Turkey has its own education system like every other country in the world. Secondary education (high school education) comprises all educational institutions providing four years of general, vocational, or technical education subsequent to and based upon basic education. One of the goals of secondary education is to provide programs and schools that will prepare students for the future, for higher education and / or various vocational and professional fields in keeping with their interest and abilities. Admission to secondary education is centralized and based on a nation-wide examination administered by the Ministry of National Education.  Students in their senior year take this exam and their score from this exam determines where these students are placed, whether general high school or vocational or technical high school. The contents as well as the goal of physical education and sport class are the same in these schools. One of the goals is to have the students develop positive attitudes towards physical education and sports. In this respect, if the individuals develop positive attitude towards physical education and sport classes, the reflection on the society will be positive.

Physical education and sports now have an important place in the lives of individuals as a component of society in terms of the tasks and goals it undertakes. Today physical education and sports has begun to function as a strong educational appliance in the solution of social problems by expanding its sphere of interest in order to answer different expectations of individuals (Çelik and Pulur, 2011). According to FiÅŸek (1980), physical education and sports include several activities which prepare a suitable competition environment to control aggressive instinct existing in human nature, which facilitates for the individuals the process of social adjustment, and secure people’s psychological and physical health. These activities arise from applied and theoretical structure of the physical education and sport classes.

Physical education and sports class attracts attention from many researches because its structure is different from the other classes. In general the studies cover positive and negative attitudes that the students develop towards physical education and sports class in relation to age and gender factors (Demirel and Ün, 1987).

Attitude is taken as learned tendencies that make individuals exhibit specific behaviors in the face of specific people, objects and situations (Demirel and Ün, 1987). A study (Aicinena, 1991) points out that several factors like teacher’s behavior, class, family, and school management have an influence on positive students’ attitude towards physical education class (qtd. in Çelik and Pulur, 2011). Figley (1985)’s study analyzes the attitudes of high school students, and explains that when the students sense a lack of interest from their teachers, they develop negative attitude. It is also given in the same study that the reasons behind students’ positive attitudes are 41.6% teacher, 31.2% instructional program, and 27.2% consecutively class environment, students’ self-perception, others and peer behavior; while the reasons behind negative attitudes are 35.6% instructional program, 33.3% teacher, and 31.1% consecutively class environment, peer behavior, students’ self-perception and others (qtd. in Çelik and Pulur, 2011).

High schools have been ignored in most of the existing studies. It is essential to present the attitudes of students from different high schools in Turkish education system towards physical education and sports class. Thus this study will make an important contribution as it aims to present the attitudes of students from different high schools in Turkish education system towards physical education and sports class.

Participants

The research had been conducted in 2015-2016 academic year in Bolu. One school from each type and one each grade have been drawn. 99 students from Sports High School  (There are students in these schools who want to be physical education teachers, trainers and sport managers.), 195 from Vocational High School (The graduates of these schools may work in tourism, health and technical fields.), 313 from Anatolian High School (The students in these schools will choose professions in the verbal field such as law, history teaching, etc.), 158 from Fine Arts High School (The students who want to be music and/or art teachers prefer fine arts high school), 255 from Imam Hatip High School (These are the high schools preferred by the students who want to work in the religious fields),192 from Science High School (The students in these schools prefer professions like medicine, engineering), 171 from Social Sciences High School (These are the schools chosen by students who are interested in social fields), in total 1383 students participated in this research.

Data collection instrument

“Physical Education and Sports Attitude Scale” is used in order to measure students’ attitudes towards physical education and sports class. This scale is composed of 24 articles in total, 12 positive and 12 negative, and developed by Demirhan and Altay (2001). The lowest point of this scale is 24, and the highest point is 120. The grading key is: 5- I agree completely, 4- I agree, 3- I am neutral, 2- I do not agree, 1- I disagree completely. Scores between 1-24 show the most negative attitude; 25-48 show negative attitude; 49-72 show neutral attitude; 73-94 show positive attitude; and 95-129 show the most positive attitude. The scale’s Cronbach Alpha reliability co-efficient is 0.93, and its validity coefficient is 0.83. In this research reliability coefficient is found as 0.81.

Data collection procedure

Permits required for the application of the scale had been obtained from the institutions before the research and the students had been informed about the scale before physical education class. Scales were delivered to the students, and after they filled them, the scales were gathered back.

Data analysis

Arithmetic average and standard deviation (sd) of the attitude points towards physical education and sports class have been calculated from the data obtained. In data analysis independent Samples t-test is used for the comparison of two groups, and One-Way ANOVA is used for independent groups. When a difference is detected between groups, in order to find the source of difference, Tukey Test is used with significance level of p< 0.05. 

In Table 3, students’ attitude points towards physical education and sports class are compared with respect to their gender. According to the table, it is detected that male students have higher attitude points (105,20+11,98) than female students (96,30+13,16). As a result of statistical comparison, statistical difference is detected (p<0.01).

As a result of this study it can be said that the students in different school systems have high attitude points towards physical education class. However, students’ attitude scores towards physical education class with respect to school types vary. It is found that Sports High School students have the highest attitude points towards physical education and sports class. It is followed consecutively by Vocational High School, Anatolian High School, Fine Arts High School and Imam Hatip High School. It is attained that Science High School and Social Sciences High School students have the lowest attitude scores. Statistical difference is also observed by comparing students’ attitude scores with respect to their school. As a result of statistical analysis, conducted to find which schools cause the difference, it is found that the difference is between Science High School and Sports High School, Vocational High School and Anatolian High School; Sports High School and Social Sciences High School, Imam Hatip High School, Fine Arts High School, Anatolian High School and Vocational High School; Social Sciences High School and Vocational High School and Anatolian High School; Vocational High School and Imam Hatip High School. The scopes of the existing researches in Turkey do not cover different types of high schools. Çelik and Pulur (2011)'s research compare students’ attitude scores  towards physical education class at Vocational High School and Anatolian High School, and no statistical difference is found. This research has not detected any statistical difference in students’ attitude points at Vocational High School and Anatolian High School, either. However, statistical difference is found in students’ attitude towards physical education and sports class at seven different schools. When this difference is considered it can be argued that school types influence attitude points towards physical education and sports class. Students can get into Sports High School after a special talent test. They choose sports training themselves and most of these students are sportsmen/ women. Sport activities are performed in Sports High School thus it can be said that the students in this school have the highest attitude points in physical education and sports class. Following Sports High School, Vocational High School and Anatolian High School have the second highest attitude points. It has been thought that the attitude points towards physical education and sports class of these schools would be lower compared to Sports High School. Fine Arts High School and Imam Hatip High School have lower attitude scores compared to Anatolian High School and Vocational High School. Fine Arts students devote more time for artistic activities like music and drawing, and Imam Hatip students for religious issues. This might have decreased the attitude scores towards physical education and sports class. The students at Science High School and Social Sciences High School have the lowest attitude scores. They score the highest in Transition from Primary to Secondary Education Exam (TEOG, 2015). The students in these schools have intense classes and their goal is to get into a good university. For this reason the students focus on theoretical classes and it is thought that their attitude scores towards physical education are low accordingly.

When attitude scores towards physical education based on grade level are considered, it is observed that 9^th grade students have the highest attitude scores towards physical education. The 10^th grade, 11^th grade and 12^th grade follow consecutively in attitude scores towards physical education. At the end of comparing attitude scores based on grades, statistical difference is also observed. It is detected that the difference is caused between 9^th grade and 10^th grade, 11^th grade and 12^th grade; 10^th grade and 12^th grade; 11^th grade and 12^th grade. Depending on these findings, it can be said that the students’ attitude scores towards physical education decrease as they grow. Another research (Alpaslan et al., 2008) states almost the same results. As the students grow, they need to prepare for Student Selection Examination (SSE). The preparation process continues at breaks and in canteens. It is also known that students get medical reports to be excused from physical education classes during which they prepare for SSE. It can be said that due to the increasing exam stress and time pressure, students’ attitude towards physical education decrease.

When attitude scores towards physical education based on gender are considered, it is found that male students have higher attitude scores towards physical education classes compared to female students. At the end of statistical comparison, statistical difference is obtained. TaÅŸyığın and Tekin (2009) have come to conclusion in their research that male students’ attitude towards physical education class is more positive when compared to female students’ attitude. It is observed in many studies that gender affects students’ attitude towards physical education. Most of these researches reveal that male students have more positive attitude towards physical education classes than female students (Carlson, 1994; Weinberg et al., 2001; Koca and Demirhan, 2004; Kangalgil et al., 2006). Although it is found that male students present more positive attitude towards physical activities requiring challenge and bearing risk element, it is observed that female students display more positive attitude towards physical activities emphasizing aesthetics and improving social skills (Smoll and Schutz, 1980). Another research on this issue has been conducted by Tannehilla et al. (1994). They frequently expressed that male students like physical education classes due to the sense of superiority they felt in sports events (qtd. in Hünük, 2006). Another research (Treanor et al., 1998) puts forth that male students feel more talented, strong and powerful in physical education classes compared to female students. It can be said that this way of perception is the cause behind male students’ higher attitude scores towards physical education classes.

The author has not declared any conflicts of interest.