During the last decade the concept of quality has become very popular in different sectors of society both in profit as well as non-profit sectors (De Knop, 1998; De Knop & De Martelaer, 2000). At the same time, the call for more qualitative criteria also became more pronounced within the field of education (Trompedeller, 2000). In Flanders, the northern Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, quality care captured a central position within the educational policy of its Government (Verhaeghe et al., 1998; Michielssens, 2002).

A decade ago Flemish schools were merely financed, based on their total number of students (quantity). Today, the number of students as the only criterion for financial support is considered unacceptable. The Department of Education of the Flemish Community acknowledges that also qualitative criteria have to be taken into consideration (De Droogh & Nelen, 2000). As a consequence, different structural initiatives to monitor quality care within the educational system (i.e., control and promote quality), were introduced (Kelchtermans & Van de Poele, 1995). The current external quality care policy of the Flemish government is based upon three main pillars, namely: (a) the decree on the final attainment levels of students, (b) the decree on the financing of continuing-education courses of teachers and (c) the decree on the Schools Inspectorate and the Pedagogical Counselling Office (17 July 1991) (Doom, 2000; Michielssens, 2002). The decree on the Schools Inspectorate and the Pedagogical Counselling Office created a new trend within the Flemish Educational Policy. Under the influence of austerity measures, this decree granted more autonomy to the schools, burdening them with extra tasks and responsibilities (Michielssens, 2002). One of these extra tasks was the initiation of an internal quality care policy. In this context taking care of the school physical education quality can be considered as an obligation of every Flemish school.

Working at quality must be conceived as a cyclic process. An approach that constantly questions and seeks to improve the quality of processes, products and services (Vandenberghe & Kelchtermans, 1997; Europese Commissie, 2000). First, clear short and long term goals need to be formulated. To reach these goals, specific action plans need to be set up. The next step is an evaluation, followed - if necessary - by an adjustment of the pronounced goals and/or actions (De Knop & De Martelaer, 2000).

Before the current quality of school physical education in Flanders can be analysed, specific standards are to be postulated as the term "quality education" can be interpreted in many different ways (Louwet, 2002). The theoretical quality model presented by van Bottenburg and Schuyt (1996); and van Bottenburg, Van't Hof, and Oldenboom (1997) offers a framework within which quality features for school physical education can be organised. In accordance with this theoretical model one can state that school physical education is of good quality when it fulfils (a) the (justifiable) expectations of society, (b) the potential wishes and expectations of the pupils and their parents, (c) the criteria laid down by experts, and (d) when school physical education is organised effectively and efficiently.

In order to evaluate the different types of quality within the school physical education subject, the model of van Bottenburg and Schuyt (1996) was integrated within the "Gap Analysis Model" or "Service Quality Model" of Parasuraman et al. (1985).

Figure 2: The GAP-analysis model of Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) in function of the school physical education subject.

By doing this a framework was developed which not only evaluates the quality of school physical education but also tracks the level of origin at which quality problems do occur. The "Gap Analysis Model" is based on 4 gaps which, in total, try to explain the discrepancy between the expectations and experiences of society and students with regard to school physical education (GAP 5). GAP1 of the presented theoretical model examines the social quality of the school physical education subject. Looking at social quality can be conceived as an obligation because in Flanders, as well as in many other neighbouring countries, it is acknowledged that the governmental interpretation of quality education should match the expectations of society. As a consequence, a first step to evaluate the current quality of school physical education is to find out if today's society agrees with the operationalisation of what quality school physical education should be according to the Flemish Ministry of Education, or in other words, the course specific final attainment levels (Gombeir, 1993). Bearing this in mind, this study will focus on three main research questions:

Research questions

Methodology

Participants

Sector	Number Sent	Returned	Response Percentage
1. Education	24	21	87.5%
2. Sport	32	26	81.2%
3. Youth	28	16	57.1%
4. Media	21	12	57.1%
5. Health	17	11	64.7%
6. Social services	11	7	63.6%
7. Economics	15	8	53.3%
8. Culture	10	7	70.0%
9. Other	11	6	54.5%
10. Politics	10	5	50.0%
11. Association of parents	3	3	100%
Total	182	122	67.0%

The degree of response exceeded the 50.0% barrier within all the social sectors. 57.3% of the respondents were male and 42.7% female. The age differed from 18 to 63, with an average of 37.6. 28.2% of the respondents have a secondary school teacher's or master's degree in physical education and 48.3% were a parent.

Data collection

Data was collected via a questionnaire which consisted of open (n = 5) as well as closed (n = 4) questions and were sent to the different privileged organisations by post, fax or e-mail. The use of open questions had the advantage of not limiting the answers of the respondents (De Pelsmacker & Van Kenhove, 1999). This was a decisive factor as the main aim of this study was to get a general and broad view on the expectations, visions and experiences of society with regard to the main goals of secondary school physical education. For the analysis of the collected data the SPSS software package was used.

Results

Table 2: Overview of the social expectations and visions with regard to the main goals of secondary school physical education in Flanders.

Social expectations regarding the main goals of school physical education

Table 2 gives an overview of the expectations and visions of today's society with regard to the main goals of secondary school physical education in Flanders. The expectations from the different social sectors show a lot of resemblance to the current course-specific final attainment levels. The arrangement of social expectations within the three main domains of course specific final attainment levels made it clear that the respondents consider the development of a fit and healthy life style (95.1%) to be a main goal of the school physical education subject. According to the respondents, the main aims within this domain are: (a) the stimulation of positive attitudes towards sports and physical activity and the provocation towards (life-long) sporting activities (86.3%), (b) the focus on general physical development of students on the pretext of "Mens sana in corpore sano" (39.5%) and (c) the improvement of general physical fitness of students (22.6%). The respondents state that stimulating students to adopt a positive attitude towards sports and physical activity can be done by experiening a diverse range of different sports (38.7%), by placing the emphasis on the importance of sports and physical activity (13.7%) and by ensuring enjoyment through sport and physical activity (16.1%). With regard to the improvement of physical fitness of the students, a distinction is made between the general physical condition (25.8%) and the development of endurance, flexibility, strength, speed, etc. (5.6%). Other issues acknowledged by the respondents as important goals within the domain "Fit and healthy life style" included: the promotion of general health (9.7%), emphasising the importance of warming up before and cooling down after physical activity (1.6%) and the utilisation of hygienic rules (1.6%).

The development of motor and social competencies of youngsters were both considered important by 52.4% of the respondents. The development of motor competencies should, according to the respondents, best focus on (a) providing responsible and safe movement possibilities (30.6%) and (b) widening and deepening the basic motor competencies of students by teaching them some basic sport technical and movement skills (26.6%). Providing responsible and safe movement possibilities to students should, according to the respondents, involve: (a) the offering of a minimal amount of physical activity (19.3%), (b) paying attention to posture and back schooling (e.g., carrying heavy loads, correct sitting position, teaching optimal lifting and carrying techniques, etc.) (6.4%) and (c) teaching students to observe safety regulations, agreements and rules (4.8%). Other issues identified by the respondents as goals that can be classified within the domain of motor competencies are (a) attention to fair play and learning to deal with competition, gain and loss, feelings of joy and sadness (10.5%) and (b) learning to reflect upon movement (0.8%).

According to the respondents, the school physical education subject should also pay attention to the development of the self-image and social skills of students by teaching them to (a) operate in group activities (41.1%), (b) assess personal possibilities and limitations (16.9%) and (c) show effort, persistence and perseverance during physical activity (13.7%).

Finally, 21.7% of the respondents state that school physical education should provide variation and relaxation from the compulsory daily routine of sitting still behind a school desk. The school physical education subject should, according to these respondents, in other words provide physical relaxation to compensate for the daily strenuous mental activities during the other more theoretical oriented school subjects.

Finally, 28.2% of the respondents state that the pronounced goals/expectations are usually being met and 1.6% hesitate between "sometimes" and "usually". Only one respondent (0.8%) thinks that the pronounced goals/expectations are always being attained and 12.1% of the respondents stated they had "no opinion" on this subject.

The respondents made some suggestions that might raise the likelihood of reaching the pronounced goals. Most of these suggestions focussed on the organisational point of the school physical education subject e.g. increasing curricular time allocation (39.5%), more qualified and motivated physical education teachers (43.6%), increase in interest toward sports by school management and the other subject teachers (43.6%) and improvement of the material resources (21.8%) . The respondents did not formulate improvements with regard to the content of school physical education. They only stress their appreciation for the current course-specific final attainment levels (12.9%) and plead for the initiation of a large variety of sporting activities that correspond to the expectations and living environment of today's students (18.5%).

Conclusion

Based on this study it can be concluded that school physical education does not yet reach a satisfying social quality standard. Although the current final attainment levels of school physical education are a surplus value, as they incorporate well the expectations of today's society, their effective and efficient implementation and realisation is susceptible to many different factors. More than half of the respondents in this study stress that the pronounced expectations (and as a consequence also the course-specific final attainment levels) are too seldom being met. As a consequence, questions do arise about the feasibility of the current final attainment levels of school physical education. Maybe too many goals are being purchased in too little time and/or maybe the pronounced goals are not being met as a consequence of organisational hindering. In this matter the implementation of a course specific quality care system may contribute to a more effective and more efficient realisation of today's course specific final attainment levels of school physical education.

Epilogue

In the next phase of this research project the users (students and parents) will be questioned about their expectations and experiences with regard to school physical education. Simultaneously we will focus on the feasibility of the current course-specific final attainment levels of school physical education by means of in-depth interviews with physical education teachers. These persons will be asked to describe what they consider to be minimal and/or ideal conditions to be able to fulfil the current course specific final attainment levels of school physical education.