Don Hellison

The development of compassionate and caring leadership among adolescents

Background: Fostering the innate need to lead, teach and care for others is fundamental to creating a just and moral society. The nurturing begins early in life and becomes especially vital during the adolescent years, when peer pressure and the need to belong are heightened. Unfortunately, many youths believe leadership is associated with being good-looking, athletic, wealthy or smart. Leadership development is viewed differently, as an inclusive process where everyone can be a leader. Purpose: To describe how youth leadership evolved in two education programs serving low-income minority youth. Both programs are designed to foster leadership qualities in adolescent youth. They provide opportunities for ‘veteran’ program participants to develop leadership skills by teaching sport and life skills to younger kids from various community agencies and programs. Many youth leaders attend one of the local schools, while some are either in alternative schools or pursuing a General Education Development Certificate (GED). Participants and settings: One of the programs operates at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) and the other at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). The program at UNCG is called the Youth Leader Corps program. The one at UIC is called the Apprentice Teacher Program. Research design: A description of program participants previous involvement in values-based sport clubs during their elementary and middle school years is provided. The clubs provided the initial leadership experiences that prepared them to take on larger leadership roles. Four developmental stages of youth leadership are proposed. These stages are: (1) needs-based leadership; (2) focusing on planning and teaching; (3) reflective leadership; and (4) compassionate leadership. Data collection: Numerous data sources were used—one was interviews (focus and individual) with youth leaders, their assistants, campers and program leaders, another was the leaders written reflections of their teaching. A leaders assistant provided written (and oral) feedback to the leaders after each lesson. A final source of data came from the program leaders field notes and informal interactions between the leaders and staff. Data analysis: Case studies were presented showing each stage of leadership development. The extent that certain issues impact adolescent growth across these stages is also described. Findings: Four case studies illustrating each of the four stages are presented. The four cases illustrate the transformation of adolescents from being self-serving participants to being caring and compassionate leaders. The ability to progress through these stages is related to the youth leaders personal needs and their levels of moral development. Conclusions: The youth leaders sometimes regressed to a lower stage of leadership, but they also sometimes moved beyond their current stage to an advanced stage. It was also evident that their personal lives greatly influenced their comfort in extending their leadership and compassion to younger participants.

Teaching responsibility in physical education: standards, outcomes, and beyond.

B ut what is responsible behavior? Responsibility has been z defined bysome as adherence ~ to ... rules and role expectations ~ (Wentzel, 1991, p. 1). Others have de~ fined it as a combination of indepen~ ~ dence, self-control, individuality, and f intrinsic motivation (Bluestein, 1988). if Our own interpretation leans toward ~ the latter definition: responsibility reg: quires students to learn how to be.t o come accountable for their own well~ u being and for contributing to the welle ~ being of others, both in and outside if the gymnasium. Although teachers often focus on student behavior, and with good reason, the definition of responsibility should be expanded to include attitudes and values. Unless responsibility is internalized as part ofa students beliefand value system, it is much less likely to be transferred to settings beyond the gym.

The Whole Person in Physical Education Scholarship: Toward Integration

This essay focuses on the effects of the recent subdisciplinary research emphasis in physical education scholarship on whole-person issues such as personal and social development in school- and agency-based physical education programs. It is argued, first, that recent social problems have accelerated the need for scholarly attention to the whole person in physical education and, second, that this research emphasis has responded by beginning to clarify and validate various personal and social development approaches in physical education. However, these results are not, for the most part, finding their way into practice; a different approach to scholarship is required to augment current lines of research. This approach, which emphasizes the interplay of theory/research and practice, is more likely to bridge the gap between theory and practice and to encourage integration among the subdisciplines. In the process, pressing social problems that now constitute much of the context for practice will be addressed.

Service-Bonded Inquiry Revisited: A Research Model for the Community-Engaged Professor

The intent of this article is to inform readers about ways in which scholarly inquiry can be expanded. An overview and a refinement of a research approach called service-bonded inquiry are provided. Service-bonded inquiry is a response to the call for changing the way research is interpreted, conducted, and evaluated. At the heart of this approach is the integration of service and scholarship. Service-bonded inquiry attempts to equip community-engaged professors with a framework for answering the many questions generated from working in school and service programs and engaging in the lives of kids. First, a description of service-bonded inquiry is given along with the required steps for doing this type of research. Next, an example of a study that applies the concepts of service-bonded inquiry is provided. Finally, ways that by-products of service-bonded inquiry can be evaluated are suggested.

If Sargent Could See Us Now: Values and Program Survival in Higher Education

The elimination of programs in physical education in higher education is both a cause for concern and an opportunity to reflect on the values that dominate physical education in higher education. In this essay, I argue that current values in the socialization of doctoral students, induction to the professoriate, and gatekeeping of scholarly journals primarily support specialized knowledge production and technical rationality. Alternatives to current values are reviewed, including “consultation” with Dudley Allen Sargent. I conclude with an argument for more diversity in purpose, scholarship, and definitions of excellence.

Our Constructed Reality: Some Contributions of an Alternative Perspective to Physical Education Pedagogy.

This paper describes a loose coalition of ideas that form an alternative perspective to the dominant research and development work currently being conducted in physical education pedagogy. It is argued that the profession will be best served if both perspectives better understand and share their assumptions, and especially if they recognize the subjective nature of their work.

Physical activity programs for underserved youth

Underserved youth face enormous barriers in their emotional, social, and intellectual development. One such barrier is the scarcity of developmentally oriented extended day programs. Recent research and professional opinion have stimulated a reconceptualization of the field of youth development as well as the identification of specific guidelines for extended day programs in underserved communities. The Urban Youth Leader Project (UYLP) in Chicago, which has now spread to several other universities, is a specific example of these developments in practice. UYLP sponsors 1) a number of youth programs in Chicagos most underserved communities, 2) service learning and professional preparation programs linked to the community youth programs for interested university students, and 3) applied research. The personal and social responsibility model provides the template for youth programs and for university interns and is the focus of the applied research. Several alternative structures have been created to provide more compatible settings for this work. Although such activities hold promise for incremental change, they do not address the more deeply rooted systemic causes of being underserved.

Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility: Past, Present and Future

During the past decade the field of youth development has grown by leaps and bounds. With this growth have emerged numerous initiatives addressing challenges that many youth face in their community — especially youth living in underserved communities. These initiatives have been guided by a number of various curricular models. This article provides an overview of how the teaching for personal and social responsibility (TPSR) model has evolved. Its birthplace — a gym — is described where things were tried out, ideas tested, and learning about what worked and what did not work took place. Secondly, the present-day applications of the TPSR are examined — its use by a variety of professionals who work with kids in numerous settings (and ways). Finally, the article concludes with an assessment of the TPSR model and its future role in youth development programming. This will include a portrayal of school and community-based programs: their future missions, support and ideological underpinnings. Problems that face society, especially in segments of the underserved, will not go away. Preparing for the future challenges facing youth will require practitioners who view youth as contributors to their community instead of as problems. Such a commitment will interface well with the spirit of TPSR and will certainly be a response to the question: “What is worth doing and what is possible?”

Youth Leadership, Social Justice, and Citizenship

To further set the stage for youth leadership programming we want to address two important concepts: social justice and citizenship for children and youth. The reason for doing this is that we see a connection between work in youth leadership development and the advancement of social justice and citizenship issues.

Youth Development, Sport, and Youth Leadership

Professional preparation and in-service training for coaches, physical education teachers, youth workers, and other physical activity program leaders are key factors in the development of quality youth programs. Historically, professional preparation has been uneven and sometimes nonexistent. Moreover, it has paid less attention to, or even neglected altogether, the potential link between physical activity and life skills/values development, despite the rampant “sport builds character” rhetoric. The recent emergence of the field of youth development offers hope for a shift in professional preparation and eventually the quality of youth programs toward educating youth more holistically. The advent of youth development has been of particular interest to us, because youth development strongly promotes youth empowerment and leadership, just as we have tried to do for many years. Unfortunately, it took a while for the physical activity field to see the relevance of youth development for physical activity programs for kids, but this is now changing. The result is more support for the development of holistic youth leadership through sport, physical education, and other physical activities.