Emerging school sport development policy, practice and governance in England: Big Society, autonomy and decentralisation

International interest in developing mass sports participation through systems of school and community sports development has become a growing field of public leisure policy interest. This research paper considers the policy change from School Sport Partnerships to the new 2012 School Games model of networked partnerships to establish characteristics of the changes in governance modes and implications from practice in England. The research project is based on a regional case study drawing upon indepth,face-to-face interviews with key public policy stakeholders to inform an analysis of change. Initial findings indicate that the emergent networks are characterised by more networked-based mode of governance than previous hierarchical models present under UK New Labour. The study also shows the fragility of a reliance on partnership structures and the potential implications for incongruence in delivering policy outcomes and improving access to physical activity and school sport opportunities

Gender, leadership, and organisational change in English sport governance

Despite increased opportunities for girls and women to participate in sport, sport governance remains gender-imbalanced at all levels of sport across the world (Fasting, Pike, Matthews, & Sand, 2018). English sport governance provides no exception to this, with the majority of National Governing Bodies of sport (NGBs) having male-dominated boards and executive leadership teams (ELTs; Women in Sport, 2018). Through this research, I sought to gain an in-depth understanding of dominant gender power relations within the governance of two English NGBs, England Golf and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), and how they impact upon the gender balance of their leadership teams. I adopted a multi-method approach that utilised semi-structured interviews with female and male leaders and colleagues, participant observation within the headquarters of each NGB, and supporting documents. Bourdieu’s theory of practice and its key concepts formed the theoretical framework for this thesis and provided the tools to conduct a multi-layered analysis of gender power relations at the macro- (structural), meso- (cultural), and micro- (individual) levels. These analyses revealed that there was evidence of both the conservation and resistance of gender power relations across all areas of England Golf and the LTA. Conservation strategies were found to mostly profit dominant men through gendered rules and structures, gendered recruitment processes, gendered organisational cultures, and greater opportunities for dominant men to accumulate, convert, and maintain power than women. Resistance or transformation strategies included changing governance rules, positive action towards women leaders, addressing overtly gendered cultural practices, and providing training opportunities to develop the confidence, skills, and experience of women leaders. At the end of the thesis, I recommend strategies for change to develop the governance structures, practices, and cultures of the two NGBs to be more gender-equitable