Aggression, domination, and exclusion in physical education: a case study of a Spain state school

School violence is a recurrent subject in Social Science researches. In Physical Education (PE), the physical and sporting activities proposed by the teacher affect the relationship between students during the classes. The aim of this article is to question the influence of the physical activities practiced in PE on the conflicts detected in a Spanish state primary school. Participant observation was performed in PE classes of 6th graders during one school year (2009/2010). On the one hand, we have detected during our observations the presence of different types of violence. On the other hand, we have identified 242 motor activities and analyzed them throughout their internal logic, in order to obtain the practice time percentage related to the different categories of motor activities. The results show that PE in Spain reproduces the competitive model of team sports as it predominates symmetric duels (39.7%) with scores (71%). The systematic practice of these activities could be encouraging students' aggression, throughout the domination of some students, and the exclusion and frustration of the others. Consequently, the conflicts could be a reflection of these duels. As winning is the main purpose of these activities, cheating, arguments, aggressive gestures and exclusion of girls are recurrent, strengthening the domination of one team over another.