Game-centred Approaches Research Articles

Developing coach education to enhance rugby coaches’ understanding and application of game centred approaches—The importance of questioning

Although there seems a willingness to adopt pedagogical approaches that address the complexity of team games, there is little guidance as to how. Transforming coaching practice does not happen overnight, therefore developing non-linear approaches to coaching assumes the development of new knowledge. These approaches to coaching privilege social interaction and the use of questioning in the coaching process, which is far removed from the traditional approach to coaching. Greater exploration is needed as to how to support coaches in developing their application of non-linear coaching practices to support transformative coach learning. Research identified the challenges coaches face when trying to incorporate questioning into their practice. Recognising the pedagogical nature of coaching, this paper draws on Lev Vygotsky to support coaches in improving their coaching with game-centred approaches and the use of questioning. The study aim was to improve my practice as a coach educator to enhance rugby coaches’ understanding and application of the game-centred approach. It involved a group of six student rugby coaches. Using action research, coaches delivered an 11-week rugby programme to a class of year 5 children. Findings emphasised the importance of social interaction, privileging the use of language in developing coach autonomy. Providing time to build a collaborative relationship between the educator and coach assisted coach development. The major contribution this paper makes is to illustrate the value of effective questioning. The importance of questioning cannot be understated in coaching and coach education, with it leading to social interaction and facilitating opportunities to develop co-construction of new knowledge.

Beat the Game: a Foucauldian exploration of coaching differently in an elite rugby academy

ABSTRACT Problem-based learning along with other game and player-centred approaches have been promoted as valuable alternatives to more traditional, skill-based, directive, and leader-centric pedagogical approaches. However, as research has shown, they are not unproblematic or straightforward to apply. Heeding to calls for more empirical studies of game-centred approaches in coaching contexts, this study explored the impact of a unique problem-based learning (PBL) informed academy-wide coaching approach to athlete learning and development known as Beat the Game within a top-level rugby union professional club. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s ([1977]. Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Vintage) disciplinary framework, we specifically sought to critically examine whether, to what extent, and how a PBL informed academy-wide coaching approach challenges the dominant disciplinary logic of elite sport. Our data, based on observations and semi-structured interviews with three academy coaches and sixteen junior and senior academy players, showed a definitive loosening of disciplinary aspects in both training and game environments accompanied by a shift towards a less leader-centric, linear, and hierarchical understanding of leadership and decision-making. Despite these promising shifts, the application of a PBL-informed coaching approach within this elite development context also presented many challenges, not the least of which resulted from the non-alignment of academy and first team coaching approaches. Our analysis, therefore, indicated the need for more research which focuses on the short-term and long-term impact that such disconnects have on continued progression, performance, physical and mental wellbeing, and job satisfaction and longevity especially given the growing popularity of non-linear pedagogies in youth sporting contexts.

Using social network analysis to assess play efficacy according to game patterns: a game-centred approach in high-level men’s volleyball

ABSTRACTMatch Analysis has provided valuable insights for understanding performance. Social Network Analysis has delivered powerful contributions, especially with its most recent game-centred approaches, coupled with the weighting of direct and indirect connections between game actions. The goal was to expand upon these applications, analysing whether different networks associate with distinct levels of play efficacy applied to high-level men’s volleyball. Eigenvector Centrality was used, and one network was created for each level of play efficacy: 0 (error), 1 (continuity) and 2 (scoring a point). The sample was composed by 1,618 game actions (9 matches from the 2015 World League Finals) of six functional game complexes (i.e. K0 to KV). Results showed similar networks for all efficacy levels, suggesting that game patterns may not be as relevant for discriminating efficacy as individual actions, and/or that the chosen variables were not sensitive enough to differentiate system dynamics. Overall, actions performed under non-ideal conditions were most central in almost all game complexes, which suggests that playing off-system is the rule instead of the exception. It is therefore important to promote tasks that stimulate playing under non-ideal conditions and expose the attackers to stressful conditions (e.g. cohesive blocks), potentially providing transfer from training to competing.

The analysis of interactivity in a teaching and learning sequence of rugby: the transfer of control and learning responsibility

ABSTRACTBackground: The social constructivist perspective emphasises that learning is a process of self-construction of knowledge in a social context. Game-centred approaches, such as teaching games for understanding, have been used in accordance with this perspective. The process of transferring learning responsibility takes place when the learner is building his/her own knowledge.Purpose: the aim of this paper is to explore how progressively transferring responsibility for learning from the coach to the players occurs in an ecological learning environment. We address it describing the joint activity organisation and its dynamic evolution for a coaching sequence of rugby through the analysis of interaction between the players and the coach.Participants and setting: Ten novice rugby players (aged 17–19) and a coach-researcher participated in this study. The study was conducted over a 6-week period with a total of 11 sessions, each of 90 minutes.Research design: the research was designed as participant observation in a unique case study based on the observation of an ecological learning environment in a rugby club.Data collection: We video- and audio-recorded the sessions. Transcripts of sessions, including all verbal exchanges and descriptions of participants’ motor performance, are the main source of data.Data analysis: The unit of analysis is the segment of interactivity (SI). This is defined as the period of time within a session in which verbal exchanges and specific behaviours by participants are under the same instructional function. SIs are identified by analysis of interactivity that is generated during the learning process; they are not given in advance. In this study we analyse the evolution of the identified SIs during the 11-lesson unit in an interactivity map. The map depicts changes that occur during the learning process in relation to the transfer of learning responsibility from the coach to the players.Results: we have identified six SIs: SI Activity Organisation, SI Guided Practice, SI Autonomous Practice, SI Discussion, SI Recapitulation and SI Transition. There was an evolution of these SIs over the course of the unit showing transfer of learning control from coach to learner. This was evident by a decrease in SIs Activity Organisation in conjunction with an increase in SIs of Guided and Autonomous Practice. We also show that reflection time is firstly organised around specific SI Discussion, but progressively transferred to reflection during the guided practice, mainly about tactical aspects.Conclusions: In consonance with other research conducted in naturalistic physical education and sports contexts, we observe that the learning transfer process occurs but is neither linear nor progressive. We obtained specific evidences of this process, although we find abrupt changes in the shape of breakdowns and disruptions that make this process partially unpredictable. The consistent situations of discussion and reflection that appear in the SIs Discussion, Recapitulation and Guided Practice seem to play an important role that facilitates game understanding of learners. We consider the analysis of real teaching and learning settings to be of paramount importance to understand the educational influence that emerges in the knowledge construction in sports pedagogy.

Two sides of the same coin

Despite the advent of game-centred approaches (GCAs) to teaching sport games (e.g. teaching games for understanding (TGfU)), traditional direct instruction approaches remain prevalent in physical education. Moreover, the latter have tended to produce high levels of student inactivity. What remains unclear is whether and how much GCAs aid in students reaching the UK and USA recommendation of 50% of lesson time being spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Participants for this study were 85 students (41 girls) from three separate physical education classes ( n = 23, n = 26, and n = 36) at one middle school in the western United States. A licensed teacher/soccer coach with expertise in GCAs taught units of soccer ( n = 8 lessons per class; Mlength= 34 minutes 43 secsonds; SD = 3.13). Data on students’ physical activity levels and lesson context were collected using the system for observing fitness instruction time. Teacher behaviour data were collected using the West Virginia teaching evaluation system. Data were analysed using standardized protocols from each instrument. GCA-focused soccer units resulted in students accumulating recommended MVPA levels in physical education, suggesting that skill/game learning goals and public health goals are two sides of the same coin and need not be mutually exclusive when a teacher employs a GCA.

Positive Pedagogy for sport coaching

The literature suggests that, despite some challenges in their implementation, player/athlete-centred, inquiry-based approaches to teaching games and coaching team sport can improve game playing ability, increase player/athlete motivation and provide positive affective experiences of learning. A range of these approaches, including Teaching Games for Understanding, Game Sense, Play Practice and the Tactical-Decision Learning Model vary in detail but share enough in common to be referred as game-based or game-centred approaches. This includes the central role that dialogue, reflection and purposeful social interaction play in facilitating learning and the deep understanding that they can promote. While these approaches are widely referred to as instructional models for teaching and coaching consideration of the common pedagogical features they share offers an alternative conception that creates possibilities for promoting the same positive learning outcomes in sports beyond team games. In this article, we examine the concept of Positive Pedagogy as an extension of Game Sense pedagogy beyond games and team sports to explore what it has to offer coaching across a range of sports.

Dilemmas faced by pre-service teachers when learning about and implementing a game-centred approach

Game-centred approaches (GCAs) were designed for the effective integration of skills into contextualized situations. Despite a plethora of research, few studies explore the articulations between pre-service teachers’ experiences, conceptual understanding, pedagogical practices, the wider cultural and political realities of teaching and their impact on the learner. This paper uses Windschitl’s (2002) framework of practice dilemmas to structure an analysis of various dilemmas faced by a cohort of English pre-service teachers on a one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Education learning about and implementing a GCA. Nineteen (6 male; 13 female) postgraduate students based at a university in the East of England agreed to participate in the study. Data were generated through an online discussion board, case study log and from focus group interviews. Data analysis was an inductive iterative process that integrated the multiple data sources. The analysis was conducted through a constant comparison between the different sources to identify themes that were mapped against Windschitl’s (2002) heuristic. Supported by the realization of their own participation in ‘traditional’ physical education programmes, this cohort of pre-service teachers attempted to integrate GCAs into their practice. Significant challenges included the pre-service teachers’ own fragile conceptual understandings and pedagogical expertise in GCAs, exacerbated by current institutionalized practices within most physical education programmes.

Everything is at stake; yet nothing is at stake: exploring meaning-making in game-centred approaches

While not wishing to cover old ground in articulating the promise or continued promise of phenomenology within the physical education and sports domains, this paper aims to explore the ‘human’ nature of the game-centred approach (GCA) from an existential-phenomenological perspective. In a recent review of literature on the current state of research on GCAs, Harvey and Jarrett made the call for phenomenological-oriented empirical studies. Urging the academic fraternity to embrace such ‘participatory epistemologies’ is an extremely positive and important step by the authors. This is because, although they do not explicitly make the point, to call for the embrace of phenomenological-oriented research into GCAs, the authors are accepting the fundamental importance of individual experience and meaning in games teaching. If we focus on the individual it then becomes a distinct possibility of structuring increasingly meaningful game-centred practice. In this respect we analyze Martin Heidegger's notion of ‘being-in-the-world’ and illustrate how Arnold's three categories of meaningful movement—primordial, contextual and existential—can help facilitate ideas for pedagogical practice and provide an appropriate interpretive lens for future research into GCAs.

Systematic assessment of game-centred approach practices – the game-centred approach Assessment Scaffold

Background: Game-centred approaches (GCA) have been promoted as a more meaningful way to teach games and sports due to their connections with constructivist learning principles. However, the implementation is dependant on the teacher implementing it rather than just the model. There has been little research into what it means to use a GCA well and make judgements in relation to this.Purpose: The paper will focus on presenting the conceptualisation and development of the GCA assessment tool and demonstrating its use in action.Participants: The participants are third-year students in their fourth of five practical studies’ courses in games and sports.Data collection: Data were collected during GCA lessons for fellow students in net court category. The exchanges were recorded on an iPod and categorised into ‘Emerging’, ‘Developing’ and ‘Developed’ levels of use, based on aligning key characteristics of GCAs with principles evident in constructivist learning environments.Intervention: Physical education teacher educator (PETE) undergraduates were required to teach a mini lesson using a GCA in the fourth of five practical studies’ courses and assessed using a systematic assessment tool that allowed judgements to be made in relation to levels of use.Research design: To understand how GCAs vary in use, an ethnomethodological approach was used. This allowed the author to demonstrate how the Scaffold was developed and used in practice.Data analysis: The data were analysed by the GCA Assessment Scaffold and used to show how this systematic assessment of GCA features and constructivist learning principles can be used in practice.Findings: The study examines the development and practical application of the GCA Assessment Scaffold in practice. It demonstrates that GCA lessons are reliant on the teacher using the model, not just the model and shows that lessons that have all of the features of GCA can either produce high quality-learning outcomes or shallow, depending on the teacher.Conclusion: The paper aims to begin a conversation on both how to assess GCA and how a further development of this tool can improve teaching practices in GCA and other constructivist teaching strategies.

A review of the game-centred approaches to teaching and coaching literature since 2006

Background: In 2006, Oslin and Mitchell published a review of the game-centred approaches (GCAs) to teaching and coaching literature highlighting a number of core concepts thought to provide justification for the use of GCAs including (a) its potential to enhance participant motivation, (b) potential for tactical transfer, and (c) development of decision-making skills and effective decision-makers. Oslin and Mitchell also suggested recommendations for future GCA research.Purpose: The purpose of this paper was threefold: (a) to present a review of Anglophone research into GCAs building on the previous review of Oslin and Mitchell published in 2006; (b) to identify new trends in research since 2006; and (c) to investigate the extent to which the initial suggestions and future research directions suggested by Oslin and Mitchell have been addressed.Data collection: GCA literature since 2006 was searched systematically using a three-phase approach. Phase 1 included initial searches of the EBSCO database using terms associated with GCAs and their acronyms (e.g. TGfU (teaching games for understanding), GS (Game Sense), etc.). Phase 2 expanded the search adopting more generic terms from keywords located in the recent literature (e.g. teaching games, tactical development, game performance, etc.). Multiple searches through the EBSCO database were conducted, whereby key terms were cross-referenced until a saturation point was reached. Phase 3 involved removing those publications that were not empirical, peer reviewed, intervention studies or published in English.Findings: Forty-four studies on GCA implementation were identified and the methodological and substantive nature of these studies was examined. The review noted two positive trends: (a) the expansion of research which included the growth of research on GCAs in Europe and Southeast Asia and (b) an increased amount of research in the affective domain. The review found, however, that a number of key challenges remain within GCA research, which include (a) the need for improved articulation of GCA verification procedures; (b) further assessment of tactical awareness development; (c) extended inquiry about GCAs in coaching contexts; (d) more research into ‘newer’ GCAs (i.e. PP (play practice), IGCM (invasion game competence model) and TDLM (tactical decision learning model)); (e) use of longitudinal research designs; (f) inadequate length of GCA induction and training for teachers and coaches, and (g) examination of GCAs in terms of fitness and special populations.Conclusions: GCA pedagogies are of significant importance as they have the potential to promote change within current adult-centric cultures of youth sport and encourage engagement in physical activity over the life course. To meet these needs, it is recommended that GCA research undergo continued expansion with the use of research designs and data collection techniques that aid the examination of different philosophical understandings of GCAs (e.g. ethnographic, phenomenological and psycho-phenomenological). These are paramount to the exploration of ‘who the individual is’ and ‘how the learner is motivated to continue to participate’ and further permit the in-depth, contextual and ecological analysis of GCA interventions that Oslin and Mitchell recommended in their previous review.

How do you do what you do? Examining the development of quality teaching in using GCA in PETE teachers

Background: The move for educational reform to improve student outcomes and learning has been the subject of ongoing debate over the last 15 years in Australia and internationally. In Australia, Game Centred Approaches (GCA) such as Game Sense have been positioned by advocates as having the capacity to achieve these characteristics in physical education. However, despite some 15 years of exposure to, and professional development in, GCA in Australia, there has been very little change in teaching practices in games and sports. Purpose: The paper will focus on physical education teacher education (PETE) undergraduates' attitudes to games and sports and analyse key issues related to their understandings relating to the use of a GCA. Participants: The participants were second and third year PETE undergraduates during their practical studies courses in Games and Sports. Data collection: Data was collected from PETE undergraduates over a three-year period. The exchanges used in this paper were from recordings of consultations, interactions in tutorials and in assessment presentations. They were supported by the first author's own observations on students' understandings of the GCA during and following tutorials. Intervention: PETE students were involved in four practical studies courses in games and sports with the first author using a GCA approach. Required readings and journal articles on GCA were used to support course content. Research design: To understand the students' understandings of games and sports using a GCA and the qualitative nature of inquiry, an ethnomethodological approach was used. Data analysis: The analysis of the data based on Lemke's theory of social semiotics was conducted to develop an understanding of what using a GCA meant to the students in action (the events in which the meanings are used) and in context (how the meaning is demonstrated when connected to an event). Findings: The findings of this paper were threefold. Firstly, the influence of traditional approaches to games and sports in the physical education and sporting backgrounds of the PETE students is a very powerful force in determining how games and sports should be taught and understood. Secondly, the students' capacity to productively and consistently use a GCA to create these learning environments is contingent on the depth of their content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. Thirdly, there is a considerable emotional cost to the students when challenging their embodied investments in a traditional sports model. Conclusion: Understanding and developing sustainability to use a GCA requires more than simply exposing students to the approach. If GCAs are to be used appropriately to enhance the quality of teaching and student learning and create the environments advocates believe are possible, then how we teach PETE students to teach games and sports in our courses must be examined and we must ask ourselves this question in relation to teaching using a GCA: How do we do what we do?

Complexity thinking in PE: game-centred approaches, games as complex adaptive systems, and ecological values

Background: This article draws on the literature relating to game-centred approaches (GCAs), such as Teaching Games for Understanding, and dynamical systems views of motor learning to demonstrate a convergence of ideas around games as complex adaptive learning systems. This convergence is organized under the title ‘complexity thinking’ and gives rise to a comprehensive model of game-based learning that addresses theoretical and practitioner considerations relevant to researchers and teachers. Complexity thinking is also partnered with an ecological integration value orientation to reinforce the dominant purposes of game-based learning in physical education. Key concepts: The study of game-based learning from a complexity thinking perspective relies on the foundational alignment of game characteristics with those of complex learning systems. Both complex learning systems and games are (a) comprised of co-dependent agents, (b) self-organizing, (c) open to disturbance, (d) sites of co-emergent learning, (e) open to varying experiences or interpretations of time, and (f) able to evolve their structures in response to feedback. Considering games as learning systems opens the door to consideration of the system being as sustainable and adaptable as it can. Sustainability, adaptation potential, and engagement levels emerge from the ‘game as learning system’ discussion in order to provide insight into the functioning of the game. High levels of engagement and sustainability are the presented goals for teachers working from a complexity thinking perspective. A number of key concepts from systems literature, such as attractors, affordances, attunement, and disturbances, are discussed as identifiable and manipulatable dimensions of game-based learning. Implications for the PE profession: Physical educators are well positioned to notice learning as it emerges and to construct environments that focus learning without forcing learning. Complexity thinking concepts such as flow, coupling, engagement, attractors, affordances, attunement, and disturbance, in combination with the pedagogical principles advocated by GCAs, provide a robust set of analytical and teaching tools. It is to be hoped that a deepening of understanding of how game forms and game play lead to learning during games will improve the quality of learning experiences in games and foster increasing and prolonged engagement by students.