Introduction

High-stakes fitness testing has become a dominant form of assessment used in China that is administered to young people in schools (Chen & Brown, 2013). These assessments are used to evaluate teachers’ effectiveness (Supovitz 2009), motivate students (Göloglu Demir & Kaplan Keles, 2021), and carry considerable weight on secondary and university admissions (Chen & Brown, 2013). In China, there are two ‘high-stakes’ assessments that carry important consequences for young people. One of the tests, the Gaokao, is a senior high school assessment that counts towards university admission. The focus of this paper is on the Zhongkao, an assessment for junior high school students whereby the results are used to inform admission decisions for entry into senior high school (Wu, 2015). Thus, the use of ‘high-stakes’ assessments is not a ‘neutral’ tool to simply measure student learning (Farvis and Hay 2020) but rather is a social and political process that has material consequences for many young people’s lives (Ryan 2002).

As part of the Zhongkao, the physical education section is comprised of a physical fitness test. Physical fitness tests are a polemical issue within physical education (e.g., Alfrey & Gard, 2019). On the one hand, some have argued that fitness testing has some benefits including an association with increased motivation amongst young people (Jaakkola et al. 2016; Simonton, Mercier, and Garn 2019). On the other hand, there has been growing body of evidence illustrating not so positive experiences with fitness testing. This includes research on motivation (Jaakkola et al. 2016) and attitudes (Goudas, Biddle, and Fox 1994), young people more broadly (Hopple and Graham 1995; Wrench and Garrett 2008), young women (O’Keeffe, MacDonncha, and Donnelly 2021), as well as Black, Latinx and LGBTQ young people (Safron & Landi, 2022). Within this debate, there is an overarching belief that has pervaded the physical education research community that it is ‘not the test’ that is bad, but rather the approach to teaching the test (Silverman et al., 2009).

WithinChinese culture,high value is placed on assessment and this increases pressure on young people, parents, teachers and schools (Chen and Brown 2013; Wu 2015). Within physical education (and fitness testing), such competitive practices have been shown to produce negative experiences amongst young people in schools (Aggerholm, Standal, and Hordvik 2018). We believe China is an interesting place to examine the ‘approach’ debate because high-stakes fitness testing is mandated for teachers and young people to follow. Further, there is a lack of research with Chinese young people about their fitness testing experiences. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore Chinese young people’s experiences of the physical education component of the Zhongkao. The specific research questions that informed this research were:

       (1)    What are Chinese young persons’ reflective perceptions of the physical education assessment in the Zhongkao?

       (2)    What were the Chinese young persons’ reflective experiences of participating in the physical education assessment in the Zhongkao?

Paradigm

The paper is grounded in a pragmatist paradigm of research (Morgan, 2014). The pragmatist paradigm informs its background, methods and interpretation of the results drawing on previous insights from an epistemic community (Lawson, 2009). As such, this paper was informed not by an overarching theory, but rather the contextual factors and disciplinary traditions within physical education research. Yet, we were reflexive in our own thinking process in order to be critical of the dominant and discursive power structures within physical education research so we did not un-wittingly reproduce the inequities caused by epistemic dominance within the field (Landi, 2023).

Design The overarching design of this research project was a qualitative exploratory study drawing on conversational inquiry (Leavy 2017). Given the purpose of the study, to understand perceptions and experiences of young people, a conversational (Leavy 2017) approach was chosen because it is meant to discuss, unpack and contextualize lived events. For this paper, a conversational approach was used to better understand the experiences of high-stakes physical fitness assessments in physical education in China. Setting and Participants: This study took place at Sheng Wang School (pseudonym) a private secondary school in Shanghai. The study participants comprised of 24 students enrolled in Year 11 physical education. These students were chosen based on ‘convenience sampling’ because they were enrolled in physical education. Further, the lead author is a former teacher at this school and used ‘insider’ status to gain access. The students in this study were aged between 16-17 years old at the time of interviews. Each student participated in the physical education component of the Zhongkao assessment two years prior to the interview. Data Generation and Analysis: Data were generated using four semi-structured group interviews (Kvale 1996). Each interview was comprised of six students and lasted between 40-50 minutes. Given that events may be forgotten (Marshall and Rossman 2006), the use of groups were used to produce dialectic encounters (Rubin and Rubin 2005) that ‘jar’ participants’ memories based on other students responses. Interviews were conducted via Teams and were audio-recorded as well as transcribed from verbal data (Mandarin) into transcripts (Chinese). They were then translated from Chinese into English by the first author and reviewed by another person. For data analysis, the first and last author first went through a process of ‘concept coding’ (Saldaña 2013). After this first round of concept coding, the first and last author undertook a round of conceptual mapping where they mapped codes in relation to one another. Using grouped data excerpts that were conceptually mapped, the first and fourth author used each cluster to write up the initial results. This draft acted as analytical memos (Marshall and Rossman 2006) where the second and third authors read and provided critical feedback. The critical feedback challenged the results in relation to the literature. The first and fourth author then conducted two additional revisions connecting findings to make a unique contribution (presented below).

Finding/Conclusion Most students valued physical education and believed it was an important part of the curriculum. Students believed the inclusion of physical education in the Zhongkao assessment is necessary because it shows the subject holds equal importance. One student stated this: I think the physical education test is necessary. After all, students should develop morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and comprehensively. Physical education was seen as a subject that taught unique and important topics. The students believed physical education represented a different way of learning. Physical education was also fun and enjoyable, and even acted as a break from the monotony of schooling. Therefore, teachers know how to teach physical education to make it enjoyable and valued by students. As a result of the physical fitness assessment, however, teachers would change their teaching practices for the 2-3 months leading up to the exam. This had a negative affect on young people’s experiences. One student said: Two or three months before the PE test, went for an intensive training. Personally, I think it's a bit of a torture… Students believed the over-emphasis on test scores led to a shift in teaching by teachers. What was previously a fun and enjoyable experience turned into a ‘training session’ to prepare for the test. The shift in teaching instigated by the test led young people to dislike physical education. They argued it was ‘boring’, ‘painful’, ‘torture’, amongst many negative adjectives. Young people claimed the high-stakes test was bad for learning. So, whilst the fitness testing debate has been a dominated by blaming teachers’ for their approach to fitness testing, the insights from this study illustrate that physical educators know how to make class valuable for students. It is the test, however, that instigates a change in their approach – not the other way around.

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