Challenge and relief : a Foucauldian disciplinary analysis of retirement from professional association football in the United Kingdom

The aim of this study was to consider the retirement experiences of British male professional Association footballers by utilising Foucault’s (1991) analysis of discipline discussed in Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison. Specifically, we drew upon Foucault to consider how, through the various techniques and instruments of discipline, the professional football context produces ‘docile footballing bodies’ and how this might influence a player’s experiences in retirement. We gathered our empirical material using a Foucauldian-informed interview framework (Avner et al., 2013) with 25 former professional male football players between the ages of 21-34. Our analysis suggested that retirement from football was both a challenge and a relief for our participants, and that their extended period of time within football’s strong disciplinary apparatus significantly influenced how they experienced their retirement

Surveillance technologies as instruments of discipline in the elite sports coaching context: a cautionary post-structural commentary

The use of surveillance technologies as tools to encourage performance enhancement has become an accepted component of elite coaching. Those from the communities of sports physiology, psychology and biomechanics who promote the application of surveillance technologies have reported multiple benefits for the athlete. Conversely, several socio-cultural studies have suggested that surveillance technologies can lead to an oppressive mechanism of control over the athlete, significantly altering the role and responsibilities of the contemporary coach. In this critical commentary we use a post-structural position and adopt Foucault’s disciplinary analysis to contribute to the ongoing debate surrounding the use of surveillance technology in sport. Specifically, we achieve this by labelling surveillance technologies in sport as what Foucault (1977) might call, instruments of discipline, and by explaining the impact they have upon the working coach and the skilled athlete. We present some suggestions surrounding how to most appropriately utilise surveillance technologies in a sports coaching context and conclude by warning against a binary consideration of the use of technology as either good or bad

Health and well-being implications surrounding the use of wearable GPS devices in professional rugby league: A Foucauldian disciplinary analysis of the normalised use of a common surveillance aid

Wearable GPS tracking devices have become commonplace coaching aids across professional field sports to enhance sports performances and reduce injury rates, despite the implications of the technology being poorly understood. This study looked at how GPS devices are used and the impact constant surveillance has upon the physical, psychological, and emotional health of rugby football workers. The disciplinary analysis of Michel Foucault was used to investigate how British Super League teams use wearable GPS technology, to investigate the dominant 'truth' that promotes surveillance technologies as 'universally beneficial' to athlete sports performance, health and well-being. Data was drawn from semi-structured interviews with three performance analysts/strength and conditioning coaches at three different Super League clubs across the North of England. Participants confessed data generated from wearable GPS is often totally ignored, despite being specifically produced to protect athlete health and wellbeing. When used, GPS data can become a 'disciplinary tool' to normalise and coerce players to comply with potentially unhealthy physical and psychological demands of a professional playing career. Importantly, regardless of how GPS data was used, the employment of wearable GPS devices was constantly and rigorously implemented. The constant surveillance experience by working players, when mismanaged or adopted as a coercive disciplinary tool, magnifies the uncertainty and fear of failure central to the predominant challenges that arise during a working football career. This leads to the acceptance of problematic norms damaging to physical, psychological, and emotional health. If GPS or other surveillance based performance analysis technologies are to be used in sport, coaches need to regulate or re-think their day-to-day use to avoid creating new harms to athlete health and well-being

Private tuition and the 11-plus: an autobiographical extended literature with UK and global perspectives

The private tuition industry stands out as one of the major growth industries of the 21st Century. According to Hajar, private tuition has expanded to the extent it is now a “global phenomenon” (2018, P.514). Private tuition operates alongside regular schooling and can either reflect the curriculum exactly or be based upon it. This paper focuses on several distinct but interconnected areas of literature that span across 7 Countries (representing East to West) in order to provide fresh global perspectives to this area. First, it considers a number of different national viewpoints towards private tuition or ‘shadow education’ as it is also commonly known, and in particular, notices a disparity in approach between the UK compared to many other countries, particularly Japan and India, with private tuition in the former being largely focused on the preparation for high-stake tests such as the 11-plus; whereas in the latter, private tuition is often seen more as a remedial service (though this is changing) for students that have fallen behind their peers academically, and in more general terms, is far more integrated into broader society. The second primary focus of this paper specifically relates to the 11-plus examinations in the UK and the variations across different counties and the varying contexts behind the 11-plus examinations. The third focus of this paper is on the role and impact of private tuition on 11-plus outcomes. In the final part of this paper, the paper reasons that private tuition in the UK is indeed the ‘secret weapon’ of wealthier families, and is utilised as an important, if not central, part of the entrance examination arsenal. This thesis posits on what this could mean for future approaches to private tuition and the private tuition industry in the UK and makes several recommendations

Water Quality Trading in the Presence of Discrete Abatement Costs: An Experimental Analysis of Contract Length and the Timing of Investment

Food Security and Poverty, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

A search for GMSB sleptons with lifetime at ALEPH

A search for slepton production via the decay of pair-produced neutralinos has been performed under the assumption that the sleptons have observable lifetime in the detector before each decays to a lepton and a gravitino. Sleptons, neutralinos and gravitinos are particles predicted by the theory of supersymmetry, and are the supersymmetric partners of the Standard Model leptons, neutral bosons and of the graviton respectively. The search was performed in 628 inverse picobarns of data taken by the ALEPH detector at LEP centre-of-mass energies from 189 to 208 GeV. It was motivated by general predictions of Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking (GMSB) models in which the lightest supersymmetric particle is always the gravitino. No evidence of the process was found. Model-independent cross-section limits are quoted as a function of neutralino mass, slepton mass and slepton lifetime in the case that the neutralino branching ratios to each slepton are equal at one third (the so-called slepton co-NLSP scenario, where NLSP stands for `Next-to-Lightest Supersymmetric Particle') and in the case that the neutralino decays exclusively to the stau (the stau-NLSP scenario). Excluded regions in the neutralino-stau mass plane are shown for four gravitino masses under model-specific assumptions.Comment: PhD thesis, more than 100 pages. V2: minor grammatical changes and added reference

Wearable GPS Devices in a British Elite Soccer Academy Setting: A Foucauldian Disciplinary Analysis Of Player Development And Experience

Conventional wisdom dictates that the use of GPS surveillance technology in sport to assist athletic performance is an overwhelminglypositive phenomenon. Specifically, the health and performance benefits of the application of GPS and surveillance technologies have been well documented across a range of field sports. Previous research into the developmental implications of GPS surveillance in professional rugby league (Jones, Marshall, & Denison, 2016) has identified that there are some significant unintended consequencesof their use for elite athletes. We utilised the disciplinary analysis of Foucault to investigate the experiences of academy soccer playersin relation to wearable GPS technology. Five academy players took part in semi-structured group interviews as part of a wider study into the effects of surveillance technologies within an academy setting. We suggest that the now normalised and increasingly ubiqui- tous use of GPS surveillance technology within this particular British soccer academy is seen as relatively insignificant by its players. However, we also report that GPS use does act to impose discipline on academy players and may well have unforeseen and potentially problematic implications for academy players’ development experience

Soccer academy players' experiences of GPS surveillance

Conventional wisdom dictates that the use of GPS surveillance technology in sport to assist athletic performance is an overwhelmingly positive phenomenon. Specifically, the health and performance benefits of the application of GPS and surveillance technologies have been well documented across a range of field sports. Previous research into the developmental implications of GPS surveillance in professional rugby league (Jones, Marshall, & Denison, 2016) has identified that there are some significant unintended consequences of their use for elite athletes. We utilised the disciplinary analysis of Foucault to investigate the experiences of academy soccer players in relation to wearable GPS technology. 5 academy players took part in semi-structured group interviews as part of a wider study into the effects of surveillance technologies within an academy setting. We suggest that the now normalised and increasingly ubiquitous use of GPS surveillance technology within this particular British soccer academy is seen as relatively insignificant by its players. However, we also report that GPS use does act to impose discipline on academy players and may well be having unforeseen and potentially problematic implications for academy players’ development experience

Integrating theory and practice in physical education: Preservice Teachers' views on practitioner research

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Curriculum Studies in Health and Physical Education on 25/03/2022, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/25742981.2022.2056066Practitioner enquiry is a well-established approach to professional learning that can facilitate teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and improve their educational practice. That said, practitioner enquiry is less frequently seen in physical education (PE) initial teacher education and in the general practice of PE teachers. This study examines the experiences and perceptions of 17 secondary PE preservice teachers (PTs) who completed a small-scale practitioner enquiry as part of their one-year postgraduate initial teacher education programme. A questionnaire and group interviews - conducted before, during, and at the end of the small-scale enquiry - were used to generate data. The findings revealed that the practitioner enquiry promoted greater collaboration between the PTs and their school-based mentors as they worked together to develop their shared understanding of the teaching and learning process. The practitioner enquiry also facilitated the PTs’ critical engagement with pedagogical research, enhanced their curricular knowledge and nurtured their independent professional identity