Social Functions of the School Sport Club in Israel in the Eyes of Physical Educators and other Teachers

While functional theory advocates the positive effects of school sport on the school as a community, conflict theory warns against its’ possible negative effects. The introduction of sport clubs to the Israeli educational system provided an opportunity to examine the conditions under which this new institution is perceived as functional (positive) or dysfunctional (negative) to the school and to learn whether these perceptions differ between PE and other teachers. Analyses are based on data collected from 351 teachers and 42 principals in a stratified sample of junior high schools in Israel, who answered questionnaires including details about the sport club operation and about personal attitudes and perceptions. Results show that: (1) Both PE and other teachers perceive the sport club mainly as functional to the school and see very little dysfunction related to its’ operation; (2) PE teachers, however, think the sport club is functional to the school more than other teachers do; (3) Using multigroup analysis in structural equation modeling (SEM), a solid (χ2=231.75, df=243, p< .69; TLI=1.00; CFI=1.00_RMSEA=0.00) model was found that indicated that all teachers’ positive perceptions of the sport club are related to their satisfaction with club operations; (4) Satisfaction with sport club operations is a function of visibility of the sport club, involvement of different position holders in the club management and holding a championship title. However, independent of their satisfaction with the club, the more visible the club, the more non‐PE teachers think sport clubs also have some dysfunctions.