Primary physical education, coaches and continuing professional development

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Sport, Education and Society, 16(4), 485 - 505, 2011, copyright @ Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13573322.2011.589645.Physical education (PE) in primary schools has traditionally been taught by qualified primary teachers. More recently, some teaching of PE in primary schools has been undertaken by coaches (mostly football coaches). These coaches hold national governing body awards but do not hold teaching qualifications. Thus, coaches may not be adequately prepared to teach PE in curriculum time. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceptions of a group of community-based football coaches working in primary schools for the impact of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme on their ability to undertake ‘specified work’ to cover PE in primary schools. The programme focused on four areas identified as important to enable coaches to cover specified work: short- and medium-term planning, pedagogy, knowledge of the curriculum and reflection. Results showed that for the majority of coaches the CPD programme had made them more aware of the importance of these four areas and had helped to develop their knowledge and ability to put this into practice in covering planning, preparation and assessment time. However, further input is still required to develop coaches’ knowledge and understanding in all four areas, but especially their curriculum knowledge, as well as their ability to put these into practice consistently. These findings are discussed in relation to the implications of employing coaches to cover the teaching of PE in primary schools and, if employed, what CPD coaches need to develop the necessary knowledge, skill and understanding for covering specified work in schools

The traditional, the ideal and the unexplored: sport coaches’ social identity constructs in film

The sport coaching construct within mainstream fiction films has been described as stereotypical, reinforcing the traditional notion of the sport coach as a technician who conquers all, or a hapless individual, open to ridicule from athletes and fans. Although this depiction is also prevalent in some independent fiction films and documentaries, film sub genres such as social realism and “fly on the wall” style documentaries move away from the “Hollywood sports film structure” towards stories that focus on everyday coaching moments. Through a critical discourse analysis of two U.K. films (Bend it Like Beckham and Twenty Four Seven), both featuring sport coaches in central roles, we reflect critically on these mass media multidimensional representations in terms of the sport coaching professionalisation agenda in the U.K. and the social identification process of sport coaches within their sporting environments. Keywords: Sport coaching, film, social identification, professionalisation, coaching roles

Exploring sport coaches’ experiences of using a contemporary pedagogical approach to coaching: An international perspective

Nonlinear contemporary coaching approaches are becoming more prominent in academic research, although there is still limited take-up by sports practitioners. Research has investigated why coaches continue to use traditional reproductive pedagogical approaches. However, there is limited understanding of insights and experiences of sports coaches who have switched to contemporary approaches in practice. This study aimed to: (i) explore insights of coaches who are adopting contemporary approaches to understand why they eschewed more traditional approaches and (ii) gain information on their experiences when implementing these contemporary approaches into their practice. To address these aims, 15 experienced professional individual and team sports coaches from a range of countries (i.e. Australia, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, UK, USA), were interviewed. Thematic analysis revealed 59 lower-order themes and 10 higher-order themes, organised into 3 dimensions; (i) factors underpinning the coaches’ approach to athlete learning; (ii) learning approaches; and (iii), responses to contemporary pedagogical approaches. Coaches reported a typical culture of traditional methods of learning within their sports, which they believed were not effective in developing athlete performance. Hence, they elected to adopt a contemporary non-linear, individualised, adaptive approach, emphasising representative learning designs. Results suggested that typical reactions to this approach included resistance from stakeholders. However, coaches continued to use this approach and expressed the importance of effective communication with stakeholders to enable acceptance of the contemporary approaches of learning. Findings suggest how continued integration between experiential and empirical knowledge of practitioners may increase the acceptance of contemporary pedagogical approaches, facilitating acceptance of new approaches to learning

"They have to toe the line": a Foucauldian analysis of the socialisation of former elite athletes into academy coaching roles

The pathway between elite athlete and high-performance coach is common within English men’s rugby union and association football. To help develop as coaches, many elite athletes gain coaching experiences within male high-performance youth academies. The purpose of this article sought to gain an insight into the socialisation processes of current and former elite athletes within association football and rugby union amongst the socio-cultural context of England, and to identify why Academy Directors seemingly preferred to recruit current and former elite athletes as academy coaches. Semi-structured interviews with 11 Academy Directors were conducted. Results showed that the Academy Directors preferred to recruit their respective club’s current and former athletes as a means to govern their academy’s “club culture”. Foucault’s concepts of docility and discipline conceptualise how current and former elite athletes were judged to be more trustworthy to reproduce the academy culture in their coaching practices compared to external candidates

Anterior abdominal wall hydatid cyst: An unusual presentation

No Abstracts. Nigerian Medical Journal Vol.6(2) 2007: pp.181-18