| Summary: | Physical education programs in schools are designed to promote lifelong habits of physical activity by providing children with both the opportunity to be physically active and positive experiences of that activity. In many nations, including Iceland, there is general concern that levels of physical activity decrease during adolescence, and that girls are even less active than boys. Interviews with four physical education teachers and four principals at the elementary school level in Akureyri, Iceland, explored current beliefs about the effectiveness and value of physical education, gender issues within the physical education system, as well as the value of coed and same sex physical education. A general consensus was found amongst educators regarding the goals and effectiveness of their physical education program. It was found that schools in Iceland have no guidelines from the Ministry of Education curriculum as to when, or whether to use single sex or coed classroom environments; and that current school physical education program set-ups are developed based on the opinions and beliefs of the educators who have very little formal education regarding the use of single sex and coed environments. All four teachers found it easier to activate girls in a single sex teaching environment, specifically, when taking part in activities that were more physical in nature and in the upper grades. However, all teachers were in favour of a mix of coed and single sex teaching environments within their programs in order that students benefit from the social interaction. Educators had a variety of opinions regarding to what degree their programs could be considered “masculinized”. In addition, the teachers indicated that girls in general needed more motivation or individual attention on behalf of the teachers in order to achieve greater levels of participation. This paper concludes that formal education regarding gender issues in physical education should be a requirement for physical education teachers. Furthermore, that ...
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