‘Physical education and sport pedagogy’ and the three ‘A’s: apprenticeship, academia and administration

Abstract

Given that the expectation of the British Educational Research Association Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy Special Interest Group Scholar Lecture is to position yourself throughout the paper, I will start with sharing my academic/career biography, acknowledging that our biographies are inextricably linked to our work and life practices. I will then briefly consider sport pedagogy (SP) as an entity and what we mean by SP, before exploring apprenticeship, academia and administration. It is my intention to provide an honest expression of (i) how I have grown and continue to grow in different phases, (ii) the purpose of each phase in my development and (iii) the related implications that arise for me as a SP scholar and colleague. My focus is on the power we, as individuals and as a community, have to (i) entice and encourage individuals into the area of SP, (ii) to mentor them as they develop as scholars, (iii) to learn from and with them and (iv) to prepare them to become confident, informed and caring individuals with a continued passion for the field. In turn, those individuals who have experienced such a pathway then take on the mantle of starting the process again by enticing and encouraging new individuals into SP. This is very much a thread throughout the paper as I draw on personal experiences from my career as a researcher, teacher educator/academic and administrator, aligned with the concepts of apprenticeship, academia and administration. I draw predominantly on my time as a physical education teacher educator for the past 13 years in the same Irish university setting. My aim throughout the paper is to prompt you to consider your own academic/career development, what ‘phase(s)’ you have/are experiencing and the academic/learning groups you are connected to.