INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

independence. Compulsory and optional subjects are included in the
education curriculum in Latvia. Sports is included in the block of
compulsory subjects, it means everybody studies it. In 1995/1996 the
Physical Education Standard of Secondary Education was accepted. It
consists of 3 parts:
1. theoretical,
2. practical,
3. physical quality tests.
Developing a study programme, a sports teacher should include all
three parts stated in the Standard. To realize this task it is necessary to
develop the content of the theoretical part of the Standard.
To find out how pupils prepare and acquire knowledge for the
theoretical test in sports I carried out an inquiry (questionnaire). In the
questionnaire I included 12 questions with open and closed answers
and asked 54 sports teachers having different length of service (from
2-15 years) to answer them.
Summing up the obtained results, I found out that pupils prepare
for the theoretical test differently - guided by the teacher and
independently. Sports teachers mostly ask the pupils to do this in
written way.
The questions about the history of sports are the most difficult for
pupils.
Almost every sports teacher agrees that at school a theoretical
class is necessary.
The recommendations for the theoretical test by the respondents
are different:
1. in every class when teaching the new content also theoretical
aspects should be given and pupils’ knowledge should be
tested once a month;
2. the sports teacher should work out tests following the test
questions of the previous years;
3. the teacher should prepare materials about a definite theme,
hand them out and in the next class discuss the unclear
questions;
4. 90 % of sports teachers approve a theoretical sports class, but
they have different opinion about when to start this kind of
teaching - from grade 1 or grade 5;
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