activity, teachers must try to make activities fun and 144 avoid those which are not entertaining [51], thus presenting the teacher with 145 an essential role to play in the development of these activities [52].

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In this regard, Ntoumanis [53] explained that when subjects have fun 147 they tend to be intrinsically motivated and give more importance to the 148 subject. Satisfaction with PE classes will be positively related to the 149 satisfaction of BPN as well as to a more self-determined motivation [48,52].

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In Table 1, the distribution of the sample in terms of gender and year-183 group can be seen. In Table 2, the distribution of the sample in terms of organisations that 188 participated in the study and year-group is represented. 189

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In all of the questionnaires that were used, answers were given to all of 244 the student is in complete disagreement, to 5, meaning that the student 245 completely agrees.

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Procedure 247 Having defined the objectives of the study, the measurement 248 instruments were selected in order to collect information, a dossier was 249 prepared, and some interesting data was gathered, such as age, school year, 250 the practice of extracurricular physical activity and the school to which the 251 students belonged. Subsequently, the different schools were contacted and 252 the objective of the study was explained. They were given a consent form for 253 the parents to sign, as the students were under 18 years of age.

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Following this, specific days were chosen for visiting the schools and 255 handing out the questionnaires to those subjects with parent authorisation, 256 never in the presence of the PE teacher.

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The values p < .05 and p < .01 were used for statistical significance.
273 Validity was also examined through confirmatory factor analysis, respecting 274 the criterion of eliminating those items with a regression weight that did not  In accordance with the normality rules proposed by Curran et al. [78] all 314 of the variables comply with the univariate normality, since the values of 315 asymmetry were below 2 and those of kurtosis below 7. These results can be 316 seen in Table 4.

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The results of the model of structural equations revealed a good 346 alignment to the data [64, 74], as can be seen in Table 5.  Table 6 shows the totals of the indirect effects. However, the results  , found that if a suitable atmosphere that involves the task is 439 generated in the classroom, the satisfaction of the BPN will be greater, which 440 will be positively related to more self-determined motivation and with less 441 boredom with the classes of PE.

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Research that is also related to our variables [48,