‘Can we play the real sport?’ Co-creating a student-centered after-school sports club

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background For years, physical activity settings had portrayed a discourse that does not allow to add new and different elements in its practice. This discourse established a status quo that has affected in many ways the structure, the pedagogy and practice of physical activity settings. This is the case of out-school programs. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the process of co-creating an after-school sports club implementing a student-centered pedagogy. Methods This was an activist research project framed in two semesters. A key aspect of activist research is rooted in social interaction and a student-centered pedagogy is central in its framework. Participants included a doctoral candidate (lead author), a university professor (peer debriefing and second author), 3 college graduate and undergraduate students and 13 middle school students. Data collected included 11 peer-debriefing meetings, 22 youth debriefing meetings, 22 researcher journal entries and 13 debriefing meetings with the college adult participants. Findings Implementing a student-centered pedagogy such as the Student-Centered Inquiry as Curriculum approach helped to co-design and co-create this process within the sports club, which are divided into three sections: (1) design process of a student-centered sports club, (2) challenges and successes process of a student-centered sports club design, and (3) ‘Can we play the real sport? – Co-creating a student-centered sports club curriculum. Conclusion Co-creating a student-centered after-school sports club had two key elements: collaborative work and time. These two key elements helped a student-centered pedagogy central to an activist approach to become the bridge that facilitates youth engagement in out-school settings such as an after-school sports club.