School fitness tests in PE lessons have little impact on pupils’ attitudes towards the subject - and these tests waste valuable lesson time when used in isolation from the curriculum, a new study suggests.

The research, conducted in the US, found that “fitness testing during PE may be wasting valuable class time when used in isolation from the curriculum”.

And rather than improving pupils’ engagement in PE, or putting them off, there was actually little association between the tests and pupils’ emotions towards PE. These tests’ limited impact was surprising given the highly polarised opinions on their effectiveness, the report says.

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“Our results show that extreme views on this controversial subject may be unfounded, since fitness tests neither put students off PE nor encourage a positive outlook on participation,” said Kelly Simonton from Louisiana State University.

Pupils’ attitudes towards PE

“What’s more, school fitness tests are rarely used to educate students about fitness and they’re often implemented poorly, so we cannot help but think that class time would be better spent in equipping students with knowledge and skills that more closely support the PE curriculum.”

In previous studies, intensely positive or negative effects have been found based on pupils’ and teachers’ memories of the tests.

The new research investigated how one fitness assessment - Fitnessgram - influenced the emotions of 273 middle school pupils towards PE, focusing on enjoyment, anger and boredom towards the subject.

Pupils filled in an attitudes survey and emotions inventory within two weeks of completing a physical fitness test.

In previous studies of fitness tests, researchers found that as pupils progressed through secondary school their positivity towards PE declined, especially among girls. However, results from the new research were mixed across different areas of the assessment.

The researchers found that fitness test performance explained only 12 per cent of variation in boys’ feelings towards PE, while for girls the effect was just 4 per cent.

Success in the tests had almost no impact on feelings of boredom towards PE, which the authors noted was surprising given the strong opinions held by both critics and proponents of fitness tests.

The report’s authors said it would be better if fitness tests were used as part of the curriculum, noting that teachers did not “use the tests as a means to develop students’ fitness education”, or to create plans to improve their individual fitness levels.

However, the researchers also noted several limitations of the study, such as the fact that the data was only collected at one point in time, preventing them from measuring any changes in pupils’ attitudes, while the teachers involved did not follow their recommendations to integrate fitness tests into the curriculum.

Test scores were not shared with parents or guardians, and pupils did not compare their results to previous tests in order to monitor their health and fitness.

The study, “Do fitness test performances predict students’ attitudes and emotions toward physical education?”, was led by scientists at Louisiana State University and Adelphi University.