5,300 research outputs found

    Sport team leadership coaching and captaincy in elite level rugby union football

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    A wide range of literature exists on coaching but it is concerned predominantly with the high school and college levels, is based upon athlete or coach perceptions, or is confined to observations of training or competition. As leaders of sports teams, coaches and captains have rarely been studied at the highest level of national or international sports competition. In the present study, the team leadership roles of the coach and captain in elite rugby union football in New Zealand were examined using participant observation and other qualitative research methods. Elite was defined as New Zealand rugby’s highest internal level of competition: (a) the national provincial championships and (b) international test matches of the national team, the All Blacks. The study explored the roles of the elite rugby coach and captain in vivo in a wide variety of team situations. It was felt that this could provide first-hand information on particular team leader behaviours, on what a coach and captain actually do, and how they are perceived by those around them. The main objective, however, was to use grounded theory techniques to create a model of elite rugby team leadership that might guide developmental programmes on such leadership. The research phases undertaken were those of participant observation with a Provincial Team for five matches, a survey of provincial teams’ coaches and captains on their leadership associated with actual matches, three years’ participant observation with the All Blacks (including observation in eight test match weeks), multiple perspectives on elite team leadership from past rugby test players in New Zealand and overseas, and interviews with national team leaders in sports other than rugby. Participant observation, interviews, questionnaires and document analysis generated data from the research settings. These data were considered in terms of symbolic interactionism and subjected to a grounded theory process. This led to a set of elite rugby team leadership categories and properties which, in turn, generated a comprehensive set of theoretical propositions. The propositions became the basis for a model of elite rugby team leadership. This model was then considered as the basis for a programme to develop elite rugby team leaders. Significant aspects of the research findings which have not featured in previous research literature included the coach’s vision, team culture, centrality of the game plan, match week build-up, the importance of the captain’s playing example, the coach's ability to utilise teaching precepts, the coach’s personal qualities, and the need to develop and evaluate team leaders. The model, and the developmental programme principles emanating from it, are seen as relevant for developing elite level leaders in team sports other than rugby

    Children and young people’s experiences of growing up with cerebral palsy in rehabilitation

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    This thesis explores the relationship between children and young people with Cerebral Palsy’s experience of rehabilitation and its impact on their psychoemotional development and sense of self. This thesis identifies that there has been a lack of discussion regarding the impact of undertaking rehabilitation and developing a sense of self as a person with Cerebral Palsy. By conducting semistructured interviews with 16 children and young people who identified as having Cerebral Palsy about their experience of the rehabilitative process, this research makes three main findings; rehabilitation contributed to participants’ psychoemotional response to their walking ability; rehabilitation constructed a version of independence, which impacted participants’ sense of self when the reality differed from their expectation; and, due to their lack of agency in the process, rehabilitation led to participants experiencing internalised oppression based on a belief that they had to improve their functionality through therapy. Based on these findings, this thesis makes a recommendation for further research into people with Cerebral Palsy’s experiences of pain and degeneration, and a policy proposal that rehabilitation services should take a lifelong approach to enhance the physical, social, and psycho-emotional well-being of children, young people, and adults with Cerebral Palsy

    Residualisation as an explanatory theory of educational inequalities: an exploratory analysis of schools in the Glasgow region

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    This thesis focuses on an understanding of the State and its implications for social equalities promised through the education system. Studies of educational inequalities tend to focus on either social class inequalities and their effects on education or inequalities generated within the education system itself. Whilst there are a few studies on the historical genesis of the modern state education system (e.g. Green, 1990; Archer, 2013), the State itself is an invisible backdrop: there are no studies of educational inequalities which look at the State in state education. The main contribution of the thesis then is in developing an account of the State in the education system, which explains educational inequalities in a way that is neither reducible to class inequalities alone nor to inequalities generated within the education system itself. The reason for developing such an account relates to an impasse of sorts in sociological and educational theory. Namely, in explaining why, given the widespread consensus on the importance of education in generating social equalities, such little progress has been made. The sociologist Diane Reay (2010: 396) expresses the paradoxical nature of this: So we are confronted with a conundrum. How is schooling to be understood in relation to social class? The contribution of the thesis to explore why this is not the right question to ask and why the relations between schooling and social class in themselves are necessary but not sufficient to explain educational inequalities. The answer to what these other relations are is itself an answer to a gap in educational theory, therefore. And the answer is provided by the addition of the State. Methodologically, the approach is a Critical Realist one. This means an ontological focus on structures and their causal powers which generate actual events. And since this ontological level cannot be accessed directly, it means – at the epistemological level - developing a theoretical model based on the relevant structures and causal powers involved in the research object. This is then applied to a concrete empirical case, enabling the explanatory model to be validated or, in most instances, modified and augmented to a greater or lesser degree. This methodological sequence of retroduction-retrodiction-retroduction (or Real-Empirical-Real) shapes the structure of the thesis as follows: • Retroduction: In Chapters 2-4, the building of a theoretical model of systemically linked inequalities, expanding the concept of residualisation in the housing literature. • Retrodiction: Working out the specifics of applying this theoretical model in terms of a Critical Realist research design (Chapter 5) to a specific empirical case, using the secondary schools of Glasgow Region (Chapters 6-10). • Retroduction: Returning to that initial theoretical model enables an integration of the empirical findings and, at the same time, the refinement and augmentation of it into a final, causal model (Chapter 11), which explains the persistence of educational inequalities in terms of structures and their causal powers. Theoretically, no one approach is applied as one of the contributions is to build a new approach. The is done through retaining David Lockwood’s (1964) account of the conflict model of strategic-functionalism found in Karl Marx and developing it. It is developed by adding in the State as the key relation missing. In doing so, Lockwood’s model is elaborated in two ways. Firstly, his account of a core institutional order is developed through an account of institutional compatibilities in the Varieties of Capitalism (VOC) literature (Hall and Soskice, 2001). Secondly, his account of contradiction is developed through Claus Offe’s (1984) structural Marxist approach to the crisis management of the State. The latter supplies the critical relation missing in both Lockwood and the VOC literature: the State. Thirdly, the structural relations of a Liberal Market Economy (LME) in the VOC literature combined with Offe’s structural analysis of the post-Keynesian state means the final elaboration: the LME State. It is argued that this is what produced the phenomenon of residualisation analysed in the housing studies literature In the early 1980s (for example, Forrest and Murie, 1983), and is just one specific instance of the residualisation produced in residual, LME States more generally, a process which is cumulative in its linked poverty traps. It is this then that is used to explain educational inequalities. Empirically, the main finding is that there is a quasi-privatisation of the state secondary system in Glasgow Region, despite the distinctiveness of Scottish Education and its commitment to the welfare state. The key implications of this and the thesis overall are: • Theoretically, an alternative approach to educational inequalities. It also points to a way beyond the theoretical impasse in the sociology of education and a route past the overreliance on Bourdieu, as well as a move past the functionalist issues in the simplified Marxist Base-Superstructure model. In addition, addressing the omission of the State in the skills literature and the VOC literature means a contribution to these other two literatures. • Methodologically, better theoretical conceptualisation of this problem based on structures of System Integration and the State would enable approaches that are necessarily multidisciplinary, taking into account the cumulative nature of inequalities, which cannot be explained by a focus on schooling or social class alone. This requires developing a better understanding of how inequalities work in modern states and a move away from education alone being able to solve them. • Empirically, this opens up a potential programme of research which enables further testing of the theoretical model of residualisation within Scotland and the UK. Further, extending this from countries in the UK to a more comparative international approach, such as in those regimes identified in the Varieties of Capitalism literature, would develop the theory of systemic poverty traps in Liberal Market Economic States. It would also help to develop a better understanding of the relation of the State to education and develop a better understanding of state education more generally. Finally, in terms of the ‘story’ of the thesis, the conundrum of how schooling is to be understood in relation to social class is instead replaced with how education is to be understood in relation to the state

    Comedians without a Cause: The Politics and Aesthetics of Humour in Dutch Cabaret (1966-2020)

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    Comedians play an important role in society and public debate. While comedians have been considered important cultural critics for quite some time, comedy has acquired a new social and political significance in recent years, with humour taking centre stage in political and social debates around issues of identity, social justice, and freedom of speech. To understand the shifting meanings and political implications of humour within a Dutch context, this PhD thesis examines the political and aesthetic workings of humour in the highly popular Dutch cabaret genre, focusing on cabaret performances from the 1960s to the present. The central questions of the thesis are: how do comedians use humour to deliver social critique, and how does their humour resonate with political ideologies? These questions are answered by adopting a cultural studies approach to humour, which is used to analyse Dutch cabaret performances, and by studying related materials such as reviews and media interviews with comedians. This thesis shows that, from the 1960s onwards, Dutch comedians have been considered ‘progressive rebels’ – politically engaged, subversive, and carrying a left-wing political agenda – but that this image is in need of correction. While we tend to look for progressive political messages in the work of comedians who present themselves as being anti-establishment rebels – such as Youp van ‘t Hek, Hans Teeuwen, and Theo Maassen – this thesis demonstrates that their transgressive and provocative humour tends to protect social hierarchies and relationships of power. Moreover, it shows that, paradoxically, both the deliberately moderate and nuanced humour of Wim Kan and Claudia de Breij, and the seemingly past-oriented nostalgia of Alex Klaasen, are more radical and progressive than the transgressive humour of van ‘t Hek, Teeuwen and Maassen. Finally, comedians who present absurdist or deconstructionist forms of humour, such as the early student cabarets, Freek de Jonge, and Micha Wertheim, tend to disassociate themselves from an explicit political engagement. By challenging the dominant image of the Dutch comedian as a ‘progressive rebel,’ this thesis contributes to a better understanding of humour in the present cultural moment, in which humour is often either not taken seriously, or one-sidedly celebrated as being merely pleasurable, innocent, or progressively liberating. In so doing, this thesis concludes, the ‘dark’ and more conservative sides of humour tend to get obscured

    Examples of works to practice staccato technique in clarinet instrument

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    Klarnetin staccato tekniğini güçlendirme aşamaları eser çalışmalarıyla uygulanmıştır. Staccato geçişlerini hızlandıracak ritim ve nüans çalışmalarına yer verilmiştir. Çalışmanın en önemli amacı sadece staccato çalışması değil parmak-dilin eş zamanlı uyumunun hassasiyeti üzerinde de durulmasıdır. Staccato çalışmalarını daha verimli hale getirmek için eser çalışmasının içinde etüt çalışmasına da yer verilmiştir. Çalışmaların üzerinde titizlikle durulması staccato çalışmasının ilham verici etkisi ile müzikal kimliğe yeni bir boyut kazandırmıştır. Sekiz özgün eser çalışmasının her aşaması anlatılmıştır. Her aşamanın bir sonraki performans ve tekniği güçlendirmesi esas alınmıştır. Bu çalışmada staccato tekniğinin hangi alanlarda kullanıldığı, nasıl sonuçlar elde edildiği bilgisine yer verilmiştir. Notaların parmak ve dil uyumu ile nasıl şekilleneceği ve nasıl bir çalışma disiplini içinde gerçekleşeceği planlanmıştır. Kamış-nota-diyafram-parmak-dil-nüans ve disiplin kavramlarının staccato tekniğinde ayrılmaz bir bütün olduğu saptanmıştır. Araştırmada literatür taraması yapılarak staccato ile ilgili çalışmalar taranmıştır. Tarama sonucunda klarnet tekniğin de kullanılan staccato eser çalışmasının az olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Metot taramasında da etüt çalışmasının daha çok olduğu saptanmıştır. Böylelikle klarnetin staccato tekniğini hızlandırma ve güçlendirme çalışmaları sunulmuştur. Staccato etüt çalışmaları yapılırken, araya eser çalışmasının girmesi beyni rahatlattığı ve istekliliği daha arttırdığı gözlemlenmiştir. Staccato çalışmasını yaparken doğru bir kamış seçimi üzerinde de durulmuştur. Staccato tekniğini doğru çalışmak için doğru bir kamışın dil hızını arttırdığı saptanmıştır. Doğru bir kamış seçimi kamıştan rahat ses çıkmasına bağlıdır. Kamış, dil atma gücünü vermiyorsa daha doğru bir kamış seçiminin yapılması gerekliliği vurgulanmıştır. Staccato çalışmalarında baştan sona bir eseri yorumlamak zor olabilir. Bu açıdan çalışma, verilen müzikal nüanslara uymanın, dil atış performansını rahatlattığını ortaya koymuştur. Gelecek nesillere edinilen bilgi ve birikimlerin aktarılması ve geliştirici olması teşvik edilmiştir. Çıkacak eserlerin nasıl çözüleceği, staccato tekniğinin nasıl üstesinden gelinebileceği anlatılmıştır. Staccato tekniğinin daha kısa sürede çözüme kavuşturulması amaç edinilmiştir. Parmakların yerlerini öğrettiğimiz kadar belleğimize de çalışmaların kaydedilmesi önemlidir. Gösterilen azmin ve sabrın sonucu olarak ortaya çıkan yapıt başarıyı daha da yukarı seviyelere çıkaracaktır

    The Disputation: The Enduring Representations in William Holman Hunt's “The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple,” 1860

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    This interdisciplinary thesis problematizes the Jewish presence in the painting The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple (1860) by William Holman Hunt. This “Jewish presence” refers to characters within the painting, Jews who posed for the picture and the painting’s portrayal of Judaism. The thesis takes a phenomenological and hermeneutical approach to The Finding providing careful description and interpretation of what appears in the painting. It situates the painting within a newly configured genre of disputation paintings depicting the Temple scene from the Gospel of Luke (2:47 – 52). It asks two questions. Why does The Finding look the way it does? And how did Holman Hunt know how to create the picture? Under the rubric of the first question, it explores and challenges customary accounts of the painting, explicitly challenging the over reliance upon F.G. Stephens’s pamphlet. Additionally, it examines Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian religious contexts and bringing hitherto unacknowledged artistic contexts to the fore. The second question examines less apparent influences through an analysis of the originary Lukan narrative in conjunction with the under-examined genre of Temple “disputation” paintings, and a legacy of scholarly and religious disputation. This demonstrates a discourse of disputation informing The Finding over and above the biblical narrative. In showing that this discourse strongly correlates with the painting’s objectifying and spectacular properties, this thesis provides a new way to understand The Finding’s orientalism which is further revealed in its typological critical reworking of two Christian medieval and renaissance paintings. As a demonstration of the discourse, the thesis includes an examination of Jewish artists who addressed the theme of disputation overtly or obliquely thereby engaging with and challenging the assumptions upon which the disputation rests

    Modern Folk Devils

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    The devilish has long been integral to myths, legends, and folklore, firmly located in the relationships between good and evil, and selves and others. But how are ideas of evil constructed in current times and framed by contemporary social discourses? Modern Folk Devils builds on and works with Stanley Cohen’s theory on folk devils and moral panics to discuss the constructions of evil. The authors present an array of case-studies that illustrate how the notion of folk devils nowadays comes into play and animates ideas of otherness and evil throughout the world. Examining current fears and perceived threats, this volume investigates and analyzes how and why these devils are constructed. The chapters discuss how the devilish may take on many different forms: sometimes they exist only as a potential threat, other times they are a single individual or phenomenon or a visible group, such as refugees, technocrats, Roma, hipsters, LGBT groups, and rightwing politicians. Folk devils themselves are also given a voice to offer an essential complementary perspective on how panics become exaggerated, facts distorted, and problems acutely angled.;Bringing together researchers from anthropology, sociology, political studies, ethnology, and criminology, the contributions examine cases from across the world spanning from Europe to Asia and Oceania

    The Politics of Historical Memory and Commemoration in Africa

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    The volume re-centres Africa and African history in memory studies, with each chapter drawing parallels to comparable cases in Africa and the world. An underlying assumption is that what can be learned from the politics of historical memory in Africa will have relevance for contemporary politics globally and for understanding how memories can be mobilised for political ends
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