Contemplations on sport, complexity, ages of being and practice

From my experience of working alongside coaches, I would say that they are complexpeople. The people they coach are complex too. In the present paper, I considercomplexity as an underlying dynamic to (coaching) practice, something that might beunderstood, not only through one's own life, but through the notion of shared lives.The central thematic of the story to follow is that we live and practice through different‘ages of being' and that our complication changes as we age. These ideas and theirrelevance to critical thinking and personal practice are illustrated through a personal story,a father and son story. The tale begins, as many sporting father and son stories might, asthey run together on a windswept beach. From that childhood memory, a meandering taleof growth, companionship and critical reflection unfolds. By charting this particularrelationship, one shaped and sustained by a shared history, yet defined by different ‘agesof being', I contemplate often fractured and sometimes shared relationships betweenourselves and with sport. It is a story described partly in parallel, across generational andworking contexts and in life-long terms. The story telling ends with an attempt at definingmyself, my complexities and my own practice in the present day. Through this, I urge al lcoaching practitioners to reflect on their work and on the intentions and scope of theirresearch and, finally, the associations of such thinking with their own ages of being

Applied utility and the auto-ethnographic short story: persuasions for, and illustrations of, writing critical social science

In some quarters it is argued that, narrative researchers might be classified as being either storyanalysts or storytellers. They go on to suggest that one feature of storytellers is that they undertake a form of analysis as the process of writing unfolds. With these sentiments in mind, in the present paper, we consider how auto-ethnographical accounts of traumatic and challenging life events might, through the analysis contained within, demonstrate value within the realm of applied pedagogy. In making our case we embrace and adapt the literary genre of storytelling, more specifically, the short story. The story presented here, ‘Travel Writer’, offers an opaque, multicontextualised and lifelong view of career transition. The present paper, in more general terms, considers the capacity of auto-ethnography and, more specifically, the short storied version of it, to engender critical reader engagement, to encourage personal reflection in others, and to act as a point of stimulus for the enactment of applied debate through the lens of critical social science. With regards to the assumptions of critical social science, the final discussion also considers how the auto-ethnographic text, as a pedagogic tool, might help others to contest and challenge the meta-narratives that, we argue, risk stagnating established thinking

INNOVATIVE APPROACHES IN COACH EDUCATION PEDAGOGY

ABSTRACT: We know that coach education programmes continue to be criticized for their largely didactic methods of delivery and rather superficial engagement with the complex reality of practice and we understand that innovative approaches in coach education pedagogy means moving somewhat away from the competencies based approach and it has been increasingly argued that the aim of coach education should be to develop in practitioners a ‘quality of mind’ so that they are better equipped to deal with the problematic and dynamic nature of their work. The skills of coach educators in facilitating the learning of student coaches are crucial to the effectiveness of the pedagogies. Coach educators, therefore, must be committed to the approaches outlined in this article and invest the time and work necessary to learning new skills if they are to be successfully implemented. We found that teaching in this way resulted in a raised degree of responsibility on behalf of the tutors, not so much in relation to their content delivery, but for the subsequent student interaction and learning (JONES et al., 2011). In this sense tutors took greater care to listen and react to group interactions, recognising that their (non) interventions at (in) appropriate times could genuinely affect and frame ensuing students’ discussions and perceptions. A further area of research, therefore, could be to explore the issues surrounding the training and support of coach educators in implementing such pedagogical innovative approaches to coach education. RESUMO: Sabemos que os trabalhos de orientação de técnicos/professores são muito criticados por seus métodos pouco se aproximarem de práticas inovadoras. No entanto, práticas pedagógicas inovadoras devem se aproximar da realidade prática e avançar aos métodos tradicionais, considerando que uma pedagogia inovadora deve mover alguém do lugar onde se encontra para conhecer novas possibilidades. As habilidades dos técnicos/professores devem ser trabalhadas no sentido dos mesmos se constituírem facilitadores do processo de aprendizagem dos estudantes para se pensar numa pedagogia inovadora. Entendemos que uma concepção pedagógica construída nessa direção possibilita o desenvolvimento tanto de técnicos/professores, assim como os estudantes e pesquisas educacionais devem caminhar nessa direção, tendo em vista a necessidade de transformação qualitativa dessa áreade atuação.http://dx.doi.org/10.14572/nuances.v24i1.217

INNOVATIVE APPROACHES IN COACH EDUCATION PEDAGOGY

ABSTRACT: We know that coach education programmes continue to be criticized for their largely didactic methods of delivery and rather superficial engagement with the complex reality of practice and we understand that innovative approaches in coach education pedagogy means moving somewhat away from the competencies based approach and it has been increasingly argued that the aim of coach education should be to develop in practitioners a ‘quality of mind’ so that they are better equipped to deal with the problematic and dynamic nature of their work. The skills of coach educators in facilitating the learning of student coaches are crucial to the effectiveness of the pedagogies. Coach educators, therefore, must be committed to the approaches outlined in this article and invest the time and work necessary to learning new skills if they are to be successfully implemented. We found that teaching in this way resulted in a raised degree of responsibility on behalf of the tutors, not so much in relation to their content delivery, but for the subsequent student interaction and learning (JONES et al., 2011). In this sense tutors took greater care to listen and react to group interactions, recognising that their (non) interventions at (in) appropriate times could genuinely affect and frame ensuing students’ discussions and perceptions. A further area of research, therefore, could be to explore the issues surrounding the training and support of coach educators in implementing such pedagogical innovative approaches to coach education. RESUMO: Sabemos que os trabalhos de orientação de técnicos/professores são muito criticados por seus métodos pouco se aproximarem de práticas inovadoras. No entanto, práticas pedagógicas inovadoras devem se aproximar da realidade prática e avançar aos métodos tradicionais, considerando que uma pedagogia inovadora deve mover alguém do lugar onde se encontra para conhecer novas possibilidades. As habilidades dos técnicos/professores devem ser trabalhadas no sentido dos mesmos se constituírem facilitadores do processo de aprendizagem dos estudantes para se pensar numa pedagogia inovadora. Entendemos que uma concepção pedagógica construída nessa direção possibilita o desenvolvimento tanto de técnicos/professores, assim como os estudantes e pesquisas educacionais devem caminhar nessa direção, tendo em vista a necessidade de transformação qualitativa dessa áreade atuação.http://dx.doi.org/10.14572/nuances.v24i1.217

Reflecting back and forwards: The ebb and flow of peer-reviewed reflective practice research in sport

Researchers in sport have claimed that reflective practice is important for competent practice. Evidence supporting this claim is sparse, highly theoretical and located within a variety of domains. The aim of this study was to assimilate and analyse the last 12 years of reflective practice literature within the sport domain in order to identify new areas of inquiry, emerging trends with regard to findings or methodology, and to identify implications for future research and practice. A sample of 68 papers published between 2001 and 2012 was examined, and investigated for the research locations, data collection methods utilised, and the professions and communities involved. The paper concludes with some suggestions for future research

Changing the face of coach education: using ethno-drama to depict lived realities

I Brage finner du siste tekst-versjon av artikkelen, og den kan inneholde ubetydelige forskjeller fra forlagets pdf-versjon. Forlagets pdf-versjon finner du på www.tandfonline.com: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10.1080/17408989.2012.690863 / In Brage you'll find the final text version of the article, and it may contain insignificant differences from the journal's pdf version. The original publication is available at www.tandfonline.com: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17408989.2012.690863Background: Coaching holistically and viewing coaching as interdisciplinary, where different knowledges meet, interconnect and dissect, has increasingly gained recognition. In an effort to engage more effectively with this agenda and to educate coaches to meet the integrated, fluid nature of their work, Jones and Turner advocated a problem-based learning (PBL) approach to coach education. From a case-study example, the PBL approach was a general success, as proof emerged of a better appreciation by students of the inherent complexity of coaching, and of the many interrelated knowledges needed to excel at the activity. Despite such encouragement however, the presentation of static written scenarios, which could be revisited by the students as many times as they wanted in efforts to develop ‘preferred’ responses, lacked a degree of real-world credibility. Aims: In an effort to increase the sense of problematic authenticity to PBL scenarios, the purpose of this article was threefold. First, to make the case for ethno-drama as a bone fide means to engage sport coaches with their practice. Second, to document a process through which such a multi-layered, dynamic pedagogy was presented to post-graduate sport coaching students and third, to record and interpret the students' responses to the approach in terms of their learning experiences. Method: ethno-drama scenes were developed, produced and performed as part of a PBL module on the MSc (sport coaching) programme at Cardiff Metropolitan University (CMU), in collaboration with the Drama Department at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). More specifically, a theatre director/educator from LJMU worked with student actors to dramatize sport coaching scenes developed and scripted in advance by the CMU teaching team. Following the performances, the coaching students (who witnessed the dramatization) participated in small discussion groups in order to develop preferred ‘solutions’ to the performed scenarios. Finally, an evaluation of the ethno-drama approach was carried out through three semi-structured focus group interviews. Results: Inductive procedures were used to carefully examine, categorise and analyse the results. The findings suggest that the approach was generally successful in producing realistic dramatized scenarios that not only intellectually engaged the students, but also stimulated thought and discussion amongst them regarding issues of ‘preferred practice’. Conclusion: Many further challenges exist in terms of the significance of using ethno-drama as a pedagogy to teach sport coaching. Nevertheless, we believe enough encouragement resulted from this project to merit further use, engagement and research into this potentially very innovative form of coach education.Seksjon for coaching og psykologi / Department of Coaching and Psycholog

"Edge of darkness" and "Just in Time": Two cautionary tales, two styles, one story

"Edge of Darkness" is an autoethnographic tale punctuated in places with extracts from an autoethnographic poetic monologue "Just in Time." Both explore elements of one life by focusing on different issues and settings, chart the slow decline of well-being, suggest turning points hint at resolution and signal a way forward. "Edge of Darkness" explores melancholy through the context of work. Corporate facets of the workplace are considered as part of this story. In contrast, the poetic monologue (indented italics) reflects on memories from another context, one that foregrounds the challenges of establishing a sense of self and, later, highlights the security and care experienced through a long-term relationship. Although the two stories begin some time apart they move ever closer before, eventually, sharing the same critical moment. In combination, the tales promote the idea of a life-long narrative and of a multilayered and interconnected life