The development of feelings of identity, the sense of belonging to a team, and
the growth of social skills are experiences that sport, if properly conducted, is
well placed to offer (Siedentop, 1994). Evidence suggests that some characteristics
of traditional, multiactivity forms of physical education work against
realizing these goals (Locke, 1992). Siedentop’s Sport Education (SE) model
is one attempt to overcome this shortcoming by recasting units as seasons and
maintaining persisting groups as teams throughout the season. Extended units
intended to foster team affiliation while promoting affective and social development
are common objectives in physical education. We report on a 16-week
SE unit that includes over 70 Year-5 students (9- to 10-year-olds) from one
UK school. Our findings show that the opportunity to become affiliated with a
team was an attractive feature of the pupils’ physical education experience
and that, under the framework of SE, there was an obvious investment made
by the Year-5 Forest Gate students in relation to their sense of identity and
involvement as members of a persisting group.
History
Publication
Journal of Teaching in Physical Education;23(2), pp. 106-122