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The characteristics and objectives of the Attitudinal Style as a pedagogical model are established.
In Spain, once the Transition was over, the new educational legislation generated a substantial change in education, and in physical education, the transformation was even more profound. These were years in which an attempt was made to leave behind a physical education based on physical performance and mere technical execution generated by a psychomotor elite, as well as “ineptitude for” and “avoidance of” physical activities in a very high percentage of the student body [1][2]. In an attempt to leave behind teaching styles [3][4], new models were beginning to appear, although their implementation has been slow [5][6].
For these reasons, López-Pastor [7], based on Tinning’s proposal [8], proposes to frame the teaching processes in different frameworks of rationality (between those based on the students’ performance and those involving them in participation), including the Attitudinal Style within the discourse of participation and the framework of practical rationality.
The Attitudinal Style began its journey in Astorga, a small city in León (Spain) at the end of the nineties, in three schools with different economic and social contextual characteristics, an important question since this diversity is key to initiate a model [9][10][11]. This proposal arises from its intention to respond to four questions that are considered key to the involvement of students in the learning process [12]:
The Attitudinal Style is characterised by its global character [18], its flexibility and its capacity to adapt to the students and their contexts, as well as its search for positive individual experiences in all the students, without exclusion, in order to generate the feeling of belonging to a group.
The benefits of the incorporation of formative assessment do not end there, since it allows students to understand the purpose of learning, what the consequences are in the short term, such as the improvement of self-efficacy [20], and to begin to understand the benefits that these have in their subsequent development. However, the greatest advantage of incorporating formative assessment into the model is that it allows teachers to carry out a process of reflection that enables them to improve their teaching practice constantly; which, without doubt, benefits the students [21]. In physical education, it has been shown that mastery of the content to be taught, as well as how to teach it, produces a significant improvement in student learning [22][23][24][25]. The Attitudinal Style is a pedagogical model that directly addresses the development of the basic psychological needs and motivation of the students. Its structure is based on the perceived competence of the students, developing motor patterns of action that allow them to be autonomous in their actions. This is associated with the promotion of social relations, since tasks are proposed that encourage both individual and group achievement with others [26]. This pedagogical model seeks to generate the intrinsic motivation of the student [27], posing tasks that represent attractive challenges for the students. Thus, and under the orientation of achievement towards the task, transferability and trans-contextual analysis of the learning generated is sought [28].
In summary, Attitudinal Style made a number of key contributions to the teaching and learning of physical education, and it has been demonstrated that this style of teaching has been successful: (a) that it is possible to generate positive experiences in all the students, without exception and from inclusion; (b) that it is essential to know why and for what purpose one wants to teach, in coordination with the context and the specific content if learning is to be generated; (c) that starting from the individual achievement acquired, with collaborative work and/or cooperation it is possible to achieve group achievement involving the whole class group; (d) that the sequences of activities appropriate to the content, the context and the students allow to achieve the successful experiences that the technical progressions do not achieve in the educational contexts due to the initial heterogeneity of the group; (e) that the planning of the work focused on the transference of the learning to other contexts and collectives provokes a greater involvement of the students in their learning; and (f) that the formative evaluation is an essential element of the learning process as it involves the students through the daily use of clear, objective and appropriate instruments, provoking a collective learning.
The Attitudinal Style is based on a clear and close relationship between learning, teaching, subject and context [29] and based on why and what a model is used for as established by different authors [30][31]. But in no case should it be forgotten that the trajectory, diffusion and expansion of this model are the keys to approaching the cataloguing of the name by the scientific community as a pedagogical model; in this emerging case [5] such as: (a) Possessing a clear pedagogical identity, (b) Providing the educational community with a wide repertoire of didactic and quality materials that allow for replication, and (c) Providing the scientific community with evidence of its efficacy.
The recognition of the educational or scientific community is linked to the implementation and visibility of the model in order to have a clear pedagogical identity, identifiable in a wide (or, at least, sufficient) didactic publication that allows the understanding and reproduction of knowledge and the way of generating learning proper to the area of physical education, in which the students are the protagonists and responsible for an authentic and real learning. In this sense, both the recognition of its character as a participative methodological proposal [7] and the recognition of its cooperative character, of the involvement and participation of the students and its applicability in different contexts is included in Velázquez’s research [32], the recognition as one of the most recognised teaching methods [33], the identification as an emerging pedagogical model [30][6], or as a model that hybridises with innovative strategies and formative assessment processes [34]. This pedagogical framework presented by the Attitudinal Style has a direct impact on the professional identity of physical education teachers. This allows them to be more aware, reflective and critical in relation to how the subject is taught. This is fundamental, since when the teaching of physical education is associated with solid pedagogical principles; greater learning is generated in the students [35]. This also favours social transformation through the subject, using the body as a fundamental pedagogical tool.
Having a wide range of teaching material, which allows any interested teacher to replicate and put this model into practice autonomously, is essential for any interested person to be able to replicate the model. In this sense, over the last 25 years an important and extensive amount of teaching and learning material has been produced, partially collected in Tena’s bibliographical review [36] with almost a hundred exclusive references related to the Attitudinal Style [37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. In this case, all the production on formative assessment and related competences, so important in the evolution of the Attitudinal Style in the last decade, were not taken into account [12]. However, the following are some examples of practical development where the relationship between learning, teaching, subject matter and context, as well as the complementarity with formative assessment, is observed [44][45][46].
Undoubtedly, the search for the perception of achievement in students and the improvement of self-concept derives from the self-efficacy generated in the learning process, for which the formative assessment and the use of adequate instruments seem essential.
In this section, some examples of the application of the Attitudinal Style to different contents are presented and where the formative evaluation favours the verification of the global approach of the model.
One of the topics with which the class group is usually known and the implementation of this model begins is through the didactic unit related to the elaboration of the intentional games without elimination [47]. In this unit, after experimenting with games with the teacher whose characteristics are that they are as participative and dynamic as possible, and without elimination, the students in groups design and put into practice a game. At the end of the session, in a final reflection, they all comment on the aspects to be improved, propose alternatives or improvements and identify the failures or successes that the “pupil-teachers” have committed, thus managing to improve their approach.
In physical condition, and with respect to the career work [1][48], the pupils learn to run with a constant rhythm, which they calculate by obtaining the average of the first test of 10 min. The aim is for them to learn to run as far as possible, becoming less tired and without training (only by learning to control and regulate their running rhythm and to do a proper warm-up), introducing them to a process of self-regulation [49]. After the first test they must draw up a graph with the time per lap and identify the average time run. This graph will enable the improvement produced by what they have learnt in the training unit to be compared [50][51]. As the students have two opportunities to do the second test (the one that will form part of their grade), they will have the possibility, by looking at various types of graphs and their grade assessments, of identifying the similarity with the one that would identify their grade and thus decide whether to run again to improve the grade or to stay with the one they have done in a responsible self-assessment process. The fundamental intention is associated with learning to assume the logical consequences of the work.
For collective sports such as football [52], or basketball [53], the work is very similar and divides the unit into four parts. In the first part (sessions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), we begin with the first session by analysing and evaluating the situation of the class group in relation to football. In sessions 2, 3, 4 and 5, the class is organized in 4 groups of 6–7 students, taking into account the heterogeneity in relation to the knowledge of the sport and the technical-tactical domain, as well as the affinity between the members; and the whole process starts with decisions agreed by all, a key aspect in this model. At this point, work begins with stationary scouting (symbolism) cards and by which the groups rotate every 7–8 min, where the group self-regulation process of learning is very important [52]. In the 3rd part (sessions 10, 11), activities will be carried out where students individually and in groups will show their acquired learning and scouting knowledge [52]. In addition, in the 4th part (session 12), marking activities will be conducted [52].
The last example is the work with shadow theatre [41]. In this case, the three basic working phases of the didactic unit are still maintained. In the first one, control and mastery of the shadows and the distances to the focus are acquired in order to be able to make the figures. The fundamental characteristic is that the figures and their learning follow the strict process of the OSA. They begin by learning in pairs, so that the figure is individual for the partner to give feedback. The couple joins another couple in groups of four, so that the figure to be made is of two or three people and one or two provide the feedback. The group of four joins with another group of four to form a group of eight, and so begins with the large group figures, until the MF starts to prepare the figure by telling a story and ends with the final MF presentation for the final score, as well as its presentation in public afterwards. Other examples in different contents are: adversary sports [38], dramatisation [37], street work [36], acrobatics [42], activities in the natural environment such as rope rope work and crossing obstacles [43][54]. Evaluation and qualification tools are also provided on the Grupo Actitudes website: https://www.grupoactitudes.com/ [55].
As can be seen, there are many didactic examples approached from the Attitudinal Style. In addition, these examples deal with a diversity of content, which reflects the wide range of teaching possibilities that this model has in PE. It is a pedagogical model that focuses on the transversality of the contents: sports, physical condition, corporal expression, natural environment. emphasizing inclusion, the motivational climate of the group and the generation of positive experiences in the student as key elements. The educational experiences proposed, all of which are published with free access for teachers, show that this model provides resources to teachers on how to do things, thus encouraging much-needed reflection in the school.
Without a doubt, the accreditation of national and international scientific publications that demonstrate the pedagogical and didactic foundations proposed by the model is essential. In this sense, scientific research into the Attitudinal Style began at the end of the nineties and led to the author’s doctoral thesis [56] in which he proved, through the Attitude Scale for Integrated Physical Education (EAEFI), the improvement of the attitude of the students towards Physical Education. After this initial research, a decade was devoted to generating pedagogical and didactic production that would allow the model to be replicated, and five years ago it was decided to continue with the research to establish the evolution of the model, starting with the incorporation of formative assessment into the model [12].
Therefore, in relation to the responsibility in student assessment, Hortigüela et al. [57] start by demonstrating that the Attitudinal Style, when compared with the traditional methodological approach, significantly influences the students’ perception. Besides, Hortigüela, Pérez-Pueyo and Salicetti [58] also analysed what happened when applying the formative evaluation processes in the students who received the Attitudinal Style methodology, verifying that the perception that the students have about the evaluation received along the school year, significantly affects three fundamental factors: (a) the individual and group responsibility, (b) the work regulation during the process and (c) the authenticity of the acquired learning linked to real life. In this same research, it was verified that the students who participated in the process of distribution of grades (an essential activity in the processes of intragroup self-evaluation) [59] perceived the learning process to be more guided and coherent, although it required greater responsibility, both for oneself and for the rest. Perhaps one of the most important aspects of this issue, and one that is key to the Attitudinal Style, is that it demonstrated that the students who worked in groups most often perceived the distribution of marks as a strategy that facilitated more authentic learning.
In this same sense, and continuing with the analysis of the importance of assessment and the relationship with the model, Hortigüela, Pérez-Pueyo and Fernández-Río [60] demonstrated how the methodological approach used by the teacher influenced the perception of physical education students with regard to their level of responsibility in the assessment process [61][62]. After the implementation of a didactic unit of acrobatics, some groups under a technical-traditional methodology and others under the Attitudinal Style, the results revealed that the perception of responsibility on the evaluation process increased significantly in the group that experienced the Attitudinal Style, which indicates the incidence of the model in relation to the use of formative evaluation processes.
Subsequently, and continuing with the analysis of the effects of the prolonged use of a traditional teaching approach and the Attitudinal Style, it was found that students who experienced the Attitudinal Style perceived physical education class as significantly more useful and developed a stronger empathy towards the teacher than with the traditional approach. In addition, three key ideas emerged for the justification for being a pedagogical model: (a) the transcendent and fundamental teacher-student connection that it produced in the teaching-learning process, (b) the relevance of how the contents are organised, according to the needs and characteristics of the students and their sequencing in order to transmit a coherent learning process, and (c) the relevance of the transfer of learning that took place [63].
At the same time, the perception of the secondary school students, after having received a physical condition teaching unit under the Attitudinal Style methodology, was analysed in relation to the factors implicit in the physical self-concept [64]. In this unit, its effectiveness in relation to the positive influence on girls was verified. This physical self-concept is fundamental for physical education students to feel competent in carrying out motor tasks [65].
Continuing with the verification of the idea of balancing the students’ previous experiences in a clearly unbalanced content in their preference, the effects of the Attitudinal Style compared to a technical-traditional approach in the teaching of football were analysed in relation to the students’ and teachers’ perception of the classroom climate [66]. The research showed how groups of students who experienced the technical-traditional approach significantly increased the perception of an ego-oriented classroom climate. However, the groups that experienced the Attitudinal Style developed a significantly different and more task-oriented perception of classroom climate.
In this sense, Pérez-Pueyo et al. [67] confirm that the implementation of the Attitudinal Style in future teachers meant an increase in rigour and coherence in physical education classes, highlighting the importance of groupings, the type of activities proposed by the teacher, the active role of the teacher and the individual and group responsibility of the student.
It has been observed how there is a clear connection between the didactic examples presented in the Attitudinal Style and their scientific evidence, analyzing variables that attend to the social, motivational and educational level of the student. The scientific publications of this model have the main objective of being useful to teachers in their professional performance, giving them resources that allow them to attend to the multitude of variables existing in PE from the pedagogical treatment of the body.
The research carried out in relation to Attitudinal Style has demonstrated the capacity to guarantee its replicability in different contexts, the fundamental basis of which is centred on the extensive quantity and quality of the teaching materials which support it since its appearance in the nineties. This replicability in different contexts is a fundamental requirement for any pedagogical model [68]. The Attitudinal Style has been applied for decades in a variety of educational contexts. This expansion of the model is justified in two main aspects:
This has meant that the essence of the model has been able to be replicated in a variety of contexts. PE teachers who have received the Attitudinal Style in their initial training later replicate it in their professional practice. These professional contexts, especially at the beginning, are often very varied, and they may work in schools with very different social and economic levels. Future teachers have been trained in the Attitudinal Style for over 20 years, which guarantees the extension and dissemination of the model.
Throughout the manuscript, a variety of practical examples of the Attitudinal Style in the subject of physical education have been presented. It is a fully transversal pedagogical model, whose applicability is reflected in:
However, there are a number of limitations to its use:
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The need to generate student autonomy towards learning.
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Starting from an initial training of the teaching staff that understands the use of motor skills as a fully transversal aspect.
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Need to generate more international scientific literature to show its benefits.