Classroom Climate as Mediator of the Relationship between Classroom Management and Motivation in Physical Education

In educational research classroom management is considered to be related to the students' motivation and this relation is assumed to be mediated by the class climate. Class climate is defined by the student-teacher- and the student-student-relations. However, regarding this mediation there is a lack of empirical evidence. More specifically, this is the case for research on physical education. Investigating these relations, a questionnaire-based study was conducted in physical education including 331 8th to 10th grade students. The results support the assumption that classroom management and class climate are two independent constructs. Further, the analyses show that there is a direct relation between classroom management and the students' motivation. This effect is fully mediated by the teacher-student-relations and the student-student-relations. Thus, the study supports the assumption that classroom management plays a significant role with regard to educational goals as motivation and that in this regard the class climate serves as an explanatory variable.