Sedentary behaviour is complex, occurring in different contexts and influenced by numerous factor... more Sedentary behaviour is complex, occurring in different contexts and influenced by numerous factors. One such context is the home environment where the family setting can determine the type and amount of sedentary behaviour that occurs. There is limited evidence examining sedentary behaviours within a family setting, specifically in children aged 2-11 years, and qualitative studies are particularly absent. The purpose of this study was to explore parents' understanding of sedentary behaviour and parent's perceived influence on their children's sedentary behaviours at home using Granich and colleagues' conceptual model as an analytical schema. Nineteen parents (4M, 15F; mean age = 37.3 ± 4.4 years) and their children (15M, 4F; mean age = 6.6 ± 3.7 years) participated in either face-to-face or telephone interviews. Concurrent deductive and inductive content analysis was used to identify overall themes and the researchers employed several methods of trustworthiness during the data analysis process. Two overall themes and seven second-order themes emerged from the interviews in relation to sedentary behaviours within the family setting. Findings indicated that parents, particularly mothers, are the gatekeepers to the amount and types of sedentary behaviours that children engage in at home. Role modelling, reinforcement, rules and restrictions influence the type of sedentary activities of children, particularly electronic media use, within the home. Interventions to reduce sedentary behaviour in children should adopt a whole-family approach to modify the existing strategies already enforced by parents to ensure effectiveness.
Background: While research into Olympic Athletes’ career transitions and retirement has led to a ... more Background: While research into Olympic Athletes’ career transitions and retirement has led to a deeper understanding of important factors for athletes in this context, considerably less is known about the experiences of athletes in the immediate phase following an Olympic Games. Objectives: The purpose of this research was to investigate Australian Olympic athletes’ experiences during the period of time immediately following the conclusion of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. This involved investigating specific factors that influenced athletes’ post-games realities of success, failure, and return to everyday life.Design: Qualitative-inductiveMethods: Eighteen Australian Rio Olympic Games athletes (Female N=9, Male N=9) from a variety of team and individual sports participated in semi-structured interviews that explored their post-Olympic Games experiences. Thematic analysis was used to inductively analyse the data. Results: In the period immediately following the Rio Olympic campaign, m...
Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health
Received 11 July 2017 accepted 30 october 2017 KEYWORDS aboriginal sport; coaching; socio-ecologi... more Received 11 July 2017 accepted 30 october 2017 KEYWORDS aboriginal sport; coaching; socio-ecological theory; mentoring; racism ABSTRACT Sport researchers have begun to appreciate the perspectives and experiences of Aboriginal athletes in various global communities, yet little is known about Aboriginal sport coaches. Considering sport can play a positive social, psychological, and physical role in the lives of Aboriginal people, it is problematic that there is a dearth of academic literature exploring the narratives of Aboriginal coaches. This is one of the rst studies to speci cally explore Aboriginal Australian peoples’ experiences in sport coaching roles. Using a socio-ecological framework to frame our discussions, we share the insights of 28 Aboriginal Australian sport coaches from a variety of team and individual sports as they describe an array of factors that facilitated and impeded their sport coaching journeys. By shedding light on these narratives this paper performs two main tasks. First, taking a qualitative approach, it gives agency and voice to Aboriginal people, long-neglected in academic sports scholarship. Second, it provides insights for coaches, athletes, academics, policy-makers, and sporting organisations interested in enhancing opportunities and developing pathways for Aboriginal people in sport coaching roles.
Response to Reviewers: Manuscript FCSS-2016-0094 Note: We would like to thank the reviewer for ve... more Response to Reviewers: Manuscript FCSS-2016-0094 Note: We would like to thank the reviewer for very thoughtful feedback. We hope that our response is adequate, but should there be lingering issues, please let us know. Changes in the doc are indicated in blue highlighting. Reviewer 1 Authors' Response 1 Introduction • You discuss the negative perceptions of officiating-does any data exist regards the number of official who leave the sport due to these reasons? Anecdotally, retention is a significant issue in officiating however is there any data to support this perception?
Medicine and science in sports and exercise, Jan 31, 2018
The primary aim of this study was to test the effect of a school-based physical activity interven... more The primary aim of this study was to test the effect of a school-based physical activity intervention on adolescents' performance in mathematics. A secondary aim was to explore potential mechanisms that might explain the intervention effect. The Activity and Motivation in Physical EDucation (AMPED) intervention was evaluated using a two-arm cluster randomized controlled trial in 14 secondary schools located in low socioeconomic areas of Western Sydney, Australia. Study participants (n=1,173) were Grade 8 students (mean age = 12.94 years, SD = .54). The multi-component intervention was designed to help teachers maximize students' opportunities for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during physical education (PE) and enhance students' motivation towards PE. Mathematics performance was assessed as part of national testing in Grade 7, which was the year before the trial began and then again in Grade 9. Potential mediators were: (i) proportion of PE lesson time tha...
International journal of environmental research and public health, Jan 26, 2018
Physical activity and diet are major modifiable risk factors for chronic disease and have been sh... more Physical activity and diet are major modifiable risk factors for chronic disease and have been shown to be associated with neighborhood built environment. Systematic review evidence from longitudinal studies on the impact of changing the built environment on physical activity and diet is currently lacking. A systematic review of natural experiments of neighborhood built environment was conducted. The aims of this systematic review were to summarize study characteristics, study quality, and impact of changes in neighborhood built environment on physical activity and diet outcomes among residents. Natural experiments of neighborhood built environment change, exploring longitudinal impacts on physical activity and/or diet in residents, were included. From five electronic databases, 2084 references were identified. A narrative synthesis was conducted, considering results in relation to study quality. Nineteen papers, reporting on 15 different exposures met inclusion criteria. Four studi...
Quality physical education (PE) is the cornerstone of comprehensive school physical activity (PA)... more Quality physical education (PE) is the cornerstone of comprehensive school physical activity (PA) promotion programmes. We tested the efficacy of a teacher professional learning intervention, delivered partially via the internet, designed to maximise opportunities for students to be active during PE lessons and enhance adolescents' motivation towards PE and PA. A two-arm cluster randomised controlled trial with teachers and Grade 8 students from secondary schools in low socioeconomic areas of Western Sydney, Australia. The Activity and Motivation in Physical Education (AMPED) intervention for secondary school PE teachers included workshops, online learning, implementation tasks and mentoring sessions. The primary outcome was the proportion of PE lesson time that students spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), measured by accelerometers at baseline, postintervention (7-8 months after baseline) and maintenance (14-15 months). Secondary outcomes included observed P...
Representations of Aboriginal Australian peoples as genetically predisposed to sporting prowess a... more Representations of Aboriginal Australian peoples as genetically predisposed to sporting prowess are pervasive and enduring perceptions. This rhetoric belongs to a larger narrative that also describes a peculiarly Aboriginal style of play: full of flair, speed and ‘magic’. Such imagery has informed a common perception that, in many team sports, Aboriginal athletes are biologically more suited to playing positions characterised by pace, trickery and spontaneity, rather than those that utilise leadership acumen and intellectual skill. There has been a great deal of academic research exploring how such essentialised and racialised representations play out for Aboriginal athletes. In this paper, however, we extend that research, examining how racialised representations of Aboriginal athletic ability affect Aboriginal coaches. Premised on interviews with 26 Aboriginal Australian coaches, we argue that representations of Aboriginal athletes as naturally suited to speed and flair, rather th...
Research in coaching science continues to grow and as such, there is a need for rigorous tools to... more Research in coaching science continues to grow and as such, there is a need for rigorous tools to help make sense of the rapidly expanding literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed description of a systematic review methodology that can be used to summarise literature in coaching science. To do so, we present a test case of a systematic review we conducted on the sport coaching experiences of global Indigenous populations. More precisely, we conducted a systematic review of English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, and Portuguese peer-reviewed journal articles, spanning twelve databases (e.g., Sport Discus, ERIC, and Scopus) from 1970 to 2014. ENTREQ and COREQ guidelines were followed to report the results of the systematic review, and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory was used as a theoretical framework to extract and synthesise relevant findings from the included articles. In sum, this paper presents a robust methodology for systematically reviewing researc...
The purpose of this study was to develop and deliver a humanistic coaching workshop, as well as i... more The purpose of this study was to develop and deliver a humanistic coaching workshop, as well as investigate coaches’ perceptions of this workshop and their experiences using humanistic coaching. Participants were 12 coaches of grade 7–11 basketball teams from schools in low socioeconomic communities in a major Canadian city. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and personal journals. An inductive thematic analysis revealed coaches perceived the workshop to be effective in teaching the humanistic principles and how to apply them in youth sport settings. The perceived strengths of the workshop included the group discussions, use of videos, practical coaching examples, and learning about the findings from empirical studies. The participants applied the humanistic principles with their teams by asking questions that guided athlete learning and by requesting feedback about various individual and team matters. Despite facing challenges such as increased time and effort to i...
After publication of the original article [1] it was brought to our attention that author Diego V... more After publication of the original article [1] it was brought to our attention that author Diego Vasconcellos was incorrectly included as Diego Vasoncellos. The correct spelling of the name is included in the author list of this erratum and updated in the original article.
Background: Despite the health benefits of regular physical activity, most children are insuffici... more Background: Despite the health benefits of regular physical activity, most children are insufficiently active. Schools are ideally placed to promote physical activity; however, many do not provide children with sufficient in-school activity or ensure they have the skills and motivation to be active beyond the school setting. The aim of this project is to modify, scale up and evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention previously shown to be efficacious in improving children's physical activity, fundamental movement skills and cardiorespiratory fitness. The 'Internet-based Professional Learning to help teachers support Activity in Youth' (iPLAY) study will focus largely on online delivery to enhance translational capacity. Methods/Design: The intervention will be implemented at school and teacher levels, and will include six components: (i) quality physical education and school sport, (ii) classroom movement breaks, (iii) physically active homework, (iv) active playgrounds, (v) community physical activity links and (vi) parent/caregiver engagement. Experienced physical education teachers will deliver professional learning workshops and follow-up, individualized mentoring to primary teachers (i.e., Kindergarten-Year 6). These activities will be supported by online learning and resources. Teachers will then deliver the iPLAY intervention components in their schools. We will evaluate iPLAY in two complementary studies in primary schools across New South Wales (NSW), Australia. A cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT), involving a representative sample of 20 schools within NSW (1:1 allocation at the school level to intervention and attention control conditions), will assess effectiveness and cost-effectiveness at 12 and 24 months. Students' cardiorespiratory fitness will be the primary outcome in this trial. Key secondary outcomes will include students' moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (via accelerometers), fundamental movement skill proficiency, enjoyment of physical education and sport, cognitive control, performance on standardized tests of numeracy and literacy, and cost-effectiveness. A scale-up implementation study guided by the RE-AIM framework will evaluate the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of the intervention when delivered in 160 primary schools in urban and regional areas of NSW.
School physical education (PE) aims to develop students’ knowledge and skills for lifelong partic... more School physical education (PE) aims to develop students’ knowledge and skills for lifelong participation in physical activity (PA). Unfortunately, many PE teachers report that motivating students is a significant challenge. The purpose of this study was to explore PE teacher perceptions about the effectiveness and acceptability of three self-determination theory-based motivational strategies on students’ PA, motivation, and learning during PE lessons. Thirteen PE teachers from five schools in Western Sydney, Australia, participated in this study. We carried out semi-structured post-lesson interviews with PE teachers to gather information about the perceived effectiveness and acceptability of the three intervention strategies and whether these were sustainable teaching methods: (1) explaining relevance; (2) providing choice; and (3) complete free choice. Analysis of interview data revealed that teachers believed each strategy successfully enhanced student PA, enjoyment, motivation, and student learning. The findings also showed that our motivational teaching strategies were acceptable when embedded within certain PE contexts. Overall, the results have implications for future pre-service and in-service PE teaching practice.
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Jul 8, 2014
School physical education (PE) experiences play a critical role in adolescents' physical activity... more School physical education (PE) experiences play a critical role in adolescents' physical activity (PA) levels. Teachers are crucial to students' initial experiences in PA; however, limited research has explored teachers' perspectives about PA during PE using in-depth qualitative research techniques. We conducted interviews with 25 current Australian male and female PE teachers to investigate their perceptions about PA in secondary school PE (grades 7-12). Our findings indicated PA was a major focus for teachers during PE lessons; however, many physical and psychosocial factors underpinned practical classes. During PE lessons, PE teachers favoured game-based activities to promote PA while citing the traditional skill-drill approach as a strategy that limited PA. These findings highlight an ongoing shift in PE teaching towards a games-based approach and have several important implications for future teaching practice and research.
This study examines professional Australian coach and athlete perceptions of effective coaching. ... more This study examines professional Australian coach and athlete perceptions of effective coaching. Rather than assess the ability or effectiveness of the coaches and teams involved, the purpose was to gather perceptions of what professional coaches and players believe it takes to be an effective coach. Given the broad range of tasks that fit under the auspice of coaching, an important question to address was 'what' a coach does in order to be considered effective. In addition, an understanding of 'why' and 'how' these factors are vii
Sedentary behaviour is complex, occurring in different contexts and influenced by numerous factor... more Sedentary behaviour is complex, occurring in different contexts and influenced by numerous factors. One such context is the home environment where the family setting can determine the type and amount of sedentary behaviour that occurs. There is limited evidence examining sedentary behaviours within a family setting, specifically in children aged 2-11 years, and qualitative studies are particularly absent. The purpose of this study was to explore parents' understanding of sedentary behaviour and parent's perceived influence on their children's sedentary behaviours at home using Granich and colleagues' conceptual model as an analytical schema. Nineteen parents (4M, 15F; mean age = 37.3 ± 4.4 years) and their children (15M, 4F; mean age = 6.6 ± 3.7 years) participated in either face-to-face or telephone interviews. Concurrent deductive and inductive content analysis was used to identify overall themes and the researchers employed several methods of trustworthiness during the data analysis process. Two overall themes and seven second-order themes emerged from the interviews in relation to sedentary behaviours within the family setting. Findings indicated that parents, particularly mothers, are the gatekeepers to the amount and types of sedentary behaviours that children engage in at home. Role modelling, reinforcement, rules and restrictions influence the type of sedentary activities of children, particularly electronic media use, within the home. Interventions to reduce sedentary behaviour in children should adopt a whole-family approach to modify the existing strategies already enforced by parents to ensure effectiveness.
Background: While research into Olympic Athletes’ career transitions and retirement has led to a ... more Background: While research into Olympic Athletes’ career transitions and retirement has led to a deeper understanding of important factors for athletes in this context, considerably less is known about the experiences of athletes in the immediate phase following an Olympic Games. Objectives: The purpose of this research was to investigate Australian Olympic athletes’ experiences during the period of time immediately following the conclusion of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. This involved investigating specific factors that influenced athletes’ post-games realities of success, failure, and return to everyday life.Design: Qualitative-inductiveMethods: Eighteen Australian Rio Olympic Games athletes (Female N=9, Male N=9) from a variety of team and individual sports participated in semi-structured interviews that explored their post-Olympic Games experiences. Thematic analysis was used to inductively analyse the data. Results: In the period immediately following the Rio Olympic campaign, m...
Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health
Received 11 July 2017 accepted 30 october 2017 KEYWORDS aboriginal sport; coaching; socio-ecologi... more Received 11 July 2017 accepted 30 october 2017 KEYWORDS aboriginal sport; coaching; socio-ecological theory; mentoring; racism ABSTRACT Sport researchers have begun to appreciate the perspectives and experiences of Aboriginal athletes in various global communities, yet little is known about Aboriginal sport coaches. Considering sport can play a positive social, psychological, and physical role in the lives of Aboriginal people, it is problematic that there is a dearth of academic literature exploring the narratives of Aboriginal coaches. This is one of the rst studies to speci cally explore Aboriginal Australian peoples’ experiences in sport coaching roles. Using a socio-ecological framework to frame our discussions, we share the insights of 28 Aboriginal Australian sport coaches from a variety of team and individual sports as they describe an array of factors that facilitated and impeded their sport coaching journeys. By shedding light on these narratives this paper performs two main tasks. First, taking a qualitative approach, it gives agency and voice to Aboriginal people, long-neglected in academic sports scholarship. Second, it provides insights for coaches, athletes, academics, policy-makers, and sporting organisations interested in enhancing opportunities and developing pathways for Aboriginal people in sport coaching roles.
Response to Reviewers: Manuscript FCSS-2016-0094 Note: We would like to thank the reviewer for ve... more Response to Reviewers: Manuscript FCSS-2016-0094 Note: We would like to thank the reviewer for very thoughtful feedback. We hope that our response is adequate, but should there be lingering issues, please let us know. Changes in the doc are indicated in blue highlighting. Reviewer 1 Authors' Response 1 Introduction • You discuss the negative perceptions of officiating-does any data exist regards the number of official who leave the sport due to these reasons? Anecdotally, retention is a significant issue in officiating however is there any data to support this perception?
Medicine and science in sports and exercise, Jan 31, 2018
The primary aim of this study was to test the effect of a school-based physical activity interven... more The primary aim of this study was to test the effect of a school-based physical activity intervention on adolescents' performance in mathematics. A secondary aim was to explore potential mechanisms that might explain the intervention effect. The Activity and Motivation in Physical EDucation (AMPED) intervention was evaluated using a two-arm cluster randomized controlled trial in 14 secondary schools located in low socioeconomic areas of Western Sydney, Australia. Study participants (n=1,173) were Grade 8 students (mean age = 12.94 years, SD = .54). The multi-component intervention was designed to help teachers maximize students' opportunities for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during physical education (PE) and enhance students' motivation towards PE. Mathematics performance was assessed as part of national testing in Grade 7, which was the year before the trial began and then again in Grade 9. Potential mediators were: (i) proportion of PE lesson time tha...
International journal of environmental research and public health, Jan 26, 2018
Physical activity and diet are major modifiable risk factors for chronic disease and have been sh... more Physical activity and diet are major modifiable risk factors for chronic disease and have been shown to be associated with neighborhood built environment. Systematic review evidence from longitudinal studies on the impact of changing the built environment on physical activity and diet is currently lacking. A systematic review of natural experiments of neighborhood built environment was conducted. The aims of this systematic review were to summarize study characteristics, study quality, and impact of changes in neighborhood built environment on physical activity and diet outcomes among residents. Natural experiments of neighborhood built environment change, exploring longitudinal impacts on physical activity and/or diet in residents, were included. From five electronic databases, 2084 references were identified. A narrative synthesis was conducted, considering results in relation to study quality. Nineteen papers, reporting on 15 different exposures met inclusion criteria. Four studi...
Quality physical education (PE) is the cornerstone of comprehensive school physical activity (PA)... more Quality physical education (PE) is the cornerstone of comprehensive school physical activity (PA) promotion programmes. We tested the efficacy of a teacher professional learning intervention, delivered partially via the internet, designed to maximise opportunities for students to be active during PE lessons and enhance adolescents' motivation towards PE and PA. A two-arm cluster randomised controlled trial with teachers and Grade 8 students from secondary schools in low socioeconomic areas of Western Sydney, Australia. The Activity and Motivation in Physical Education (AMPED) intervention for secondary school PE teachers included workshops, online learning, implementation tasks and mentoring sessions. The primary outcome was the proportion of PE lesson time that students spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), measured by accelerometers at baseline, postintervention (7-8 months after baseline) and maintenance (14-15 months). Secondary outcomes included observed P...
Representations of Aboriginal Australian peoples as genetically predisposed to sporting prowess a... more Representations of Aboriginal Australian peoples as genetically predisposed to sporting prowess are pervasive and enduring perceptions. This rhetoric belongs to a larger narrative that also describes a peculiarly Aboriginal style of play: full of flair, speed and ‘magic’. Such imagery has informed a common perception that, in many team sports, Aboriginal athletes are biologically more suited to playing positions characterised by pace, trickery and spontaneity, rather than those that utilise leadership acumen and intellectual skill. There has been a great deal of academic research exploring how such essentialised and racialised representations play out for Aboriginal athletes. In this paper, however, we extend that research, examining how racialised representations of Aboriginal athletic ability affect Aboriginal coaches. Premised on interviews with 26 Aboriginal Australian coaches, we argue that representations of Aboriginal athletes as naturally suited to speed and flair, rather th...
Research in coaching science continues to grow and as such, there is a need for rigorous tools to... more Research in coaching science continues to grow and as such, there is a need for rigorous tools to help make sense of the rapidly expanding literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed description of a systematic review methodology that can be used to summarise literature in coaching science. To do so, we present a test case of a systematic review we conducted on the sport coaching experiences of global Indigenous populations. More precisely, we conducted a systematic review of English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, and Portuguese peer-reviewed journal articles, spanning twelve databases (e.g., Sport Discus, ERIC, and Scopus) from 1970 to 2014. ENTREQ and COREQ guidelines were followed to report the results of the systematic review, and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory was used as a theoretical framework to extract and synthesise relevant findings from the included articles. In sum, this paper presents a robust methodology for systematically reviewing researc...
The purpose of this study was to develop and deliver a humanistic coaching workshop, as well as i... more The purpose of this study was to develop and deliver a humanistic coaching workshop, as well as investigate coaches’ perceptions of this workshop and their experiences using humanistic coaching. Participants were 12 coaches of grade 7–11 basketball teams from schools in low socioeconomic communities in a major Canadian city. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and personal journals. An inductive thematic analysis revealed coaches perceived the workshop to be effective in teaching the humanistic principles and how to apply them in youth sport settings. The perceived strengths of the workshop included the group discussions, use of videos, practical coaching examples, and learning about the findings from empirical studies. The participants applied the humanistic principles with their teams by asking questions that guided athlete learning and by requesting feedback about various individual and team matters. Despite facing challenges such as increased time and effort to i...
After publication of the original article [1] it was brought to our attention that author Diego V... more After publication of the original article [1] it was brought to our attention that author Diego Vasconcellos was incorrectly included as Diego Vasoncellos. The correct spelling of the name is included in the author list of this erratum and updated in the original article.
Background: Despite the health benefits of regular physical activity, most children are insuffici... more Background: Despite the health benefits of regular physical activity, most children are insufficiently active. Schools are ideally placed to promote physical activity; however, many do not provide children with sufficient in-school activity or ensure they have the skills and motivation to be active beyond the school setting. The aim of this project is to modify, scale up and evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention previously shown to be efficacious in improving children's physical activity, fundamental movement skills and cardiorespiratory fitness. The 'Internet-based Professional Learning to help teachers support Activity in Youth' (iPLAY) study will focus largely on online delivery to enhance translational capacity. Methods/Design: The intervention will be implemented at school and teacher levels, and will include six components: (i) quality physical education and school sport, (ii) classroom movement breaks, (iii) physically active homework, (iv) active playgrounds, (v) community physical activity links and (vi) parent/caregiver engagement. Experienced physical education teachers will deliver professional learning workshops and follow-up, individualized mentoring to primary teachers (i.e., Kindergarten-Year 6). These activities will be supported by online learning and resources. Teachers will then deliver the iPLAY intervention components in their schools. We will evaluate iPLAY in two complementary studies in primary schools across New South Wales (NSW), Australia. A cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT), involving a representative sample of 20 schools within NSW (1:1 allocation at the school level to intervention and attention control conditions), will assess effectiveness and cost-effectiveness at 12 and 24 months. Students' cardiorespiratory fitness will be the primary outcome in this trial. Key secondary outcomes will include students' moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (via accelerometers), fundamental movement skill proficiency, enjoyment of physical education and sport, cognitive control, performance on standardized tests of numeracy and literacy, and cost-effectiveness. A scale-up implementation study guided by the RE-AIM framework will evaluate the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of the intervention when delivered in 160 primary schools in urban and regional areas of NSW.
School physical education (PE) aims to develop students’ knowledge and skills for lifelong partic... more School physical education (PE) aims to develop students’ knowledge and skills for lifelong participation in physical activity (PA). Unfortunately, many PE teachers report that motivating students is a significant challenge. The purpose of this study was to explore PE teacher perceptions about the effectiveness and acceptability of three self-determination theory-based motivational strategies on students’ PA, motivation, and learning during PE lessons. Thirteen PE teachers from five schools in Western Sydney, Australia, participated in this study. We carried out semi-structured post-lesson interviews with PE teachers to gather information about the perceived effectiveness and acceptability of the three intervention strategies and whether these were sustainable teaching methods: (1) explaining relevance; (2) providing choice; and (3) complete free choice. Analysis of interview data revealed that teachers believed each strategy successfully enhanced student PA, enjoyment, motivation, and student learning. The findings also showed that our motivational teaching strategies were acceptable when embedded within certain PE contexts. Overall, the results have implications for future pre-service and in-service PE teaching practice.
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Jul 8, 2014
School physical education (PE) experiences play a critical role in adolescents' physical activity... more School physical education (PE) experiences play a critical role in adolescents' physical activity (PA) levels. Teachers are crucial to students' initial experiences in PA; however, limited research has explored teachers' perspectives about PA during PE using in-depth qualitative research techniques. We conducted interviews with 25 current Australian male and female PE teachers to investigate their perceptions about PA in secondary school PE (grades 7-12). Our findings indicated PA was a major focus for teachers during PE lessons; however, many physical and psychosocial factors underpinned practical classes. During PE lessons, PE teachers favoured game-based activities to promote PA while citing the traditional skill-drill approach as a strategy that limited PA. These findings highlight an ongoing shift in PE teaching towards a games-based approach and have several important implications for future teaching practice and research.
This study examines professional Australian coach and athlete perceptions of effective coaching. ... more This study examines professional Australian coach and athlete perceptions of effective coaching. Rather than assess the ability or effectiveness of the coaches and teams involved, the purpose was to gather perceptions of what professional coaches and players believe it takes to be an effective coach. Given the broad range of tasks that fit under the auspice of coaching, an important question to address was 'what' a coach does in order to be considered effective. In addition, an understanding of 'why' and 'how' these factors are vii
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