The (in)visibility of gender knowledge in the Physical Activity and Sport Science degree in Spain

This paper draws on research that aimed to explore the construction of gender relations in sport and physical education (PE) through a national study of Spanish university degree curricula. Spain is a useful case study through which to explore gender knowledge within sport and PE degrees, because, unlike many other countries, it has a common, national curriculum framework for its Physical Activity and Sport Science (PASS) degrees. In addition, it has recently passed a new law concerning the introduction of gender knowledge in higher education (HE). Drawing on Bernstein’s (1990) framework of the pedagogic device, this paper examines how this HE gender policy becomes recontextualised as universities and lecturers interpret and translate this into the pedagogical texts that make up the PASS curricula. Purposive sampling was used to select 16 of the 37 universities offering PASS degrees in 2012/2013. The research analysed 16 PASS documents at the degree level and 763 individual subject handbooks. Using discourse analysis, the results showed where and how gender knowledge was incorporated and the extent to which the topic was presented coherently throughout the documents. The analysis revealed five categories of the (in)visibility of gender knowledge within the universities’ instructional discourse. Gender knowledge is largely ignored in PASS curricular documentation, appearing, at best, in highly superficial ways. Despite a national policy requirement on universities to incorporate gender knowledge, this study shows how recontextualisation processes within specific universities’ pedagogic devices operate to marginalise such perspectives within PASS curricula. The research also revealed the significance of individual agents committed to gender equity being situated, and having influence, throughout the pedagogic device. The paper concludes that without a much wider, critical engagement in knowledge about gender equity, PASS degrees will continue to reproduce rather than disrupt the gender relations that have traditionally characterised the field.     

Implementing Gender Equity Policies in a University Sport Organization: Competing Discourses from Enthusiasm to Resistance

Gender policies in sports have expanded considerably in most countries in recent decades. Nevertheless, the implementation of these policies in sports organizations is by no means an automatic process. This article explores what happens when gender equity policies are applied in an university sports organization. Participatory action research over a four-year period was developed by the authors to increase the participation of women, and it also aimed to explore the perceptions and thoughts of key actors regarding equity actions. The analysis shows the participation numbers in the specific promotional campaign and reveals a wide range of responses among staff, ranging from enthusiasm and interest to resistance and fear. Gender equity actions often encounter resistance which cannot, and should not, be ignored. This article highlights certain forms of resistance that proposals of this kind should be prepared for.     

Lifelong learning policies for vulnerable young adults in post-recession Scotland

Abstract

This article shows how the Scottish Government’s (SG) political management of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has reinforced the economic goals of lifelong learning (LLL) under the skills for work agenda. Youth unemployment has been prioritized as the main social problem to be addressed, and most of the limited public resources for LLL have been targeted towards youth at risk of unemployment at the expense of the rest of the adult population. The article adopts a Cultural Political Economy perspective to examine LLL policy discourses contained in 12 policy documents published by the SG during the period between the Scottish National Party’s arrival in power and the Independence Referendum (2007–2014). The analysis draws attention to the fact that the GFC has been used by the SG to legitimize selective cuts to the further education sector as well as a stronger labour market orientation within LLL provision.     

Reflection-on-action learning through traditional games. The case of la pelota sentada (sitting ball) / Aprendizaje basado en la reflexión sobre la acción a través de los juegos tradicionales. El caso de la pelota sentada

Traditional paradoxical games enable democratic social encounters as well as reflective skills to be fostered among students. The rules of these games, of which the game pelota sentada (sitting ball) is an example, afford players autonomy to decide either to cooperate with other participants (to release or keep others free) or to oppose them (to capture free players). The aim of this study was to investigate the reflection-on-action about decisions (strategies), relationships and emotions of the participants in the game sitting ball when in the role of free player in possession of the ball. Undergraduate degree students (n = 106) in physical activity and sport sciences took part. After the game, the players answered reflection-on-action open-ended and close-ended questions about their strategies, relationships and emotions. Four experts followed a validated directed and summative approach to the content analysis of 742 comments, using ATLAS.ti software. The findings highlight that decisions, relationships and emotions are distinct yet intertwined dimensions of the same phenomenon: motor conduct in the game pelota sentada (sitting ball).