The Attitudes of Saudi Teachers toward Teaching Physical Education for Girls at Public Schools in Jeddah

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of Saudi teachers towards teaching PE for girls at public schools in Jeddah city and to explore the factors that may affect these attitudes. The researcher explored the reasons behind the PE ban for girls in these schools. The number of participants was Four hundred and sixty-two teachers who completed the survey (N = 462). T-Test and One-Way ANNOVA were the two methods to analyze the data collected. The results indicated that about 95.1% of them agreed that regular practice of physical education can affect positively the appearance and the psychological condition of girls. Almost 89% of participants agreed that Islamic instructions imply that both males and females have the right to participate in physical activities and 66% of participants believed that the ban of women to practice sport is a part of discrimination against women. In addition, about 90% of participants agreed that PE classes should be performed for girls in public schools and throughout all educational levels (elementary, middle, and high). Participants believed that the reasons behind the PE ban for girls are the lack of knowledge about the importance of PE 75.1%, the government policy 70.4%, and the social traditions 75.1%. Statistically, male educators scored a significant larger mean on the measure of attitudes towards teaching PE for girls than female educators. Teachers from middle schools and high schools had a statistically significant larger means for the attitude towards teaching PE for girls than teachers from elementary schools, while there was no statistically significant difference between teachers from middle and high school levels