Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ustr20 Strategies A Journal for Physical and Sport Educators ISSN: 0892-4562 (Print) 2168-3778 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ustr20 Using Sport Education to Promote Social Development in Physical Education Column Editor: K. Andrew R. Richards Colin G. Pennington & Oleg A. Sinelnikov To cite this article: Colin G. Pennington & Oleg A. Sinelnikov (2018) Using Sport Education to Promote Social Development in Physical Education, Strategies, 31:6, 50-52, DOI: 10.1080/08924562.2018.1516447 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/08924562.2018.1516447 Published online: 05 Nov 2018. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 416 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 1 View citing articles
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Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttps://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ustr20
StrategiesA Journal for Physical and Sport Educators
Using Sport Education to Promote SocialDevelopment in Physical EducationColumn Editor: K. Andrew R. Richards
Colin G. Pennington & Oleg A. Sinelnikov
To cite this article: Colin G. Pennington & Oleg A. Sinelnikov (2018) Using Sport Educationto Promote Social Development in Physical Education, Strategies, 31:6, 50-52, DOI:10.1080/08924562.2018.1516447
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/08924562.2018.1516447
Given that part of the broad mission of education is to help students develop character and prosocial values (Stoll & Beller, 1993), schools and teachers should provide children with oppor-tunities to develop healthy social skills. Students who develop social competence during their forma-
tive education are more likely to be successful throughout their lives (Hellison, 2011). Although developing a prosocial environment can be challenging, intentionally designed programs can make a difference in the development of students (Naylor & Yeager, 2013).
By Colin G. Pennington and Oleg A. Sinelnikov
Using Sport Education to PromoteSocial Development in Physical Education
ADVOCACY IN ACTIONColumn Editor: K. Andrew R. Richards
In the pursuit of prosocial development, physical educators can take advantage of pedagogical models that have proven to be effective in this domain. While the teaching personal and social responsibility model (Hellison, 2011) represents one ap-proach to enhancing social skill development, another useful model-based practice is sport education (SE; Siedentop, Has-tie, & van der Mars, 2011), because it affords deliberate prac-tice of positive sporting behavior. This article examines how this pedagogical model can be used to help students develop social responsibility and prosocial values in physical education.
Overview of Sport EducationSport education was designed to provide authentic, educa-
tionally rich sport experiences for students in PE, and it has the goal of helping students to become competent, literate and en-thusiastic sportspeople. This goal is accomplished through the development of a physically and emotionally safe environment that integrates cooperative small-group work and peer teaching within activity settings, rather than total reliance on teacher- directed instruction. Sport education has several unique fea-tures that distinguish it from other pedagogical models, in-cluding seasons, affiliation, formal competition, festivity, record keeping and culminating events (Siedentop et al., 2011).
An SE unit is organized into seasons, which last for at least 15 to 20 lessons and mirror the flow of a regular sport sea-son (i.e., training camp, preseason, regular season, postseason). Students build affiliation by being members of the same team throughout the season as they plan, practice and compete as a team. Much of the positive social meaning and personal growth derived from sport experiences is related to team affiliation. By engaging in formal competition, students have the opportunity to plan, strategize and practice in the pursuit of team goals. Fes-tivity is a key component of SE as teachers and students work together to create an environment that celebrates improvement, effort and fair play (e.g., posters hung on walls, team uniforms, player introductions before games, award ceremonies at the end of the season). Record keeping provides feedback for individu-als and groups, helps to define performance standards, and is fundamental to defining future goals. Finally, the culminating event, which includes festivity at the end of the season, creates the opportunity for a celebration of accomplishments.
Enhancing Prosocial Development through Sport Education
Figley’s (1984) influential work suggested that PE teachers can encourage prosocial development by using a three-prong approach: 1) placing students in situations in which they con-front moral dilemmas, 2) exercising indirect teaching styles, and 3) creating a supportive environment.
Through the unique structure of SE, physical educators place students in situations in which they confront moral dilem-mas — for example, fulfilling a duty or team role as a referee. Referees encourage, facilitate and highlight positive sporting behaviors, and they sanction inappropriate behaviors. Student-
referees often face moral dilemmas (e.g., making an unfair call to give advantage to a friend), but with proper leadership, they develop the skills to promote fair play even when doing so does not directly benefit them.
The structure of SE also allows for the teacher to take a more “off-stage” approach to instruction. The use of indirect teach-ing styles allows students to exercise their own sense of agency and autonomy in the learning experience. During SE seasons, students share in the planning and administrative roles of their learning experience and should have significant exposure to these important aspects of the season (managerial tasks, coop-erative planning, etc.). Teachers should foster prosocial devel-opment by emphasizing unique model elements such as stu-dents having roles other than that of player where peer teaching thrives (students teaching one another). For example, a team warm-up leader is placed in a position of having to be a leader for his or her team at one point of the lesson, while a statistician may have a lead responsibility of organizing the same team for officiating duties.
To promote prosocial development, each student in SE should have a duty role that leads to such opportunities, and these opportunities should be intentional. For example, board members (a representative from each team) could discuss issues related to fair play and fair competition format and rules. How-ever, SE provides only a structure for creating teachable mo-ments for social development — teachers must be intentional in their promotion of prosocial values. Furthermore, the model needs to be implemented with fidelity. When the teacher takes on the administrative roles intended for students, the model is watered down and prosocial development may be a casualty.
Physical educators create a supportive environment within SE by nurturing and praising students who demonstrate pro-social behavior. Through its structure, SE provides clear oppor-tunities for public recognition. For example, during the culmi-nating event, those students who displayed prosocial behavior during the season should be recognized.
Additionally, a supportive environment is created by a com-petition format that incorporates fair-play points. Sport edu-cation teams earn points for prosocial behavior in addition to points for wins. Often, fair-play points are valued more than winning to emphasize students’ developmental needs and growth. For example, by manipulating the points system in bas-ketball, a team may be awarded additional points for displaying positive sporting behaviors toward the official and opponents — theoretically allowing the team that scored fewer shots to win a contest. In a supportive environment, students recognize the strategic advantage of playing fair and ethically.
Finally, teachers must serve as positive role models of moral reasoning and positive sporting behaviors. Teachers set stan-dards with clear messages on the purposes and intended out-comes of an SE season. They should mirror the desired ideals of respect, fairness, civility, honesty and responsibility toward their students and activity. Even in the best of times, a season is not without its challenges. When behaviors counter to personal and social development are observed, the teacher must inter-vene to encourage making appropriate changes independently,
52 Strategies
as students sometimes struggle to identify prosocial values (Sinelnikov & Hastie, 2008).
students to work within a group toward common goals, de-velops the capacity to make reasoned decisions about sport is-sues, and encourages students to participate (Siedentop et al., 2011). The physical educator has the opportunity to create situ-ations that will enhance the social and character development of children, and he or she has the opportunity to advocate for participation in sport, physical activity and positive social rela-tionships. The techniques outlined in this article can improve prosocial behavior by reducing critical incidents and increas-ing intent for future participation. Students who participate in sport in healthy environments are more capable of developing desired social values and characteristics. By taking advantage of prosocial models like SE, teachers actively advocate for im-proved social responsibility in their students.
ORCIDOleg A. Sinelnikov https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3019-
6705
ReferencesFigley, G. E. (1984). Moral education through physical education.
Quest, 36, 89–101.Hellison, D. (2011). Teaching responsibility through physical activity.
Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.Naylor, A. H., & Yeager, J. M. (2013). A 21st-century framework
for character formation in sports. Peabody Journal of Education, 88, 212–224.
Siedentop, D., Hastie, P. A., & van der Mars, H. (2011). Complete guide to sport education. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Sinelnikov, O., & Hastie, P. (2008). Teaching sport education to Rus-sian students: An ecological analysis. European Physical Education Review, 14, 203–222.
Stoll, S. K., & Beller, J. M. (1993, March). The effect of a longitudinal teaching methodology and classroom environment on both cognitive and behavioral moral development. Paper presented at the Annual Con-vention of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, Washington, DC. S
Colin G. Pennington is a graduate assistant in the Department of Kinesi-ology at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL; and Oleg A. Sinel-nikov ([email protected]) is an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL.
Submissions Welcome!Readers are encouraged to send “Advocacy in Ac-tion” submissions to column editor K. Andrew R. Richards at [email protected].
The purpose of the Strategies Advocacy in Action column is to provide tangible, real-world examples of grassroots and national-level advocacy activi-ties taking place in the fields of physical education, health education and physical activity. Submissions should be written in a conversational, practical tone. Columns should be 1,000 –1,300 words (or roughly four typed, double-spaced pages).
