Internal social processes of discipline formation: The case of kinanthropometry

Abstract

In 1972, the term ‘kinanthropometry’, derived from the Greek words ‘kinein’ (to move), ‘anthropos’ (human) and ‘metrein’ (to measure), was launched in the international, Francophone journal Kinanthropologie by the Canadian William Ross and the Belgians, Marcel Hebbelinck, Bart Van Gheluwe and Marie-Louise Lemmens. The authors defined this neologism as ‘the scientific discipline for the study of the size, shape, proportion, scope and composition of the human being and its gross motor functions’. Presenting a theoretical framework for the analysis of the internal social processes of discipline formation – derived from the social history-of-science tradition – this article critically examines whether kinanthropometry was indeed promoted and developed by its community members as a scientific discipline. Therefore, the focus will be on its conceptualisation and positioning within the field of kinanthropology/kinesiology and on its development by a scholarly association, i.e. the International Working Group on Kinanthropometry (IWGK). The strong emphasis of the kinanthropometry community on the standardisation of measurement techniques and its practical and professional application hampered its disciplinary development. Findings of this study could serve as a basis for future ‘fundamental’ investigations addressing questions of disciplinary development within the field(s) of physical education, kinesiology and sport science(s).     

Statistics,gymnastics and the origins of sport science in Belgium (and Europe)

Abstract

This paper analyses the introduction of statistics in the field of gymnastics and its effect on the institutionalisation of physical education as a fully fledged academic discipline. Soon after Belgian independence, Adolphe Quetelet's research already resulted in large-scale anthropometric statistics – indeed, he developed an index that is still being used and is better known under the name of the body mass index. His insights were applied by promoters of gymnastics who wanted to make physical education more scientific. Thus, Clément Lefébure, director of the Ecole Normale de Gymnastique et d'Escrime in Brussels, set up a comparative experiment (with pre- and post-test measurements) by which he intended to show that the ‘rational’ method of Swedish gymnastics produced much better results than the ‘empirical’ method of Belgian/German Turnen. Lefébure's experiment, which was cited internationally but which was also strongly contested by opponents, was one of the factors that led to Swedish gymnastics being officially institutionalised in 1908 at the newly founded Higher Institute of Physical Education of the State University of Ghent, the first institute in the world where students could obtain a doctoral degree in physical education. Although it rested actually on very weak scientific foundations, the bastion of Swedish gymnastics built in Belgium in that pre-war period collapsed only in the 1960s. From then on, sport science could develop fully within the institutes for physical education.     

If sport's the solution then what's the problem? The social significance of sport in the moral governing of ‘good’ and ‘healthy’ citizens in Sweden, 1922–1998

All over the westernised world, sport has been promoted as a ‘solution’ to many of the social ‘problems’ and challenges that face modern societies. This study draw on Foucault's concept of governmentality to examine the ways in which Swedish Government Official Reports on sport, from 1922 to 1998, define social problems and legitimate governing, and sport as a solution, in the name of benefiting Swedish society. The analysis shows that citizens' ‘good’ and ‘healthy’ behaviour and bodies are in focus of problematisation throughout the studied period. In relation to this, sport is seen as an important tool and solution. Parallel with increased critique of sport in contemporary times, a neo-liberal governmentality is embraced which in turn affect how ‘problems’ and ‘solutions’ are thought of in individualistic and rational ways.     

Concurrent criterion validity of a novel portable motion analysis system for assessing the landing error scoring system (LESS) test

The landing error scoring system (LESS) assesses the quality of a landing after a jump. The quality of the jump is usually evaluated using a three-dimensional (3-D) motion analysis system or a two-dimensional (2-D) video analysis visually rated by a clinician. However, both methods have disadvantages. The aim of this study was to examine the concurrent validity of a novel portable motion analysis system (‘PhysiMax System’) in assessing the LESS score by comparing it to video analysis. The study population included 48 healthy participants (28.45 ± 5.61 years), each performing the LESS test while two video cameras and the ‘PhysiMax’ simultaneously recorded the jump. The ‘Physimax’ system automatically evaluated the LESS. Subsequently, the examiners scored the test by viewing the video recordings, blinded to the ‘PhysiMax’ results. The mean LESS score, using the video recordings and the ‘PhysiMax’ was 4.77 (±2.29) and 5.15 (±2.58), respectively, (ICC = 0.80, 95% confidence intervals 0.65–0.87), mean absolute differences 1.13 (95% confidence intervals; 0.79–1.46). The results indicate a high consensus between the methods of measurement. The ‘Physimax’ system’s main advantages are portability, objective evaluation and immediate availability of results. The system can be used by athletic trainers and physiotherapists in the clinic and in the field for jumping assessment.     

The position of dance in physical education

Dance has been a part of the physical education (PE) curriculum in several countries for a long time. In spite of this, studies demonstrate that the position of dance in the subject of PE is contested and that little time is devoted to dance. The overall aim of this article is to examine the position of dance as a pedagogical discourse in Swedish steering documents over time. The empirical material consists of five Swedish curricula for PE over a period of 50 years (1962–2011). Discourse analysis is used to identify organised systems of meaning, including privileged and prioritised values. Our theoretical frame of reference draws on Bernstein's concept of codes. Three different knowledge areas within dance are found in the text material: ‘dance as cultural preserver’, ‘dance as bodily exercise’ and ‘dance as expression’. Three pedagogical discourses emerge from these knowledge areas: an identity formation discourse, a public health discourse and an aesthetic discourse. The identity formation discourse in earlier curricula focuses on the perpetuation of Swedish and Nordic cultural traditions, while in later curricula, it emphasises the construction of a broader multicultural identity formation related to the understanding of different cultures. The public health discourse constitutes a prioritised understanding of dance as physical training related to a healthy lifestyle. The aesthetic discourse, which has the weakest position over time, represents the valuing of embodied experiences and feelings expressed through movements. This discourse is closely linked to the construction of gender. Over time, a new performance code came to surpass the former competence code in the steering documents. The performance code positions dance in PE as mainly a physical activity with little artistic or aesthetic value. The pedagogical discourse of dance remains within a highly disciplinary framework of social control.     

Sport physiology research and governing gender in sport—a power–knowledge relation?

This article sets out to show how physiological knowledge about sex/gender relates to power issues within sport. The sport physiology research at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (Swedish acronym: GIH) during the twentieth century is analysed in relation to the political rationality concerning gender at GIH and within the Swedish Sports Confederation during the same period. The analysis is constituted by Michel Foucault's notion of power–knowledge relations and regimes oftruth. The construction of sex/gender in the physiological research changes over time. Comparative studies on the function of ‘sexual difference’ during strenuous work, which, in hindsight, might be seen to restrict women's sport participation, was gradually displaced by a lack of interest in sexual difference, and later by a growing fascination with sexual difference from a ‘gender perspective’ in terms of women being ‘different but equal’ to men. This displacement goes hand in hand with a displacement of the political rationality concerning gender at GIH and within the Swedish Sports Confederation, where a pre-World War II strategy of excluding women's competitive sport participation, restricting women's physical exercise to gymnastics, was after 1945 followed by a strategy of including women. This was at first in the name of ‘women's right to do sport’—where the physiological research advocated this endeavour—and later in the name of ‘women's right to do sport on their own terms’. However, the research was still being conducted based on the male physiology as the norm.     

Exploring physical education teachers ‘everyday understandings’ of physical literacy

ABSTRACT

In recent years, physical literacy (PL) has been the subject of increased publication, promotion, and speculation in physical education (PE). This research sought to understand how PE teachers interpret PL. We investigated teacher’s conceptualisations, understandings, practices, and ideas of ‘what’ PL stands for through a #Chat conversation with physical educators on Twitter. This generated qualitative data that were interpretively analysed. An ‘everyday philosophy’ of PL emerged from the physical educators’ relationship with the PL concept, alongside the notion that some use social media as a PL advocacy tool. A lack of sophistication was evident in the PE teachers understanding and operationalization of PL. We conclude that perhaps too much time and effort has been spent ‘adapting’ PL to national contexts, personal, and institutional agendas, rather than investing in the pedagogical and content knowledge of PE teachers to deliver on the concept of PL. We suggest that it is empirical research rather than academic opinionating that is needed to establish the validity of PL for PE.     

Active relatives and health-related physical fitness in European adolescents: The HELENA Study

Abstract

High physical fitness in childhood and adolescence is positively associated with favourable health-related outcomes. Our aim was to examine the relationship between relatives’ (father, mother, brother, sister, and best friend) physical activity engagement and encouragement on adolescents’ physical fitness. Adolescents were part of the HELENA study, a multi-centre study conducted in 10 cities from nine European countries in 2006–2008. Participants were 3288 adolescents (48% boys, 52% girls) aged 12.5–17.5 years with valid data on at least one of the three fitness variables studied: muscular strength (standing long jump), speed/agility (4×10 m shuttle run), and cardiorespiratory fitness (20 m shuttle run). The adolescents reported their relatives’ physical activity engagement and encouragement. Analysis of covariance showed that relatives’ physical activity engagement (father, mother, brother, and best friend) was positively related to cardiorespiratory fitness (P < 0.05); and mother's and sisters’ physical activity engagement were positively associated with higher muscular strength in adolescents (P < 0.05). Furthermore, father's physical activity encouragement was positively linked to physical fitness (all fitness components) in adolescents (P < 0.05). Interventions aimed at improving physical fitness in young people might be more successful when family members, particularly mothers and fathers, are encouraged to engage in physical activity and support adolescents’ physical activity.     

Physical education cultures in Sweden: fitness,sports, dancing … learning?

In a significant article from 1993, Crum describes the purpose of physical education (PE) as a ‘planned introduction into movement culture’. In broad terms, this purpose is tantamount to the stated purpose of Swedish PE in national steering documents. Crum contends, however, that physical educators do not prioritise learning, which is largely due to the different ‘movement cultures’ that constitute the PE lessons. This article explores how practice unfolds in movement cultures that are included in Swedish PE and their implications for teaching and learning in the subject. Some 30 (indoor) PE lessons in eight secondary schools in four cities throughout Sweden were video recorded. At ‘first glance’ these lessons indicated the prevalence of four logics of practice: a physical training logic, a sports logic, a sport technique logic and a dance logic. However, further analysis revealed that the teachers' and students' actions were not entirely in line with a logic of practice of training the body, winning the game, learning sporting skills or learning to dance. Instead, the PE practice largely unfolded as a ‘looks-like-practice’, where the purpose of teaching was blurred, and where any ‘planned introduction into movement culture’ was difficult to identify. In the final section, the authors discuss how physical activity logics can be recontextualised in a PE setting in order to emphasise the educational contribution of PE.     

Does school physical education really contribute to accelerometer-measured daily physical activity and non sedentary behaviour in high school students?

Physical education has been highlighted as an important environment for physical activity promotion, however, to our knowledge there are no previous studies examining the contribution of physical education to daily accelerometer-measured physical activity and non sedentary behaviour. The purpose was to compare the accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary behaviour between physical education, non-physical education and weekend days in adolescents. Of the 394 students from a Spanish high school that were invited to participate, 158 students (83 boys and 75 girls) aged 13–16 years were analyzed (wear time ≥ 600 min). Participants’ physical activity and sedentary behaviour were objectively-measured by GT3X+ accelerometers during physical education (one session), non-physical education and weekend days. Results indicated that overall adolescents had statistically significant greater physical activity levels and lower values of sedentary behaviour on physical education days than on non-physical education and weekend days (e.g., moderate-to-vigorous physical activity = 71, 54 and 57 min; sedentary = 710, 740 and 723 min) (p < 0.05). Physical education contributes significantly to reducing students’ daily physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour. Increasing the number of physical education classes seems to be an effective strategy to reduce the high current prevalence of physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour in adolescence.     

Adopting a models-based approach to teaching physical education

Background: The popularised notion of models-based practice (MBP) is one that focuses on the delivery of a model, e.g. Cooperative Learning, Sport Education, Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility, Teaching Games for Understanding. Indeed, while an abundance of research studies have examined the delivery of a single model and some have explored hybrid models, few have sought to meaningfully and purposefully connect different models in a school's curriculum (see Kirk, D. 2013. ‘Educational Value and Models-based Practice in Physical Education.’ Educational Philosophy and Theory 45 (9): 973–986.; Lund, J., and D. Tannehill. 2015. Standards-based Physical Education Curriculum Development. 3rd ed. Burlington, MA: Jones &; Bartlett.; Quay, J., and J. Peters. 2008. ‘Skills, Strategies, Sport, and Social Responsibility: Reconnecting Physical Education.’ Journal of Curriculum Studies 40 (5): 601–626.). Significantly none, to date, have empirically investigated broader notions of MBP that make use of a range of different pedagogical models in/through the PE curriculum (Kirk, D. 2013. ‘Educational Value and Models-based Practice in Physical Education.’ Educational Philosophy and Theory 45 (9): 973–986.).

Aim: To provide a first empirical insight into using a MBP approach involving several models to teach physical education. At its heart, this paper presents the reader with the realistic and nuanced challenges that arise in striving towards, engaging with, planning for, and enacting a broader, multimodel notion of MBP.

Method: While the study itself was broader, we focus primarily on three units (one using Cooperative Learning, one using a Tactical Games/Cooperative Learning hybrid and a third using Sport Education) taught to boys in two different age groups (i.e. 11–12 and 14–15). Two analytical questions inform and guide our enquiry: (1) What do we learn about MBP implementation through this project that would help other physical education practitioners implement a multimodel MBP approach? and (2) What are the key enablers and constraints of early MBP implementation? Data sources included (a) 21 semi-structured interviews with student groups, (b) teacher post-lesson and post-unit reflective analyses, (c) daily teacher reflective diaries, and (d) teacher unit diaries. Data were analysed comparatively considering the two analytical questions.

Results: The data analysis conveys strong themes around the areas of teacher and student prior learning, working toward facilitating a change in practice, sufficient time to consider changes in practice, and changing philosophies and practices. The results suggest that the consistent challenge that arose for the teacher towards the goal of adopting a MBP approach was the reduction of his overt involvement as a teacher. While the teacher bought into the philosophy of multimodel MBP he was continually frustrated at not progressing as quickly as he would like in changing his practice to match his philosophy.

Conclusions: Despite his best intentions, early attempts to use a multimodel MBP approach were limited by the teacher’s ability to re-conceptualise teaching. The teacher made ‘rookie mistakes’ and tried to transfer his normal classroom practice onto paper handouts while simultaneously inviting students to play a more central role in the classroom. In considering this journey, we can see an indication of the investment needed to implement a MBP approach. Pedagogical change in the form of MBP is a process that needs to be supported by a community of practice intent on improving learning across multiple domains in physical education.     

The role of science in the practice of talent identification: a case study from gymnastics in New Zealand

Abstract

Talent identification is an example of a practice where ‘scientism threatens to engulf us all.’ Talent identification and development are areas where models perceived to be scientific have been uncritically adopted into sporting practice due to the belief that they represent best practice. In this article, I track the changing talent identification systems adopted in the sport of rhythmic gymnastics in New Zealand over approximately 20 years. The findings revealed that those in decision-making positions originally adopted the perspective of scientism in introducing a physical ability test which they perceived to have scientific value. However, scientific testing was later removed owing to the now empowered gymnastics coaches drawing on what Foucault referred to as local knowledge, acquired through their own experiences. Their experiences resulted in the coaches believing in the importance of what Latour described as social practices being more significant in talent identification than scientific testing.     

Concurrent Validity and Reliability of Alternative Computer Game for the Coincidence-Anticipation Timing Task

The coincidence-anticipation timing (CAT) task assesses one facet of cognitive and motor performance and is used to understand the human visuo-motor system involved in intercepting the moving object. To assess the test–retest reliability and the concurrent validity in the Bridge Games package (Bridge) developed to assess the CAT task, the scores of 224 healthy subjects (M = 52.2, SD = 19.5 years old) were measured using the Bridge and the ‘gold standard’ Bassin Anticipation Timer (Bassin). A mean block of absolute, constant, and variable errors was calculated. Reliability and validity were expressed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC_2,k), standard error of measurement, minimal detectable change, and Pearson’s correlation. Reliability was good to excellent for all blocks (.73 ≤ ICC ≤ .88), and the validity was good to excellent when compared using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, suggesting that the two tests may have similar properties. Bridge is an alternative to existing clinical tests for the CAT task.     

Psychometric Properties of a Parental Questionnaire for Assessing Correlates of Toddlers’ Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior

This study examined the psychometric properties of a questionnaire developed with the guidance of the socialization model of child behaviour to understand modifiable correlates of toddlers’ physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Findings are based on 118 parents (33.7 ± 4.9 years; 86% female) of toddlers (19.3 ± 2.7 months; 48% female) from Edmonton, Canada in The Parents’ Role in Establishing healthy Physical activity and Sedentary behaviour habits study (PREPS). The PREPS questionnaire encompassed 21 variables across the constructs of the socialization model of child behaviour. Of the nine variables assessed for internal consistency reliability, eight had good (α ≥ 0.70) reliability. Of the 15 continuous variables assessed for 1-week test–retest reliability, 10 had moderate (intra-class correlation = 0.50–0.74) and 5 had good (intra-class correlation ≥ 0.75) reliability. Of the six categorical variables assessed for 1-week test–retest reliability, two had fair (К = 0.21–0.40), one had moderate (К = 0.41–0.60), one had substantial (К = 0.61–0.80), and two had almost perfect (К = 0.81–1.00) reliability. Of the 12 sedentary behaviour variables assessed for convergent validity, 7 were significantly correlated with children’s screen time, of which three were small (r ≤ 0.29), two were medium (r = 0.30–0.49), and two were large (r ≥ 0.50) effect sizes.     

The Triumph of Professionalism in World Tennis: The Road to 1968

This article explores the post Second World War process of change that culminated in the arrival of ‘open’ tennis in 1968, after which the professional game rapidly became a multi-million dollar television-driven enterprise. As well as suggesting that judgements about the pre-1968 era as either immoral on the one hand or as a golden age on the other are unsatisfactory, it will be argued that the switch from one code to another was not – as is sometimes claimed – the inevitable result of social and economic change. The triumph of open tennis was the particular product of the adoption of a compromise formula on the game's international governing body in 1968, one that allowed change yet also preserved some of the spirit of the old system. The triumph of professionalism in world tennis might easily have been delayed, if not indefinitely, then for several more years to come.     

Career paths of Swedish top-level women soccer players

This study explores seven Swedish top-level women’s soccer players’ career development experiences. Data were produced through semi-structured interviews and a biographical mapping grid. The theoretical framework of ‘careership’ was employed to understand the data. The results showed homogenous career paths. Moreover, the data show that the players decided at a young age to pursue a career in soccer; experienced the transition from junior to senior level soccer as difficult because of a lack of physical preparedness; soccer over school commitments. We recommend that soccer stakeholders (e.g. federations, clubs, coaches) give the transition from junior to senior level soccer special attention to prevent intense demands that may cause dropout. We further propose that if athletes should give sport and education equal priority, the Swedish dual career concept of high school education and sport needs further reflection and adjustment.     

‘It doesn't matter how they move really,as long as they move.’ Physical education teachers on developing their students’ movement capabilities

Background: Movement is key in physical education, but the educational value of moving is sometimes obscure. In Sweden, recent school reforms have endeavoured to introduce social constructionist concepts of knowledge and learning into physical education, where the movement capabilities of students are in focus. However, this means introducing a host of new and untested concepts to the physical education teacher community.

Purpose. The purpose of this article is to explore how Swedish physical education teachers reason about helping their students develop movement capability.

Participants, setting and research design. The data are taken from a research project conducted in eight Swedish secondary schools called ‘Physical education and health – a subject for learning?’ in which students and teachers were interviewed and physical education lessons were video-recorded. This article draws on data from interviews with the eight participating teachers, five men and three women. The teachers were interviewed partly using a stimulated recall technique where the teachers were asked to comment on video clips from physical education lessons where they themselves act as teachers.

Data analysis. A discourse analysis was conducted with a particular focus on the ensemble of more or less regulated, deliberate and finalised ways of doing things that characterise the eight teachers’ approach to helping the students develop their movement capabilities.

Findings. The interviews indicate that an activation discourse (‘trying out’ and ‘being active’) dominates the teachers’ ways of reasoning about their task (a focal discourse). When the teachers were specifically asked about how they can help the students improve their movement capacities, a sport discourse (a referential discourse) was expressed. This discourse, which is based on the standards of excellence of different sports, conditions what the teachers see as (im)possible to do due to time limitations and a wish not to criticise the students publicly. The mandated holistic social constructionist discourse about knowledge and learning becomes obscure (an intruder discourse) in the sense that the teachers interpret it from the point of view of a dualist discourse, where ‘knowledge’ (theory) and ‘skill’ (practice) are divided.

Conclusions. Physical education teachers recoil from the task of developing the students’ movement capabilities due to certain conditions of impossibility related to the discursive terrain they are moving in. The teachers see as their primary objective the promotion of physical activity – now and in the future; they conceptualise movement capability in such a way that emphasising the latter would jeopardise their possibilities of realising the primary objective. Should the aim be to reinforce the social constructionist national curriculum, where capability to move is suggested to be an attempt at formulating a concept of knowledge that includes both propositional and procedural aspects and which is not based on the standards of excellence of either sport techniques or motor ability, then teachers will need support to interpret the national curriculum from a social constructionist perspective. Further, alternative standards of excellence as well as a vocabulary for articulating these will have to be developed.     

Healthy bodies: construction of the body and health in physical education

In physical education, bodies are not only moved but made. There are perceived expectations for bodies in physical education to be ‘healthy bodies’—for teachers to be ‘appropriate’ physical, fit, healthy and skilful ‘role models’ and for students to display a slim body that is equated with fitness and health. In teachers’ monitoring of students with the intention of regulating health behaviour, however, the surveillance of students’ bodies and associated assumptions about health practices are implicated in the (re)production of the ‘cult of the body’. In this paper, we consider issues of embodiment and power in a subject area where the visual and active body is central and we use data from Australian and Swedish schools to analyse the discourses of health and embodiment in physical education. In both Swedish and Australian physical education there were discourses related to a fit healthy body and an at risk healthy body. These discourses also acted through a range of techniques of power, particularly regulation and normalisation.