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Considerations for Designing Indigenous Coach Education
Abstract
This study used a participatory action research approach to explore the criteria for collaboratively designing culturally relevant Indigenous coach education with Indigenous sport stakeholders from Nova Scotia, Canada. Fourteen Mi’kmaw sport stakeholders, including six coaches (three men and three women), seven administrators (five men and two women), and one Elder (man), participated in the study through methods including online semistructured interviews, unstructured interviews, and focus group discussions to explore their perspectives of how to develop culturally relevant Indigenous coach education. The findings suggest the purpose of designing culturally relevant Indigenous coach education is to enhance cultural pride and support Indigenous coach development. Participants believed these objectives could be fulfilled by addressing topics such as Mi’kmaq culture and history, as well as colonialism. The preferred methods of delivering content included facilitating experiences, storytelling, and mentoring. The findings are interpreted relative to the Calls to Action advanced by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, as well as the existing literature on Indigenous coaching and learning. Finally, the Mi’kmaq framework of two-eyed seeing is used to advocate for the bridging of Indigenous and Western perspectives, as a means of decolonizing coach education.
... The Coaching Unlimited program (Australia) and Mi'kmaw coach education course (Canada) were co-developed after several years of consultation and research with Indigenous community members and sport organisation representatives (see Apoifis et al., 2018;Bennie et al., 2017;Bennie et al., 2019;Gurgis et al., 2022aGurgis et al., , 2022bGurgis et al., 2023). In both contexts, formative research with Indigenous coaches and local Elders led to recommendations for specific coach development pathways to be developed (given the presence of several systemic barriers and a near complete absence of specific coaching pathways for Indigenous peoples). ...
... In sum, by creating an Indigenous-specific coaching pathway, coach development organisations are better placed to be more responsive to the preferences of Indigenous people while creating meaningful opportunities to qualify Indigenous people to coach at any level of sport (Gurgis et al, 2023). These collaborative ways of working with and for Indigenous peoples enhance the design of culturally relevant coach development within local contexts. ...
This chapter serves as a resource for coaches, researchers, and policymakers seeking to advance diversity and inclusion in coach education and development. The ‘turn’ to diversity and inclusion continues to gain traction in sport coaching as a means of addressing the historical patterns of exclusion and absence that limit opportunities for coaches from marginalised backgrounds. In this chapter we explore different dimensions of diversity and inclusion encompassing disability, indigeneity, sexuality, and gender diversity, examining the barriers and challenges faced by these groups in coach education and development and highlighting various pathways and initiatives for inclusion. Specifically, we explore strategies for addressing ableism, building cultural competence, and promoting inclusive and culturally safe learning environments for underrepresented groups. By shedding light on these challenges, the chapter underscores the need for deliberate efforts and structural changes to coach development as a means of promoting greater participation in, and mobility across, sport coaching roles and pathways. We conclude the chapter by reflecting on core issues and future directions for researchers and practitioners wishing to advance diversity and inclusion in their institutional contexts, ensuring that diversity is not merely acknowledged, but celebrated and valued.
This article examines the field of sport for development (SFD) while considering Indigenous resurgence amidst Canada’s neoliberal settler-colonial landscape. While sharing challenges encountered within their practice, program staff from the Promoting Life-skills in Aboriginal Youth program revealed high levels of constructive self-criticism and reflexivity. There are three emergent themes, the adoption of which appeared essential for transforming the sector in recognition of Indigenous resurgence: growth and pace; Indigenous agency and knowledge; and political engagement. Grounded in settler colonialism and resurgence, this paper also reflects on the field of SFD and what it would mean to decolonize the practice. The article concludes by asking if non-Indigenous scholars can study SFD by subverting the colonial status quo that is also reproduced in this research field.
For over five decades, Pictou Landing First Nation, a small Mi'kmaw community on the northern shore of Nova Scotia, has been told that the health of its community is not impacted by a pulp and paper mill pouring 85 million litres of effluent per day into a lagoon that was once a culturally significant place known as “A'se'k,” and which borders the community. Based on lived experience, the community knows otherwise. Despite countless government‐ and industry‐sponsored studies indicating the mill's pollutants are merely “nuisance” impacts and harmless, the community's concerns have not gone away. Using a “Piktukowaq” (Mi'kmaw) environmental health research framework to guide the interpretation of oral histories coming from the Knowledge Holders in Pictou Landing First Nation, we convey the deep, health‐enhancing relationship with A'se'k that the Piktukowaq enjoyed before it was destroyed, and the health suppression that has occurred since then. Conducting the research using a culturally relevant place‐based interpretive framework has demonstrated the absolute necessity of this kind of approach where Indigenous communities are concerned, particularly those facing health impacts vis‐à‐vis land displacement and environmental dispossession.
Increasingly, fisheries researchers and managers seek or are compelled to “bridge”
Indigenous knowledge systems with Western scientific approaches to understanding
and governing fisheries. Here, we move beyond the all-too-common narrative about
integrating or incorporating (too often used as euphemisms for assimilating) other
knowledge systems into Western science, instead of building an ethic of knowledge
coexistence and complementarity in knowledge generation using Two-Eyed Seeing
as a guiding framework. Two-Eyed Seeing (Etuaptmumk in Mi’kmaw) embraces “learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of
knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of mainstream knowledges and
ways of knowing, and to use both these eyes together, for the benefit of all,” as envisaged by Elder Dr. Albert Marshall. In this paper, we examine the notion of knowledge
dichotomies and imperatives for knowledge coexistence and draw parallels between
Two-Eyed Seeing and other analogous Indigenous frameworks from around the
world. It is set apart from other Indigenous frameworks in its explicit action imperative—central to Two-Eyed Seeing is the notion that knowledge transforms the holder
and that the holder bears a responsibility to act on that knowledge. We explore its
operationalization through three Canadian aquatic and fisheries case-studies that
co-develop questions, document and mobilize knowledge, and co-produce insights
and decisions. We argue that Two-Eyed Seeing provides a pathway to a plural coexistence, where time-tested Indigenous knowledge systems can be paired with, not
subsumed by, Western scientific insights for an equitable and sustainable future.
The Canadian National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) redesigned its coaching education programmes to utilise a learner-centred, problem-based approach. The purpose of this paper is to document the design, delivery, and subjective assessment of this large-scale coach education programme through the perspectives of the different actors, with a special focus on the coach developers (CDs) as an essential and important group within the coach education system. A constructivist view of learning, supported by the work of Jennifer Moon on the impact of short courses and workshops, guided this work. Part 1 of the results provides an overview of the studies conducted on the revised NCCP. Part 2 examines the perspectives of 26 CDs concerning their training and experiences delivering the redesigned NCCP. Conclusions include the importance of considering the cognitive structures of the CDs and coach learners; issues related to covering the module content versus addressing coaches’ learning needs; ensuring adequate time for questions and reflection to enable deep learning; specific training for CDs to support post-workshop learning; and the importance of taking a systems approach to coach development that considers all the actors involved in a national programme being delivered at the provincial/territorial or sport organisational level.
How does one decolonize and reclaim the meanings of research and researcher, particularly in the context of Western research? Indigenous communities have long experienced oppression by Western researchers. Is it possible to build a collaborative research knowledge that is culturally appropriate, respectful, honoring, and careful of the Indigenous community? What are the challenges in Western research, researchers, and Western university methodology research training? How have ‘studies’ – critical antiracist theory and practice, cross-cultural research methodology, critical perspectives on environmental justice, and land-based education – been incorporated into the university to disallow dissent? What can be done against this disallowance? According to Eve Tuck and K Wayne Yang’s (2012) suggestion, this article did not use the concept of decolonization as a substitute for ‘human rights’ or ‘social justice’, but as a demand of an Indigenous framework and a centering of Indigenous land, Indigenous sovereignty and Indigenous ways of thinking. This article discusses why both research and researcher increasingly require decolonization so that research can create a positive impact on the participants’ community, and conduct research ethically. This article is my personal decolonization and reclaiming story from 15 years of teaching, research and service activities with various Indigenous communities in various parts of the world. It presents a number of case studies of an intervention research project to exemplify the challenges in Western research training, and how decolonizing research training attempts to not only reclaim participants’ rights in the research but also to empower the researcher. I conclude by arguing that decolonizing research training creates more empathetic educators and researchers,
Qualitative research has grown within sport and exercise psychology and is now widely conducted. The purpose of this review is to discuss three commonly used ways to demonstrate rigor when conducting or judging qualitative research in sport and exercise psychology. These are the method of member checking, the method of inter-rater reliability, and the notion of universal criteria. Problems with each method are first highlighted. Member checking and inter-rater reliability are shown to be ineffective for verification, trustworthiness, or reliability purposes.
Next, universal criteria within the context of Tracy’s, heavily drawn on paper within sport and exercise psychology is problematized. Throughout the discussion of each method and universal criteria more suitable possibilities for conducting rigorous qualitative research are offered. The paper concludes that to support high quality qualitative research, scholars – including journal editors and reviewers – need to change how rigor is developed and
judged, rather than perpetuate the problems with how it has been commonly evaluated in the past. Recommendations for developing rigor when conducting and/or judging qualitative research within sport and exercise psychology are also offered.
Qualitative research has grown within sport and exercise psychology and is now widely conducted. The purpose of this review is to discuss three commonly used ways to demonstrate rigor when conducting or judging qualitative research in sport and exercise psychology. These are the method of member checking, the method of inter-rater reliability, and the notion of universal criteria. Problems with each method are first highlighted. Member checking and inter-rater reliability are shown to be ineffective for verification, trustworthiness, or reliability purposes. Next, universal criteria within the context of Tracy’s (2010) heavily drawn on paper within sport and exercise psychology is problematized. Throughout the discussion of each method and universal criteria more suitable possibilities for conducting rigorous qualitative research are offered. The paper concludes that to support high quality qualitative research, scholars - including journal editors and reviewers - need to change how rigor is developed and judged, rather than perpetuate the problems with how it has been commonly evaluated in the past. Recommendations for developing rigor when conducting and/or judging qualitative research within sport and exercise psychology are also offered.
Background
When conducting research with Indigenous populations consent should be sought from both individual participants and the local community. We aimed to search and summarise the literature about methods for seeking consent for research with Indigenous populations. MethodsA systematic literature search was conducted for articles that describe or evaluate the process of seeking informed consent for research with Indigenous participants. Guidelines for ethical research and for seeking consent with Indigenous people are also included in our review. ResultsOf 1447 articles found 1391 were excluded (duplicates, irrelevant, not in English); 56 were relevant and included. Articles were categorised into original research that evaluated the consent process (n = 5) or publications detailing the process of seeking consent (n = 13) and guidelines for ethical research (n = 38). Guidelines were categorised into international (n = 8); national (n = 20) and state/regional/local guidelines (n = 10). In five studies based in Australia, Canada and The United States of America the consent process with Indigenous people was objectively evaluated. In 13 other studies interpreters, voice recording, videos, pictures, flipcharts and “plain language” forms were used to assist in seeking consent but these processes were not evaluated. Some Indigenous organisations provide examples of community-designed resources for seeking consent and describe methods of community engagement, but none are evaluated. International, national and local ethical guidelines stress the importance of upholding Indigenous values but fail to specify methods for engaging communities or obtaining individual consent. In the ‘Grey literature’ concerns about the consent process are identified but no solutions are offered. Conclusion
Consultation with Indigenous communities is needed to determine how consent should be sought from the community and the individual, and how to evaluate this process.
In the article the period of traditional education of aboriginal people in Canada in precolonial times has been presented. The main objectives have been defined as theoretical analysis of scientific and pedagogical literature, which highlights different aspects of the problem under research; characteristic of theoretical framework in understanding the concept of traditional aboriginal pedagogy and main principles underlying the education of younger generations of the indigenous people in Canada. The major components of teaching methods (practical, visual and oral) have been specified. Practical, visual and oral methods of imparting knowledge have been discussed and peculiarities of the traditional education of native population in Canada in precolonial period have been identified. The problem of traditional education of aboriginal people in Canada has been studied by scientists: aboriginal education (M. Battiste, J. Henderson, J. Lambe); development of aboriginal education (J. Friesen, V. Friesen, J. Miller, E. Neegan); tertiary education of aboriginal people (V. Kirkness); traditional education of aboriginal people (L. McGregor). The research methodology comprises theoretical methods (comparative-historical method; logical and comparative methods; methods of induction and deduction, synthesis and analysis).
In contrast to traditional approaches to research, participatory action research calls for the active involvement of the community - including both the beneficiaries and providers of sport services - in defining research problems, executing interventions, interpreting results, and designing strategies to change existing power structures. The purpose of this paper was to analyze a participatory action research project designed to increase the access of women living below the poverty line and their families to local physical activity services. A framework developed by Green et al. (1995) formed the basis of the analysis. To place the analysis in context, the historical origins and theoretical assumptions underlying participatory action research were addressed. The case of the Women's Action Project demonstrated how the process can result in a more inclusive local sport system and, at the same time, provide a rich setting for examining organizational dynamics including collaborative decision-making, community partnerships, power imbalances, resource control, resistance to change, and nonhierarchical structures.
Although there has been a rise in calls for participatory forms of research, there is little literature on the challenges of involving research participants in all phases of the research process. Actively involving research participants requires new strategies, new researcher and research-participant roles, and consideration of a number of ethical dilemmas. We analyzed the strategies employed and challenges encountered based on our experiences conducting feminist participatory action research with a marginalized population and a variety of community partners over 3 years. Five phases of the research process were considered including developing the research questions, building trust, collecting data, analyzing data, and communicating the results for action. Our goals were to demonstrate the relevance of a participatory approach to sport management research, while at the same time acknowledging some of the realities of engaging in this type of research.
Our goal in this article is to remind readers what is unsettling about decolonization. Decolonization brings about the repatriation of Indigenous land and life; it is not a metaphor for other things we want to do to improve our societies and schools. The easy adoption of decolonizing discourse by educational advocacy and scholarship, evidenced by the increasing number of calls to “decolonize our schools,” or use “decolonizing methods,” or, “decolonize student thinking”, turns decolonization into a metaphor. As important as their goals may be, social justice, critical methodologies, or approaches that decenter settler perspectives have objectives that may be incommensurable with decolonization. Because settler colonialism is built upon an entangled triad structure of settler-native-slave, the decolonial desires of white, non-white, immigrant, postcolonial, and oppressed people, can similarly be entangled in resettlement, reoccupation, and reinhabitation that actually further settler colonialism. The metaphorization of decolonization makes possible a set of evasions, or “settler moves to innocence”, that problematically attempt to reconcile settler guilt and complicity, and rescue settler futurity. In this article, we analyze multiple settler moves towards innocence in order to forward “an ethic of incommensurability” that recognizes what is distinct and what is sovereign for project(s) of decolonization in relation to human and civil rights based social justice projects. We also point to unsettling themes within transnational/Third World decolonizations, abolition, and critical space-place pedagogies, which challenge the coalescence of social justice endeavors, making room for more meaningful potential alliances.
Colonization and government assimilation (i.e., into mainstream Western society) impacted all aspects of Aboriginal life, including: health, traditional roles, culture, socio-economic conditions, access to services, and equity among others. Consequently, many Canadian Aboriginal people today experience health inequities, loss of tradition and traditional practices, and breakdown of the family unit. To gain an understanding of how to promote equity in health care for Aboriginal people, a critical examination of the root causes of health and healthcare inequities must be considered within historical, economic, and socio-political contexts. The following paper uses a post-colonial feminist theoretical perspective to situate inequities in Aboriginal people's lives and health by focusing on the impact of colonization and assimilation on Aboriginal people.
The aim of this study was to analyze Portuguese expert coaches' conceptions of learning sources that promote long-term coach development and the extent to which these sources are currently present in coach education programs. Six expert coaches were individually interviewed, using a semistructured format and the interviews were analyzed using QSR N6 Nudist software. The results highlighted the participants' awareness of the uniqueness of coach education, emphasizing the importance of reflecting and engaging with a variety of learning experiences. Findings also revealed dissatisfaction with the current dominant education framework in Portugal, which remains excessively didactic and classroom-orientated. In contrast, the participants externalized a constructivist approach for coach education assuming the need for theoretical knowledge to be framed in practical contexts, where they have the opportunity to share and reflect their own and others' experiences to develop learning. Such a position echoes Sfard's acquisition and participation learning metaphors.
Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a qualitative research methodology option that requires further understanding and consideration. PAR is considered democratic, equitable, liberating, and life-enhancing qualitative inquiry that remains distinct from other qualitative methodologies (Kach & Kralik, 2006). Using PAR, qualitative features of an individual's feelings, views, and patterns are revealed without control or manipulation from the researcher. The participant is active in making informed decisions throughout all aspects of the research process for the primary purpose of imparting social change; a specific action (or actions) is the ultimate goal. The following paper will contextualize PAR in terms of its history, principles, definitions, and strengths, as well as discuss challenges and practical suggestions for using PAR. In addition, it will examine focus groups and interviews as methods for data collection, the role of PAR in education, and the types of research for which PAR is best suited. "You cannot understand a system until you try to change it" (Lewin, 1946) Participatory Action Research (PAR) is one option in qualitative research methodology that should be considered and understood. Qualitative research integrates the methods and techniques of observing, documenting, analyzing, and interpreting characteristics, patterns, attributes, and meanings of human phenomena under study (Gillis & Jackson, 2002; Leininger, 1985). The purpose of qualitative methodology is to describe and understand, rather than to predict and control (Streubert & Carpenter, 1995). Qualitative methods focus on the whole of human experience and the meanings ascribed by individuals living
This is a process article for weaving indigenous and mainstream knowledges within science educational curricula and other science arenas, assuming participants include recognized holders of traditional ecological knowledge (we prefer “Indigenous Knowledge” or “Traditional Knowledge”) and others with expertise in mainstream science. It is based on the “Integrative Science” undergraduate program created at Cape Breton University to bring together indigenous and mainstream sciences and ways of knowing, as well as related Integrative Science endeavors in science research, application, and outreach. A brief historical outline for that experiential journey is provided and eight “Lessons Learned” listed. The first, namely “acknowledge that we need each other and must engage in a co-learning journey” is explained as key for the success of weaving efforts. The second, namely “be guided by Two-Eyed Seeing”, is considered the most profound because it is central to the whole of a co-learning journey and the article’s discussion is focussed through it. The eighth lesson, “develop an advisory council of willing, knowledgeable stakeholders”, is considered critical for sustaining success over the long-term given that institutional and community politics profoundly influence the resourcing and recruitment of any academic program and thus can help foster success, or sabotage it. The scope of relevance for Two-Eyed Seeing is broad and its uptake across Canada is sketched; the article also places it in the context of emerging theory for transdisciplinary research. The article concludes with thoughts on why “Two-Eyed Seeing” may seem to be desired or resisted as a label in different settings.
Traditional Indian education is an expression of environmental education par excellence. It is an environmental education process that can have a profound meaning for the kind of modern education required to face the challenges of living in the world of the twenty-first century (Cajete (2010), p. 1128, emphasis as in original).
As two-eyed seeing implies, people familiar with both knowledge systems can uniquely combine the two in various ways to meet a challenge or task at hand. In the context of environmental crises alone, a combination of both seems essential (Aikenhead and Michell (2011), p. 114).
Aboriginal people in Canada suffer ill-health at much higher rates compared with the rest of the population. A key challenge is the disjuncture between the dominant biomedical approach to health in Canada and the holistic and integrative understandings of and approaches to health in many Aboriginal cultures. More fundamentally, colonization is at the root of the health challenges faced by this population. Thus, effective approaches to health promotion with Aboriginal people will require decolonizing practices. In this paper, we look at one case study of a health promotion project, the Urban Aboriginal Community Kitchen Garden Project in Vancouver, Canada, which, guided by the teachings of the Medicine Wheel, aims to provide culturally appropriate health promotion. By drawing on Aboriginal approaches to healing, acknowledging the legacy of colonization and providing a context for cultural celebration, we suggest that the project can be seen as an example of what decolonizing health promotion could look like. Further, we suggest that a decolonizing approach to health promotion has the potential to address immediate needs while simultaneously beginning to address underlying causes of Aboriginal health inequities.
This paper focuses on measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of two diagramming methods employed in key informant interviews with clinicians and health care administrators. The two methods are 'participatory diagramming', where the respondent creates a diagram that assists in their communication of answers, and 'graphic elicitation', where a researcher-prepared diagram is used to stimulate data collection.
These two diagramming methods were applied in key informant interviews and their value in efficiently and effectively gathering data was assessed based on quantitative measures and qualitative observations.
Assessment of the two diagramming methods suggests that participatory diagramming is an efficient method for collecting data in graphic form, but may not generate the depth of verbal response that many qualitative researchers seek. In contrast, graphic elicitation was more intuitive, better understood and preferred by most respondents, and often provided more contemplative verbal responses, however this was achieved at the expense of more interview time.
Diagramming methods are important for eliciting interview data that are often difficult to obtain through traditional verbal exchanges. Subject to the methodological limitations of the study, our findings suggest that while participatory diagramming and graphic elicitation have specific strengths and weaknesses, their combined use can provide complementary information that would not likely occur with the application of only one diagramming method. The methodological insights gained by examining the efficiency and effectiveness of these diagramming methods in our study should be helpful to other researchers considering their incorporation into qualitative research designs.
Indigenous coaches play an essential role in educating Indigenous youth about the value of sport and facilitate strong relationships between sport and culture. Unfortunately, across all levels of sport and coaching in Canada, Indigenous sport participation is hindered by a lack of Indigenous coaches. Using a narrative analysis, the following study sought to understand the barriers affecting the development and inclusion of Indigenous coaches in Canada. Specifically, nine Mi’kmaw First Nation coaches from Nova Scotia, Canada, participated in individual, semi-structured interviews. The interviews were interpreted using a thematic narrative analysis. The findings contributed to three distinct narratives: Trials and Tribulations, Displaced by Race, and Westernized Indigenous Education. We discuss how the integrated Indigenous-ecological model can be used as a decolonizing framework to reduce coaching barriers across each ecosystem, subsequently promoting more inclusive and culturally relevant coaching experiences for Mi’kmaw First Nation coaches.
This study explored the coaching approaches of Mi’kmaw First Nation coaches in Canada. Eight coaches from across six Mi’kmaw First Nation communities in Nova Scotia, Canada, participated in a semi-structured interview to discuss what it means to be an Indigenous coach. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were generated inductively using a reflexive thematic analysis. The findings were conceptualised to suggest three concurrent approaches to Mi’kmaq coaching: two-eyed seeing in coaching, multifaceted coaching, and medicine wheel coaching. These approaches highlight the perceived importance and desire to blend Indigenous and Western ideologies of coaching to ensure Indigenous customs and traditions are considered when participating within a pre-dominantly Western conception of sport.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 2015 Calls to Action identified societal measures necessary for a successful reconciliation process between Indigenous peoples and settlers in Canada, five of which were specific to sport. Half a decade after the Calls to Action were published, the response by national sport organizations in Canada has escaped scholarly attention. Through a lens informed by settler colonial studies, the authors employed summative content analysis to examine the ways, if any, in which national sport organizations in Canada have implemented relevant Calls to Action . The results indicate a lack of response by most national sport organizations which, we argue, represents settler silence.
In an ever-evolving society, sport coaches are presented with a number of avenues through which they can acquire and refine their coaching knowledge. The purpose of this research was to replicate and extend past research to gain an up-to-date understanding of how coaches are presently gaining knowledge. This was done through a constructive replication using a sequential explanatory mixed-method design. Study 1 included 798 coaches who completed an online questionnaire detailing their use of 16 sources of coaching knowledge. Coaches’ top three most used sources were interacting with coaches, learning by doing, and observing others. In contrast, the top three most preferred sources were observing others, interacting with coaches, and having a mentor. To contextualize these findings, Study 2 used a qualitative design in which 14 coaches were interviewed to understand their experiences with different knowledge sources. Five distinct narrative types were identified: recent elite athletes, parent coaches, coach developers, teacher coaches, and experienced coaches. Coaches reported engaging in more social and unstructured learning experiences, and the reasons for their preferences appeared to differ based on lifestyle and perceived barriers. Collectively, these findings highlight how coaches gain knowledge and why they prefer certain sources over others.
This paper outlines the processes for co-creating and delivering Coaching Unlimited, a coach education and health promotion workshops series providing specific opportunities for Aboriginal Australian coaches to develop their capacity as future leaders in leisure settings. To guide our evaluation of the first two netball workshops, we used the Ngaa-bi-nya framework – an Aboriginal health and social programme evaluation framework. Using the four domains of Ngaa-bi-nya, we were able to confirm the importance of co-creating and delivering the workshops in a culturally safe and inclusive environment. Reflecting on our own processes of doing research and working with Aboriginal communities, we learnt that hosting workshops in and with community, is central to the programme’s accessibility and success. The paper concludes by considering the utility of the framework and what researchers can learn about their own practice in the space of Aboriginal sport and health programmes.
The purpose of this community-based participatory research was to explore the physical activity experiences of Northern Aboriginal youth in Canada. Fourteen Aboriginal youth from the ages of 13–19 years participated in interviews (one-on-one or sharing circles), and participant-generated photo-elicitation sharing circles. Five themes representing their physical activity experiences were identified: (a) encompassing meanings, (b) ‘makes me feel awesome’, (c) connected to the land, (d) better with friends and family, and (e) need for physical activity spaces. Findings suggest that the youth have a broad and encompassing definition of physical activity, and that participation in such activity can have various holistic benefits. Youth shared in-depth insights into the various spaces and community supports that facilitate their physical activity. As well, participants explained how physical activity programming that takes place in the natural environment can support youth in feeling connected to their culture and identities. Findings from this research outline important considerations for enhancing physical activity opportunities among Aboriginal youth. Provided that the voices of Aboriginal youth are relatively absent in the vast physical activity literature, this research makes a significant contribution by sharing their unique experiences.
The authors explore the sporting experiences and community strengths of Indigenous Australian women. The intention is to inform both health promotion and contemporary sport management strategies, and policies and practices, leading to better health outcomes for this cohort. The authors employ an interpretative qualitative methodology, which involves the combination of data from a range of sources, including interviews and focus groups with 22 Indigenous women living in urban and rural areas, narratives from elite Indigenous athletes and coaches, as well as findings from a recent Australian Parliamentary inquiry into Indigenous health and wellbeing. Drawing from an agency/empowerment theoretical framework, the authors posit that, given support and opportunities, Indigenous women can become empowered to improve their mental and physical health through participation in sport. Sport managers can facilitate Indigenous women's agency in the effects of colonisation, which continues to be the basis of health issues for this cohort. Listening to Indigenous women and facilitating opportunities for them to take control of their own participation can help facilitate this process. Indigenous-women's only opportunities, partnerships with health agencies and sports organisations, culturally safe spaces and Indigenous women acting as role models are some factors that may augment Indigenous women's agency, and thus empowerment. Government, sports, community organisations and health agencies which provide these conditions in their program design can help to overcome entrenched social, historical and health inequalities that Indigenous women may experience. © 2018 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand
Collaborative action learning was undertaken in response to the growing criticisms of formal coach education. Since it is strongly felt that we can no longer merely commentate on what is not happening in terms of coach learning, a key requirement now is to demonstrate there are other options. The Coach Learning and Development (CLAD) programme was devised and implemented at a community rugby club in Wiltshire, England. The CLAD programme supported volunteers to engage more with contemporary designs for learning, acknowledging a fundamental problem with formal coach education in the way learning (and knowledge) is decontextualised. The theoretical endeavours of Basil Bernstein are introduced to Sport Coaching Research (SCR) for the first time, specifically the ‘pedagogical device’ to illustrate a process of recontextualisation. Findings suggest that the CLAD programme was successful in encouraging coaches to engage with more positive forms of coaching pedagogy. Therefore, the findings draw on the pivotal outcomes of the CLAD programme to re-configure more successful outcomes for coach education, coach learning and volunteers rights to knowledge.
Gloria Ladson-Billings revisits the eight teachers who were profiled in the first edition and introduces us to new teachers who are current exemplars of good teaching. She shows that culturally relevant teaching is not a matter of race, gender, or teaching style. What matters most is a teacher's efforts to work with the unique strengths a child brings to the classroom. --from publisher description
Research in coaching science continues to grow and as such, there is a need for rigorous tools to help make sense of the rapidly expanding literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed description of a systematic review methodology that can be used to summarise literature in coaching science. To do so, we present a test case of a systematic review we conducted on the sport coaching experiences of global Indigenous populations. More precisely, we conducted a systematic review of English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, and Portuguese peer-reviewed journal articles, spanning twelve databases (e.g., Sport Discus, ERIC, and Scopus) from 1970 to 2014. ENTREQ and COREQ guidelines were followed to report the results of the systematic review, and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory was used as a theoretical framework to extract and synthesise relevant findings from the included articles. In sum, this paper presents a robust methodology for systematically reviewing research in coaching science and provides practical insights for those who endeavour to conduct rigorous literature searches in this domain.
Background/Context
When Ladson-Billings described the pedagogical practices of successful teachers of African American children and consequently conceptualized culturally relevant pedagogy as an analytic resource to describe and make sense of pedagogical practices of teachers, her discussion was situated in a frame that examined instructional moves of teachers, especially with Black students. Since the introduction of this pedagogy, researchers and theorists have broadened Ladson-Billings's conceptualization to include various other factors. However, race is no longer as central as it was when the framework was introduced.
Purpose/Objective
I examine published literature on culturally relevant pedagogy in mathematics and English language arts that has considered race in some form. The purpose of this synthesis is to highlight patterns across the literature and to consider potential future areas of study to strengthen and encourage focused research on race and CRP.
Setting
I reviewed established literature to examine the intersections of race, culturally relevant pedagogy, and mathematics or English language arts.
Research Design
I analyzed research articles in the areas of mathematics and English language arts that examined race in some form between 2004–2014 to determine how race is situated and connected to the core of culturally relevant pedagogy.
Conclusions/Recommendations
Although race was a critical component of Ladson-Billings's conceptualization of culturally relevant pedagogy, research studies in the area demonstrate a marginal, at best, emphasis on race. Studies in the areas of mathematics and English language arts that do include race tend to focus on superficial aspects of race. Future studies should return to the root of the theory and include race as an essential component of empirical studies that draw from culturally relevant pedagogy as an analytic tool to describe pedagogical practices of teachers.
Representations of Aboriginal Australian peoples as genetically predisposed to sporting prowess are pervasive and enduring perceptions. This rhetoric belongs to a larger narrative that also describes a peculiarly Aboriginal style of play: full of flair, speed and ‘magic’. Such imagery has informed a common perception that, in many team sports, Aboriginal athletes are biologically more suited to playing positions characterised by pace, trickery and spontaneity, rather than those that utilise leadership acumen and intellectual skill. There has been a great deal of academic research exploring how such essentialised and racialised representations play out for Aboriginal athletes. In this paper, however, we extend that research, examining how racialised representations of Aboriginal athletic ability affect Aboriginal coaches. Premised on interviews with 26 Aboriginal Australian coaches, we argue that representations of Aboriginal athletes as naturally suited to speed and flair, rather than leadership and sporting-intellect, help maintain an environment that limits opportunities for Aboriginal Australians seeking to move into sporting leadership roles, such as coaching. This paper sheds light on the ways in which racialised representations of Aboriginal athletes feed into a settler colonialist narrative that stymies opportunities for aspiring Aboriginal professional coaches, and speculates on the limitations of this approach, in challenging the political hegemony of settler colonialism.
First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
While much has been written about leadership, very little research has examined North American Aboriginal leadership. Drawing upon a qualitative methodology, our findings suggest several differences in how Aboriginal leaders view leadership; compared to non-Aboriginals or mainstream approaches to leadership. We found that Aboriginals view leadership as a spiritual endeavor that is holistic and egalitarian in nature. Aboriginal leaders use a more indirect style of communication that frequently invokes traditional imagery, story-telling and animal-based metaphors. Aboriginal leaders also draw from the Medicine Wheel as a guide. In conclusion, we discuss several challenges shared by Aboriginal leaders including the tall poppy syndrome and walking in two worlds and accordingly, offer managerial implications of our findings.
ngoing indigenous struggles against colonialism consist mainly of efforts to redress the fundamental injustice of being forcibly removed from the land or being denied access to the land to continue traditional cultural activities. Yet there is another aspect to colonialism which is often ignored in the public discourse, and certainly does not form a major focus of either First Nation organization or Canadian government policy efforts. This aspect is the colonially-generated cultural disruption affecting First Nations that compounds the effects of dispossession to create near total psychological, physical and financial dependency on the state. The cumulative and ongoing effects of this crisis of dependency form the living context of most First Nations existences today. This complex relationship between the effects of social suffering, unresolved psychophysical harms of historical trauma and cultural dislocation have created a situation in which the opportunities for a self-sufficient, healthy and autonomous life for First Nations people on individual and collective bases are extremely limited. As is typical in all colonial societies, First Nations today are characterized as entrenched dependencies, in physical, psychological and financial terms, on the very people and institutions that have caused the near erasure of our existence and who have come to dominate us. When one considers the material consequences of Canada's century-long policy of state-sponsored, forcible assimilation, a simple fact emerges: for generations, opportunities to live well as an Aboriginal person have been actively frustrated. Successive governments, committed to the notion that Aboriginal cultures belong only to the past, have made no provision for the well-being of these cultures in the present and future. In the arrangement of Canada's social affairs, only the assimilated Indian has been offered even the prospect of wellness. For those who resisted or refused the benefits of assimilation, government policies assured a life of certain indignity. That is the essence of life in the colony: assimilate and be like us or suffer the consequences (Kirmayer & Valaskakis, 2009, p. xi).
Background: Coach education has been identified as a key vehicle for raising the standard of coaching practice. However, the existing body of literature suggests that coach education has had a limited impact on the learning and development of coaching practitioners. In this respect, it has been contended that coach educations ills might be partially attributed to the ‘top-down’ approach of its design and delivery. While numerous theoretically informed pedagogies have been suggested as a means of overcoming some of the coach educations problems, there has been limited exploration of how coach learners feel that the provision of coach education might be enhanced.Purpose: To build on a limited body of research that has attempted to source coaches’ views about how the provision of coach education might better facilitate their learning and development of practice. In doing so, it was hoped that the findings of this study would provide empirically based insights that would invoke critical reflection and discussion in relation to how the field prepares and develops coaching practitioners.Participants: Ninety (82 male and 8 female) coaches from eight sports participated in this study. The participant coaches practiced across a range of levels and averaged 23 years of coaching experience.Research design: A combination of qualitative methods were utilised to gather both breadth and depth of data.Data collection: A total of 16 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted and 74 open-ended questionnaires were completed and returned.Data analysis: The interview and questionnaire data were collectively subjected to inductive content analysis.Findings: It was discovered that the coaches desire to become better practitioners shaped their evaluation of, and recommendations for, the provision of coach education. The participants suggested that relevant and usable course content should be delivered through pedagogical approaches that actively involve the course learners. The coaches urged coach educators to provide a range of learning resources and mentoring opportunities. It was also suggested that further thought should be given to the appropriateness of course venues and costs associated with the attendance of continuing professional development. The findings of this study were considered in relation to relevant explanatory theory.
In our chapter in the first edition of this Handbook (see record
1994-98625-005), we presented two tables that summarized our positions, first, on the axiomatic nature of paradigms (the paradigms we considered at that time were positivism, postpositivism, critical theory, and constructivism, p. 109, Table 6.1); and second, on the issues we believed were most fundamental to differentiating the four paradigms (p. 112, Table 6.2). These tables are reproduced here as a way of reminding our readers of our previous statements. The axioms defined the ontological, epistemological, and methodological bases for both established and emergent paradigms. The issues most often in contention that we examined were inquiry aim, nature of knowledge, the way knowledge is accumulated, goodness (rigor and validity) or quality criteria, values, ethics, voice, training, accommodation, and hegemony. An examination of these two tables will reacquaint the reader with our original Handbook treatment. Since publication of that chapter, at least one set of authors, J. Heron and P. Reason, have elaborated on our tables to include the participatory/cooperative paradigm (Heron, 1996; Heron & Reason, 1997, pp. 289-290). Thus, in addition to the paradigms of positivism, postpositivism, critical theory, and constructivism, we add the participatory paradigm in the present chapter (this is an excellent example, we might add, of the hermeneutic elaboration so embedded in our own view, constructivism). Our aim here is to extend the analysis further by building on Heron and Reason's additions and by rearranging the issues to reflect current thought. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This paper introduces a participatory action research process that has been shaped by poststructuralist thought. We report on the stages and outcomes of a project conducted in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria, Australia, a resource region that has experienced downsizing and privatising of its major employer, the state-owned power industry. Through a participatory action research process involving community members, local Council and academic researchers the singular economic identity of the region was challenged and a more enabling representation developed. Drawing on a discourse of the diverse economy and the asset-based approach to community development the project shed light on the wide range of economic activities residents were already engaged in and the multitude of abilities and ideas they possessed. This exercise produced a new representation of the economy of the Latrobe Valley that helped to shift the vision of what was possible in the region. In the final stage of the project this alternative vision was acted on as groups turned shared ideas into projects and those who were most used to being defined as economically dependent and victims of economic circumstances increasingly came to identify as active and contributing economic subjects in the diverse economy. The paper considers the role of subjectivity, representation and micropolitics in participatory action research and concludes with a reflection on the project’s strengths and weaknesses.
Participatory Action Research (PAR) approaches and methods have seen an explosion of recent interest in the social and environmental sciences. PAR involves collaborative research, education and action which is oriented towards social change, representing a major epistemological challenge to mainstream research traditions. It has recently been the subject of heated critique and debate and rapid theoretical and methodological development.
This book captures these developments, exploring the justification, theorisation, practice and implications of PAR. It offers a critical introduction to understanding and working with PAR in different social, spatial and institutional contexts. The authors engage with PAR’s radical potential, while maintaining a critical awareness of its challenges and dangers. The book is divided into three parts. The first part explores the intellectual, ethical and pragmatic contexts of PAR; the development and diversity of approaches to PAR; recent poststructuralist perspectives on PAR as a form of power; the ethic of participation; and issues of safety and well-being. Part two is a critical exploration of the politics, places and practices of PAR. Contributors draw on diverse research experiences with differently situated groups and issues including environmentally sustainable practices, family livelihoods, sexual health, gendered experiences of employment, and specific communities such as people with disabilities, migrant groups, and young people. The principles, dilemmas and strategies associated with participatory approaches and methods including diagramming, cartographies, art, theatre, photovoice, video and geographical information systems are also discussed. Part three reflects on how effective PAR is, including the analysis of its products and processes, participatory learning, representation and dissemination, institutional benefits and challenges, and working between research, action, activism and change.
The authors find that a spatial perspective and an attention to scale offer helpful means of negotiating the potentials and paradoxes of PAR. This approach responds to critiques of PAR by highlighting how the spatial politics of practising participation can be mobilised to create more effective and just research processes and outcomes. The book adds significant weight to the recent critical reappraisal of PAR, suggesting why, when, where and how we might take forward PAR’s commitment to enabling collaborative social transformation. It will be particularly useful to researchers and students of Human Geography, Development Studies and Sociology.