1. Introduction

The model was created because physical education (PE) classes should not be limited to teaching techniques and tactics from multiple sports. PE should make students cultivate their habits of exercising and improve their sports culture along the way [1]. The SEM is a curriculum and instructional model created to provide richer sports-related experiences for students during PE classes [2]. The model is organized around a series of characteristics, which are, (1) units are considered seasons, (2) students are members of intact teams, (3) participation in formal competition, (4) students maintain roles beyond players, (5) formal records are kept, and (6) students participate in a culminating event [2].

Motivation is important to influence students’ learning [3]. Especially, intrinsic motivation has a positive impact on students’ behavior and learning during PE [4]. Some studies related to intrinsic motivation in PE and sports have indicated that this construct is positively associated with self-effort and predisposition to participate in future physical activities [5,6]. For the teacher to improve these capacities in the students, they may impose tasks related to personal control or self-competence that will improve several adaptive responses to motivational imposes [7].

Most research acknowledges that the SEM as a more effective model than the traditional and direct instruction model in various factors like students’ attitudes, motivation, or self-determination towards PE [8], mainly in low-performing students [9]. According to the self-determination theory, intrinsic motivation is promoted by fulfilling competence, autonomy, and relatedness [10]. For example, characteristics of the SEM, such as the festive finale, the student-centered approach and autonomy, engagement, and peer relationships in PE, can contribute to greater motivation [11,12]. In addition, the use of dynamic roles during the classes is viewed as an aspect with a very high relation to students’ motivation [13].

One of the objectives of PE is the increase of physical activity (PA) levels and motivation for PA in and out of school. Research suggests that students’ motivation in PE following the SEM is significantly higher than students receiving traditional PE [8,9,15,16]. However, to better ascertain the role of the SEM on motivation, it is important to summarize the existing evidence. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze the impact of the SEM on the motivation for PA.

2. Development and Findings

The majority of the 14 studies were performed in Spain (9), China (3), United States (1), and England (1). All, except one study [19], used a theoretical framework of motivation in their investigation. All 14 studies included descriptions of the SEM, discuss the relationship between the SEM and motivation and enjoyment in PE (8), social affiliation (2), PA participation (2), and some other motivational outcomes (7). The greatest number of articles achieved this assessment criterion.

(n = 1132 boys, n = 950 girls) from the 14 included studies. Most studies were performed in high schools (aged 14–17) While most studies examined the SEM in a co-educational context, one examined boys in a single-sex PE context [14]. Moreover, three studies described the ethnicity of the participants [14,23,24].

Six studies did not describe participants’ eligibility criteria and selection [13,18,19,21,22,25]. Twelve of them included information about teachers’ experiences in sport education and/or PE [8,13,14,15,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25], but only seven reported students’ experiences [9,14,15,16,20,21,25].

All studies but two [13,22] included more than one class regarding PE settings. Three studies did not specify how many classes are included [15,16,20]. Eight studies included one school, two included two schools [23,25], while four look at the setting of secondary educational centers, instead of regular schools [15,18,20,22].

Seven studies used a quasi-experimental design [8,9,13,18,20,22,25] and three nonequivalent control-group designs [14,19,23] to investigate the motivational impact of a the SEM program by including one intervention and one control group, except for one study that had three different intervention groups [8]. Two studies used a pre-experimental pre-/post-test design [15,16], one study used a crossover design [21], and another one used a cluster randomized study design [24].

Concerning the program duration, 11 studies examined one season [8,9,13,14,15,16,18,19,20,22,25]; Gil-Arias, Harvey, Cárceles, Práxedes, and Del Villar [21] investigated two seasons; Wallhead, Garn, and Vidoni [23] investigated four seasons; and Choi, Sum, Leung, Wallhead, Morgan, Milton, Ha, and Sit [24] investigated seven seasons. The season length ranged from 8 to 25 lessons, lasting from 5 to 16 weeks. The lesson frequency ranged from one to three lessons per week. The lessons were mostly 40–60 min long, although some programs used a double-lesson format of 90 min [24].

The sport education programs were frequently delivered by one to three teachers with teaching experience. The majority of teachers had more than five years of teaching experience. However, only less than half of them had prior teaching experience in sports education.

Thirteen studies (93%) reported a significant relationship between the SEM and students’ motivation (Table 1). Higher autonomy and more enjoyment toward PE sessions were associated with the SEM. Furthermore, the SEM promoted an inclusive PE learning environment [16,25] and showed that students became more interested than direct instruction or the traditional education model [19,21].

3. Conclusions

This review shows that the SEM offers a large range of opportunities for students to develop more self-determined motivated behaviour in PE class with high levels of responsibility and engagement. In this aspect, the SEM can be considered a useful methodological instrument to change the current trend of declines in motivation and participation in PA by adequately implementing the SEM in PE classes.

This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/children8070588