11.5 Promoting Positive Relationships and Personal and Social Responsibility
Key Takeaways
- Hellison's Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility model defines five progressive levels: respecting others' rights and feelings, effort and participation, self-direction, caring and helping, and transfer outside the gymnasium.
- TPSR Level 1 is respect -- not obedience -- and its behavioral definition is self-control that does not interfere with others' right to learn.
- Level 5, transfer, is the model's ultimate goal and requires explicit instruction and reflection; responsible behavior does not transfer to other settings automatically.
- A TPSR lesson structure includes relational time, an awareness talk, the physical activity lesson with responsibility embedded, a group meeting, and self-reflection.
- Sportsmanship is taught through defined, observable behaviors and modeled adult response rather than through general exhortation to show good character.
Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility
Don Hellison's Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model was developed with underserved youth and has become the standard framework for the affective domain in physical education. Its premise is that responsibility is taught content, deliberately structured into the lesson, not a byproduct of participation.
The five levels
| Level | Name | Behavioral definition |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Respecting the rights and feelings of others | Self-control; not interfering with others' right to learn and participate; conflict resolution without aggression; inclusion of peers |
| Level 2 | Effort and participation | Trying, exploring new tasks, persisting when a task is hard, self-motivation |
| Level 3 | Self-direction | Working productively without direct supervision; setting personal goals; managing one's own practice |
| Level 4 | Caring and helping others | Supporting, encouraging, coaching, and helping peers; leadership; genuine concern for others' learning |
| Level 5 | Transfer outside the gymnasium | Applying these behaviors in other classes, at home, and in the community |
Two points the exam tests directly:
Level 1 is respect, not compliance. It is not "do what the teacher says" -- it is self-control that leaves others free to learn. A student who quietly refuses to participate but does not interfere is meeting Level 1 while failing Level 2. Recognizing that distinction is the point of having levels.
Level 5 is the goal, and it does not happen automatically. Transfer requires explicit teaching: naming the behavior, asking where else it applies, setting a transfer goal, and reflecting on the attempt. A program that produces excellent gymnasium behavior and no transfer has stopped at Level 4.
The TPSR lesson structure
- Relational time -- brief individual interaction as students arrive; the teacher knows each student as a person
- Awareness talk -- a short statement of the responsibility focus for the day
- The physical activity lesson -- the responsibility focus is embedded in the tasks, not taught separately
- Group meeting -- students evaluate how the group did on the focus and what to change
- Reflection time -- individual self-assessment against the levels, often with a simple thumbs or written scale
The empowerment principle runs through it: students are given genuine decisions -- selecting a task level, leading a warm-up, officiating, resolving a dispute -- because responsibility cannot be practiced where there is nothing to be responsible for.
Teaching Sportsmanship Behaviorally
"Show good sportsmanship" is not teachable because it is not observable. Effective instruction defines behaviors:
| Situation | Observable expected behavior |
|---|---|
| A teammate makes an error | Say something encouraging within five seconds; no visible negative reaction |
| An official's call goes against you | Accept without argument or gesture; play resumes |
| You win | Acknowledge the opponent; no taunting or celebration directed at them |
| You lose | Congratulate opponents; no blaming teammates |
| An opponent is injured | Stop play; help if appropriate |
| A less skilled teammate is open | Pass to them |
| You commit a foul the official missed | Acknowledge it |
Defined this way, sportsmanship can be taught, practiced, observed, and given feedback -- and it can be assessed against criteria rather than impression. Adult modeling is the strongest teacher: a coach or teacher who argues every call has taught the opposite of every poster on the wall.
Building Positive Relationships and Climate
Teacher-student relationship
- Learn and use names immediately -- in a large class this is the single highest-return investment
- Greet students individually at the door
- Know something beyond the gym about each student
- Distribute attention deliberately. Teachers naturally give more feedback and interaction to the most skilled and most vocal; tracking who you actually talk to reveals a pattern worth correcting
- Respond to error supportively. How a teacher reacts the first time a student fails publicly sets the class's norm for the year
Peer relationships
- Rotate partners and groups systematically so students work with everyone and no one is repeatedly left out
- Structure encouragement as an explicit task requirement -- "each person gives their partner one specific piece of positive feedback per round"
- Use cooperative and adventure-based tasks that require the whole group to succeed
- Assign meaningful roles so every student has a contribution beyond skill execution -- scorekeeper, official, equipment manager, statistician, coach
- Address exclusion immediately. Silence about a student not being passed to is read as endorsement
Cooperative structures
| Structure | How it builds responsibility |
|---|---|
| Reciprocal teaching | Partners alternate performing and observing against a criteria sheet, giving specific feedback -- builds Level 4 caring and helping |
| Cooperative challenges | Group problem-solving tasks where success requires everyone |
| Team roles in Sport Education | Persistent teams with coach, official, statistician, and equipment roles |
| Peer coaching | A trained student supports a specific skill for a peer |
| Student-led warm-ups | Rotating leadership responsibility |
Inclusive Climate
The behaviors that make a physical education class safe for the least confident student are specific and enforceable: no commentary on anyone's body or skill; everyone gets the ball; the person who is least skilled at a task is not the one left out of it; private options for changing; no public ranking; and every student's effort is visible to the teacher.
A teacher who states these expectations, teaches them, and enforces them consistently changes participation rates measurably -- because the students who withdraw from physical education overwhelmingly withdraw from social exposure, not from movement.
Common Praxis Traps
- Trap 1: Reading TPSR Level 1 as obedience. It is self-control that respects others' rights.
- Trap 2: Assuming transfer happens on its own. Level 5 must be taught and reflected on.
- Trap 3: Teaching sportsmanship as an abstract value. Define observable behaviors.
- Trap 4: Modeling argument with officials. Adult behavior overrides instruction.
- Trap 5: Letting students always choose their own partners. Rotate systematically.
- Trap 6: Ignoring exclusion within a game. Silence reads as endorsement.
In Hellison's TPSR model, a student stands quietly at the edge of the activity, declines to participate, but does not disrupt anyone else. How should this be assessed against the levels?
A physical education program produces excellent behavior in the gymnasium, but teachers in other classes report no change in the same students' conduct. Which TPSR level has not been addressed?
Which approach most effectively teaches sportsmanship?
Partners alternate between performing a skill and observing their partner against a written criteria sheet, providing specific feedback each round. Which TPSR level does this structure most directly develop?