Cláudio Farias

The Impact of a Hybrid Sport Education: Invasion Games Competence Model Soccer Unit on Students’ Decision Making, Skill Execution and Overall Game Performance

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a hybrid Sport Education–Invasion Games Competence Model (SE-IGCM) unit application on students’ improvements in decision making, skill execution and overall game performance, during a soccer season. Twenty-six fifth-grade students from a Portuguese public elementary school participated in a 22-lesson season, in which pre-test, post-test and retention test measures were analyzed through the instrument developed by Blomqvist et al. (2005). Results showed that teaching a soccer unit in a SE environment sustained by the learning tasks structure provided by the IGCM offered students a chance to improve skill execution, as well their tactical decision making. The overall results showed a strong impact on students’ learning, especially for girls and low skill-level students, fostered by the equitable participation. The retention test was particularly important to assess gains of students of all skill levels, particularly the low-skilled students.

Towards a more equitable and inclusive learning environment in Sport Education: results of an action research-based intervention

This study was designed to examine and intervene into student behaviours to promote a democratic, inclusive and participatory focus within Sport Education. To achieve an increased understanding of and changes within student behaviours, a collaborative participatory action research methodology was applied to provide voice to students as agents of change. The research progressed throughout an entire school year and was cast in two stages. The first was a season of Basketball that provided some baseline with respect to issues of equity and inclusion. This was followed by an intervention stage (seasons of Handball, Soccer and Volleyball) in which the identified issues were acted upon. Based upon issues unearthed during the action research cycles the intervention focused on legitimating different levels of participation through (1) a reconfiguration of the learning content, peer teaching activities and competition formats, (2) the discussion of inequity, exclusion, gender stereotyping and discrimination emerging from group dynamics within focus groups interviews and (3) the promotion of positive leadership behaviours of the student coaches through leadership seminars conducted outside the gym. By the end of the year, there was significant evidence of inclusive membership accompanied by the development of mutual trust among students and shared contributions towards a common and inclusive goal. A close interrelatedness was found between game competence development, trajectories of participation and sense of membership, the restructuring of power relations and the sharing of knowledge and investment of dominant and higher-skilled students towards more inclusive team goals. The Sport Education curriculum alone was insufficient to dismantle the deeply rooted negative cultural influences of community-based sports that influenced equity and inclusion. However, by planning and implementing a specific intervention that used the educational resources of Sport Education proactively it was possible to promote a more inclusive and equitable learning environment.

A intervenção pedagógica sobre o conteúdo do treinador de futebol

O presente estudo teve como objetivo analisar a intervencao pedagogica sobre o conteudo de treinadores de futebol, nos escaloes de escolinhas e infantis, em funcao da formacao academica em Educacao Fisica e Desporto. A amostra foi constituida por 12 treinadores de futebol (n = 12), os quais foram filmados durante sessoes de treino. O instrumento utilizado foi adaptado a partir do Systematic Analysis of Pedagogical Content Interventions (SAPCI) de GILBERT et al. (1999). Recorreu-se a estatistica descritiva e a inferencial atraves da estatistica nao parametrica, o teste de Mann-Whitney, para comparar os resultados entre grupos. O calculo da percentagem de acordos, complementada pela estatistica Kappa de Cohen, mostrou niveis aceitaveis de fidedignidade para as observacoes serem utilizadas como ferramenta cientifica. A realizacao deste estudo mostrou que: os treinadores incidiram as suas intervencoes, majoritariamente, sobre os conteudos de ordem tecnica, sobretudo de carater ofensivo; a informacao foi emitida, preferencialmente, quando os jogadores estavam em acao; as instrucoes proferidas pelos treinadores foram, na sua maioria, de carater geral, sendo que no “feedback” os treinadores utilizaram, sobretudo, o encorajamento; o meio exclusivamente auditivo foi o preferido na emissao de informacao; a informacao foi dirigida, preferencialmente, aos jogadores, a titulo individual. Na comparacao entre grupos, verificou-se que os treinadores com formacao academica em Educacao Fisica e Desporto emitiram, significativamente, mais instrucao especifica e recorreram mais ao questionamento, tanto geral como especifico, do que os treinadores nao licenciados. Apesar dos treinadores em estudo, em geral, mostrarem uma abordagem centrada nos aspectos tecnicos da fase ofensiva do jogo, os treinadores licencidos em Educacao Fisica evidenciaram um conhecimento mais especifico do conteudo do Futebol e concederam aos jogadores mais espaco para compreender e problematizar os conteudos de aprendizagem.

Student game-play performance in invasion games following three consecutive hybrid Sport Education seasons:

This study was the first to examine game performance according to the tactical structures of invasion games throughout three consecutive model-based units. Twenty-six seventh grade students participated in three Sport Education seasons (basketball, handball, and football) taught through the tactical framework Invasion Games Competence model. Team membership remained the same throughout the three seasons and pre- and post-test game-play of three-a-side games involving the same opponent teams was assessed. Measures included overall game performance and four tactical structures indices: creating scoring opportunities (CSO); setting up an attack (SUA); prevent CSO; and prevent SUA. A 3 (group) × 2 (time) repeated measures analysis of variance tested differences between sports in the five performance measures. Correlations between the four tactical structures and game performance were tested and a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine the predictive weight of the four tactical structures indices on game performance. While there were significant improvements in game performance of handball and football, but not in basketball, the breaking down of performance into tactical structures indices showed improvements in all seasons. The correlations increased across time between tactical structures indices and game performance and the predictive model of game performance extended to include the four tactical structures. Performance improvements were associated with contextual features of extended team membership and consequent attunement of game-play interpersonal dynamics, nature of peer-teaching mediation, and game forms design. Future research should examine the effects on game performance development of student augmented participation in problem-solving processes and asymmetric opposition game forms.