The chaos of inclusion? Examining anti-homophobia policy development in New Zealand sport

Sport is inherently homophobic and sport managers have been able to do little to address this. The purpose of this research was to examine the work of the ‘Sport for All’ Steering Group in New Zealand. This group was made up of six National Sport Organisations. Three research questions were addressed: Why were the organisations involved; what were their priorities and how can they be examined conceptually; and what (if any) strategies could help to develop the goals of the group? A conceptual framework was developed in which a combination of social identity theory, critical theory, and post-structuralism were utilised to examine the complexities of the steering group’s work. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted by phone. The following themes were examined: the organisations’ initial responses to the creation of the steering group; the complexities of the work; and the potential to develop inclusion through community. It was found that the organisational respondents used multiple conceptual approaches to inform and justify their work. Suggestions for inclusion development using the organisations’ ideas and enthusiasm alongside the funding framework of Sport New Zealand are offered.     

A whitewashed curriculum? The construction of race in contemporary PE curriculum policy

Analyses of curricula in a range of countries show how they tend to reinforce, rather than challenge, popular theories of racism. To date, we know little about the contribution of physical education (PE) curriculum policy to the overall policy landscape. This paper examines the construction of race and racism in two national contexts (Norway and England) as a means of putting race and anti-racism on the PE policy research agenda. It adopts a critical whiteness perspective to analyse how whiteness, as a system of privilege, contributes to the racialisation of valued knowledge in PE and asks, who potentially benefits and/or is marginalised within the learning spaces available in the texts? The discourse analysis reveals that two discursive techniques of whiteness combine to privilege white, Eurocentric knowledge content. Unmarked white PE practices and students are constructed as universal, normative and contingent. As a result, non-white PE practices and students are positioned on the margins in contemporary policy texts. By revealing the racialisation processes evident in the texts, we aim to trouble the profession's taken-for-granted truths about race in PE as integral to working towards the development of an antiracist subject.     

Managing parasport: An investigation of sport policy factors and stakeholders influencing para-athletes’ career pathways

The way disability is understood and positioned by key stakeholders informs how policies are implemented in the development of pathways to sporting excellence of an athlete with a disability. In this paper, the authors seek to identify which sports policy factors and stakeholders influence the development of athletic career pathways in Paralympic sport (i.e., attraction, retention, competition, talent identification and development, elite, and retirement phases). Drawing from the theories of disability and the literature on elite sport policy, an interview protocol on policy dimensions and principles to support para-athletes’ development was created, and 32 key stakeholders from the Brazilian Paralympic sport context were interviewed. The data revealed that coaching provision and education as a policy factor and coaches with disability-specific knowledge as a stakeholder were perceived as most influential during all the phases of para-athletes’ careers. The classification system emerged as a parasport-specific factor that can facilitate or inhibit the development of para-athletes’ careers, influencing the implementation of policies. The authors suggest that understanding the concept of disability is notably essential when stakeholders have to think strategically and adapt management principles from able-bodied sporting contexts. Therefore, critically positioning disability within policy decision making can improve the thinking, action, and behaviour of policymakers, coaches, and sports managers, leading to the more efficient delivery of successful para-athletes’ careers.     

From anti-doping to a ‘performance policy’ sport technology,being human,and doing ethics

Abstract

This paper discusses three questions concerning the ethics of performance enhancement in sport. The first has to do with the improvement to policy and argues that there is a need for policy about doping to be re-constituted and to question the conceptual priority of ‘anti’ doping. It is argued that policy discussions about science in sport must recognise the broader context of sport technology and seek to develop a policy about ‘performance’, rather than ‘doping’. The second argues that a quantitative enhancement to a sporting performance has no value and is, thus, unethical, unless the motivation behind using it implies something meaningful about being human. Thus, unless the use of the technology is constitutive of our humanness, then it is not a justifiable method of altering (rather than enhancing) performance. This rules out the legitimacy of using performance enhancement to gain an advantage over other competitors, who do not have access to similar means. Finally, the third argument claims that sport ethics has had only a limited discourse and has failed to recognise broader theoretical ideas in relation to performance modification, which might be found in the philosophy of technology and bioethics. Collectively, these positions articulate important concerns about the role of science in sport and the ethical discussions arising from them.     

Is “school sport” associated with school belongingness? Testing the influence of school sport policy

One of the primary justifications for middle school sport is the presumed association between sport participation and school belongingness. However, concerns regarding school sport values have called this association into question. Previous researchers have focused primarily on school sport as a single entity, with far less consideration for the different policies available to guide sport management and delivery in the school context. The authors examine the association between sport participation and school belongingness under two sport policies (i.e., interscholastic and intramural). Moderated mediation analysis is used to examine the relationships underpinning this connection in both policy contexts. Results indicate differences across policy contexts related to the salience of perceived sport and academic competence. The discussion highlights intriguing implications for sport administrators regarding school sport policy, particularly as it pertains to promoting school belongingness.     

Sport participation: From policy,through facilities,to users’ health,well-being,and social capital

Sport delivery systems, aimed at facilitating sports participation, represent an inter-institutional, cross-sector collaboration. Researchers focusing on the impact of different levels of sport provision from policy, through facilities, to end users remains limited. The authors address this gap in knowledge through a mixed- methods approach to examine sport participation from the perspective of the whole delivery system. Specifically, focusing on a County Sport Partnership region in the UK, the authors examine sport participation from the policy (macro), facility (meso), and end user (micro) levels. Regional heads responsible for sport development and delivery participated in semi-structured interviews, facility-level managers completed a survey, and end-users across public, private, and outsourced facilities participated in focus groups. Results show a clear divergence between the sport policy goals across the private and public sectors, with significant differences observed between facility types on their social and commercial objectives and their prioritized stakeholder groups. The divergence has little impact on user participation or expression of health, wellbeing, and social capital, offering new evidence on the role of neoliberalism in sport delivery systems.     

The doping self-reporting game: The paradox of a ‘false-telling’ mechanism and its potential research and policy implications

Establishing a requirement for, justifying public spending on, and evaluating the effectiveness of anti-doping policies all accentuate the need for reliable estimates of doping prevalence in sport. To date, despite considerable effort and much empirical research, this critical information is still not available. Methodological concerns that make doping epidemiology research difficult have been noted, and to some degree addressed in relation to under-reporting bias. In this paper, we use a simple game model to outline a potential responding behaviour among self-reporting athletes on the use of doping that could potentially invalidate any prevalence estimation arising from self-reports. We show a paradoxical situation in which a potential strategic behaviour inevitably leads to a game where the ‘lying’ is a dominant strategy for both doping users and non-users. A slightly more advanced look at the situation might possibly alter this seemingly absurd conclusion, however not in a direction offering any easy solutions for empirical doping research. Although we acknowledge that the proportions of respondents engaging in false telling are likely to vary across samples and differ between doping users and clean athletes, our simple model effectively draws attention to a neglected side of evasive responding in surveys. The response bias that potentially could lead to under- and over-reporting should be considered when self-reported prevalence rates are used to inform anti-doping prevention and intervention policies. Survey methodologies that are able to account for potential distortions would make a considerable contribution to doping research.     

School-based sports development and the role of NSOs as ‘boundary spanners’: benefits,disbenefits and unintended consequences of the Sporting Schools policy initiative

The focus of this paper is on Sporting Schools, a $100 million policy initiative intended to increase children’s sport participation in Australia. Our account seeks to proffer a critical analysis of this federal policy, and the way it functions as part of the new heterarchical or networked form of sports governance in Australia. Using a network ethnography methodology, we analyse Sporting Schools from the perspective of National Sporting Organisations (NSOs), who have the key responsibility for enacting this policy. Using their perceptions, we reflect on their role as policy ‘boundary spanners’ and outline the complexities they face in creating ‘win-win’ scenarios so that schools, students, government and NSOs themselves all benefit from the Sporting Schools initiative. We argue that NSOs have to balance benefits and disbenefits and face tension between their desire for tight quality control of their school-based sports programmes and the need to have a cost-effective funding model for maximum exposure to schools and students. In conclusion, we reflect on the unintended consequences of enacting the policy in its current form, including issues of teaching and coaching expertise, the potential displacement of the educative value of PE in favour of school sport, and the opening of this public policy space to commercial providers on a for-profit basis.     

Sex,sport and justice: reframing the ‘who’ of citizenship and the ‘what’ of justice in European and UK sport policy

Universalist claims are often made about sport which is, as a consequence, increasingly written into national and international policy as an entitlement of citizenship or even human right. Further, in most countries physical education (PE) is a compulsory component of children's education, and sport is seen as central to this. Consequently, in the interests of justice sport must aspire to be egalitarian, that is, relevant to and meaningful for boys and men, and girls and women. In this context three fundamental questions are asked in relation to sport: (1) Do all citizens want to participate? (2) Who counts as a citizen? and (3) What are justice and equality? Feminist political and citizenship theory particularly the work of Pateman, Lister and Fraser is used to explore these questions and interrogate the ‘who’ of citizenship and the ‘what’ of justice in relation to framing sport policy in Europe and the UK. It is argued that notwithstanding the extensive use of the Council of Europe definition of sport,¹1. ‘“Sport” means all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels' (CE, 1992 CE. (1992/2001). European sports charter. Retrieved from https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?Ref=Rec(92)13&;Sector=secCM&;Language=lanEnglish&;Ver=rev&;BackColorInternet=9999CC&;BackColorIntranet=FFBB55&;BackColorLogged=FFAC75 [Google Scholar]–2001 CE. (1992/2001). European sports charter. Retrieved from https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?Ref=Rec(92)13&;Sector=secCM&;Language=lanEnglish&;Ver=rev&;BackColorInternet=9999CC&;BackColorIntranet=FFBB55&;BackColorLogged=FFAC75 [Google Scholar]). and despite or even because of the widespread adoption of the language of gender equality and gender mainstreaming, although formal sport citizenship rights might be accorded to all individuals and regarded as gender neutral, this masks a discourse of androcentric sport citizenship. This has captured European and UK sport policy and provision and is hindering further progress towards gender justice in sport and therefore PE. Given the universal and compulsory aspirations of sport particularly within PE, gender justice should be conceptualised not only as cultural recognition, political representation and economic redistribution within the normalised frame of competitive performance sport or ‘sport for sports sake’; but also as a critical meta-political remapping and reframing of sport as sport and physical recreation or ‘sport for all’.