Journal Article

Enhancing Sporting Behavior and Fair Play in Sport Education

Curtner-Smith, Matt, Schwamberger, Benjamin M

2016

Overview

The occupational socialization literature suggests that teaching-oriented teachers are more likely to deliver sport education (SE) in its purest form and so provide conditions in which fair play and sporting behavior can be developed. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which Derrick, a teaching-oriented preservice teacher, promoted sporting behavior while teaching 38 middle school boys within 2 SE seasons on team handball. The theories of structural development and social learning guided data collection and analysis. Data collection techniques employed were nonparticipant observation; formal interviews, informal interviews, and a stimulated recall interview with Derrick; focus-group interviews with the students; and document analysis. Derrick also completed daily critical incident reports and reflected on his teaching in an electronic journal. Analytic induction and constant comparison were used to analyze the data. Many of the students gained a more sophisticated understanding of fair play and sporting behavior. On numerous occasions, students played fairly and acted in a sporting manner. Derrick's teaching orientation, his own concept of sporting behavior and fair play, his delivery of a pure version of SE, and his pedagogy had much to do with these positive outcomes. Collectively, they allowed him to present new ideas about sporting behavior and fair play, which the students assimilated and accommodated. More negatively, many of the more skilled students' willingness to engage in fair play and sporting behavior was context-specific. These students noted that they were more inclined to act in a sporting fashion during physical education than during \"real\" sport. As game play became more competitive, some of these more skilled students engaged in more unsporting behaviors. They were prepared to play outside the rules of the game in accordance with what they viewed as societal norms. Conversely, many of the less skilled students maintained a universal concept of sporting behavior and fair play when the competition became fiercer. The different impact of Derrick's teaching on the more skilled and less skilled boys illustrates the powerful socializing force that organized youth and school sport has on students of this age. The results of the study confirm that SE is an excellent medium through which to develop sporting behavior. They also suggest that physical education teacher education faculty training preservice teachers would do well to stress that the best results are achieved when the pure form of the model is delivered.

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subject: Behavior / Data collection / Physical Education / Physical education teachers / Preservice Teachers / Students / Teaching / Team handball