Social and personal skills in Physical Education: teachers and students' preception about an intervention program

The development of social and personal skills in schools, specifically in Physical Education classes, is fundamental to face the mission of Education and the demands of today's society. In this context, we tried to assess how students and teachers perceived such competences through an intervention program carried out in Physical Education classes. For this purpose, a qualitative study was developed in which 15 focus groups were created, between 4 and 6 students of both genders and aged between 14 and 16 years old (14,83 +/- 0,59). Six physical education teachers were also interviewed. The focus group and interviews were conducted on the basis of a semi-structured script and were guided by trained researchers. The students were submitted to a 20-hour intervention program, based on the Model of Sports Education, with guidance and supervision of teachers, who had training and support of the research team, through weekly meetings and class follow-up. Firstly, the groups and the interviews were transcribed by trained investigators, being that, the transcription of the interviews was fully made (verbatim). The NVivo10 software was used to organize and categorize the transcripted data. The collected data show that both students and teachers manifested a high perception regarding the development of several social and personal skills in the implemented program, which allowed us to conclude that the Physical Education classes could contribute, effectively, to the improvement of social competences and personal needs of the students.