Higher Education Sport Research Articles

Pioneering the Game: Visionary Leadership in Higher Education Athletics and Athletes’ Sport Engagement

This study investigates the correlation between visionary leadership practices and athletes' engagement in higher education sports, focusing on five core dimensions: Inspiring Vision, Strategic Thinking, Innovation and Creativity, Team Empowerment, and Adaptability and Resilience. Data were collected from athletes participating in various sports at five universities in China. Results indicate that athletes positively evaluated visionary leadership across all dimensions, with "Inspiring Vision" receiving the highest ratings. Engagement in sports was found to be highly correlated with strong leadership practices, particularly in areas like Clear Vision, Individualized Development, and Coach-Athlete Relationships. No significant differences in leadership evaluations were found when considering demographic variables like sex and academic program. This research underscores the importance of visionary leadership in enhancing student-athletes' involvement and success in higher education athletics.

The Establishment and Quality Improvement Effect of Physical Education Teaching Evaluation System in higher education institution

Abstract The assessment findings are given too much weight in the current system of evaluation for physical education instruction at higher education institutions. In contrast, the method of teaching and students’ basic health literacy are given insufficient weight. To address this phenomenon, this paper utilizes educational evaluation theory, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation theory, and multiple evaluation theory as the basis for setting up the higher education institution’s physical education teaching assessment system. Three first-level indexes comprise the entire index system, namely, “condition quality,” “process quality,” and “result quality.” Through fuzzy comprehensive evaluation, hierarchical analysis, and genetic algorithm, it is determined that the “process quality” is the most important factor. The “process quality” has the highest weight coefficient of 0.4419, which enhances the importance of the physical education teaching process in higher education institutions. After determining the evaluation index system, the average physical education scores of X physical education classes in University H were calculated by conventional teaching evaluation means and the evaluation means established in this paper, respectively, and compared and analyzed. The difference between the two final average scores was 2.9, which was attributed to the fact that the multivariate evaluation means paying more attention to the core literacy of students’ health. The standard deviation of the statistical results is 2.3, and the skewness, kurtosis, and S-W test values meet the statistical requirements and satisfy the normal distribution, which is thorough and scientific and can encourage academic institutions to pay more focus on how they teach and students’ fundamental physical literacy. These institutions can enhance their instruction by implementing the evaluation system established in this paper, which will improve the quality of instruction and learning in higher education sports.

‘If lecturers are at home, they can’t tell their kids to shut up’: university student engagement with blended learning during Covid-19: a mixed methods study

ABSTRACT Covid-19 had an unprecedented impact on daily living and resulted in many restrictions across all areas of life. Consequently, educational establishments in the UK adapted teaching delivery by moving to online or blended learning during the main ‘stay at home’ phase and many remained online as ongoing restrictions were announced. Many changes made during this period such as a move to online learning are likely to remain, in some capacity, as we emerge from the pandemic. The aim of this study was to explore student engagement with online and blended learning in a Higher Education (HE) institution using a mixed methods approach. One hundred and eighty-two HE sport students completed an online survey and a total of twenty one HE students took part in a series of online focus groups to gain a unique insight into how the move to online learning affected engagement from the student perspective. The findings indicated that although most students engaged with the online materials, many had a perceived negative experience. Students in general would not recommend online delivery to others and an overwhelming majority felt disadvantaged in terms of motivation and lack of community by moving to online learning. There was some positive feedback around the use of some technological tools to facilitate answering questions as well as use of online lectures for delivering content driven sessions. Our results clearly demonstrate that that a one size fits all approach is not appropriate when it comes to online learning.

Hybrid Learning on Pencak Silat Sport in Higher Education: Students’ Perception and Issues

This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of hybrid learning in sports education, especially in Pencak Silat sport at Mpu Kuturan State College Singaraja. The data was collected using a questionnaire, interview, and observation. The questionnaire results were analyzed quantitatively to determine students' perceptions of implementing hybrid learning. While the interview and observation results were analyzed qualitatively to identify the challenges during the hybrid learning implementation. This study found that students' perceptions were very positive and challenges in this hybrid learning were balancing between offline and online activities, participating in face-to-face learning activities, getting reliable internet connection and technological devices.

“That's where you start to think like, does anyone actually listen to or watch women's sport?” Gender Regimes and Students Experiences on Higher Education Sport Courses

In this article we apply theoretical tools from the work of Elias and Connell to critically discuss the ways in which gender relations on Higher Education sport courses are manifested and experienced by students. Drawing on data from an analysis of curriculum, as well as interviews, surveys and workshops with students across a range of sport courses at one university, we explore curriculum design and the ways in which knowledge is presented which both marginalises and compartmentalises issues of gender, as well as presenting knowledge as gender neutral. This article provides a critical understanding of how knowledge about gender and women's sport features and is taught in UK Higher Education sport courses, alongside how students experiences in the classroom to provide an understanding which reinforces existing gender regimes and gender relations.

A critical analysis of CIMSPA's transformative aspirations for UK Higher education sport and physical activity vocational education and training provision

ABSTRACT This paper provides a critical analysis of the Chartered Institute for Management of Sport and Physical Activity's (CIMSPA) transformative aspirations for UK Higher Education (HE) based Sport and Physical Activity Vocational Education and Training (SPAVET) provision. In doing so, we apply selected elements of Giddens’ Structuration theory to offer an analysis of CIMSPA’s structural properties (as rules and resources) and dimensions (signification, domination and legitimation). Illustration of CIMSPA’s structural properties and dimensions was developed through adopting an institutional analysis strategy alongside a document analysis method. Publicly available strategic documents and web-based resources (N = 18) were selected and analysed using open-coding techniques. Our analysis shows how continued state-sanctioned decentralisation of the UK HE sector has led to CIMSPA becoming an increasingly influential transformative structure; attempting to use its structural dimensions and resources as a medium to gain and exercise power, to promote (signification) – market-orientated discourses, practices and pedagogies in HEI provision, (domination) – in an attempt to significantly influence regulatory control over UK SPAVET provision and (Legitimation) – create partnerships which normalise its position and message within selected UK HEIs. We conclude that whilst the transformative aspirations of CIMSPA offer a number of possibilities for the HE SPAVET sector, they also raise critical questions. The central issue requiring debate is how these aspirations shift dialectical control towards vocationally focused, market-orientated principles and away from the liberal educational, research-led principles of some current UK HE SPAVET provision.

Selling fun and making a fortune: an examination of Mark Cuban’s impact on sport and business

Mark Cuban is known by many as one of the first-ever fan owners in the National Basketball Association. Using the wealth he amassed from his hard work and innovative practices in the software and technology industries, Cuban purchased the Dallas Mavericks franchise around the turn of the millennium and began forming what would become one of professional sport’s more entertaining and successful franchises over the past few decades. Along the way, his unique philosophies and leadership styles helped pave the way for likeminded managers in modern sport, and the examples he set are worthy of highlighting for their effects on the industry and society as a whole. This examination therefore takes a closer look at Mark Cuban, discussing his meteoric rise and the methods that have helped him achieve a high degree of financial and sporting success. His participative leadership style and unique management and marketing methods, in particular, are noted for the impacts they have had on professional sport and the broader business world. His embracement of analytics and thoughts on sport in higher education are also examined in light of their relevance to modern sport and culture.

What the Empirical Studies on Sport Coach Education Programs in Higher Education Have to Reveal: A Review

Facing the increase in the number of publications, often spread across many journals, researchers have developed different approaches to review the literature. In the first part of this article we present the result of an “overview” type of review of literature on sport coach education programs in higher education (HE) between 2000–2018. By sharing the list of the 38 articles found, along with some general characteristics of these, our hope is, as suggested in many reviews of literature, that researchers will use the review to more easily frame their studies and discuss their results. However, there are very few examples of how this is done. We would argue that how researchers use the same review of literature varies depending of their context, research interests, and research paradigm. Therefore, in the second part of the article we highlight what we took from our review of the literature based on our specific research context—Brazilian HE sport coach education programs. The three key topics presented and discussed are: (a) the importance of considering the student-coaches’ biography, (b) how to prepare student-coaches for reflective practice, and (c) the complexity of internships.

An examination of developmental assets and academic performance in higher education sport students

The purpose of this research was to explore the magnitude and direction of the relationship between developmental assets (subcategories and domain levels) and academic achievement in British students. Based on the existing theory I hypothesized that total asset score, individual asset groups (i.e., internal and external assets), and the eight asset subcategories would have a moderate to a large positive relationship with academic achievement. 232 participants were recruited from a second-year compulsory research methods module for undergraduate sport and exercise science students at a UK based university. The participants completed the Developmental Assets Profile (DAP) at the beginning of the course, and their final module grade was recorded after the course had finished. Pearson's correlation between assets and grade score revealed several significant relationships. The strongest subcategory correlation was between commitment to learning and grade score. The strongest domain level correlation was between internal assets and grade score. The current study provides evidence that developmental assets are positively associated with grade score in university students; however, the size of the relationship is smaller than previously suggested.

Обновленное партнерство: как развить спортивные инфраструктурные проекты университета в России

This article is devoted to the problem of the development of sports infrastructure in higher education in Russia. The main purpose of the article is to develop the model of public-private partnership in the projects dedicated to the development of university sport infrastructure. For this purpose, different models of public-private partnerships in creation of sports infrastructure in universities abroad were examined and two scenarios of construction of the university sport infrastructure on the basis of partnership of sectors in Russia were offered. Systematized their strengths and weaknesses, we had determined the most preferred option for development of university sport infrastructure based on partnership in conditions of limited budget financing of universities in modern Russia. Hypothetical model of such collaboration between public and private sectors in order to built university sport infrastructure was portrayed for the St. Petersburg campus of HSE. Survey results help to solve the problem of a low provision of sports facilities, which has a negative effect on the development of sport in higher education. The study can be useful for a university management as well as for government officials in the field of higher education in Russia.

The careers of sports graduates: Implications for employability strategies in higher education sports courses

Increasing emphasis on the economic importance of higher education (HE) has led to a focus on the employability of graduates. Within sport there has been little empirical research into graduate careers, consequently the aim of the study was to explore the nature of the careers of sports graduates and the implications for the development of sports students׳ employability. Using mixed methods it was found that their career is dynamic, exhibiting characteristics of traditional, protean, boundaryless and bounded careers. The implication for HE sports courses׳ employability strategies is the need for sports graduates to develop career management skills.

Education for the Aesthetics of Sport in Higher Education in the Sports Sciences – The Particular Case of the Portuguese-Speaking Countries

In this paper it is argued why and how the aesthetics of sport should be included in higher education curricula in sport sciences. It is claimed that within the scope of philosophy of sport, aesthetics has its own role to play, since it provides a ‘sensible knowledge’ that should not be undervalued, and philosophers of sport must be aware of this. Providing examples from Portugal and Brazil, it is enunciated how these countries have been taking seriously and incorporated (if only partially) inquiry and education concerning the aesthetics of sport. Through an interpretative analysis, it is argued about the adoption of the aesthetics of sport in academic curricula and also in the syllabus of sport philosophy and aesthetics of sport courses in the context of higher education in the Faculty of Sport at the University of Porto.

Providers, consumers and the horizons of the possible: a case study of marketization and physical education teacher education pedagogical discourse

Framed within a shift from a highly centralized system of higher education (HE) to a de-regulated system in Norway, this article addresses how the foci upon student recruitment and incentives in the governmental funding of HE have stimulated market dynamics which affect local configurations of bachelor degrees in sport, physical education and outdoor pursuits, which in turn, can affect the content knowledge of physical education teacher education (PETE) degree. Analyzing data generated via in-depth interviews with Deans and Heads of programs at three significant national providers in the field of HE sport and physical education, this article illuminates how marketization permeates the communication of education values and, thus, the institutional pedagogical discourse. This article problematizes the ways in which PETE pedagogical discourse currently reflects market values embedded in new managerialism in local strategies to recruit students at university colleges in Norway, rather than educational or professional values.

Themes that Thread Through Society: Racism and Athletic Manifestation in the African-American Community

The purpose of this article is to examine and critically analyze the impact of sport in the African-American community. This critique of the social and behavioral outcomes of sport in the African-American community will include philosophical, historical, and sociological inquiry most affecting the plight of the African-American male in academics and athletics. Data on the perceptions of contemporary African-American men participating in sport in higher education will also add more support to the conclusion that race and sport are socially constructed in society.

African American Student Athletes' Perceptions of Career Transition in Sport: A Qualitative and Visual Elicitation

The study focuses on 26 African American athletes and explores their perceptions of athletic career transition. Participants consisted of student athletes from a United States National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division IIA institution in the Southeastern region. Participants completed the Life After Sports Scale (LASS), a 58-item inventory utilized to qualitative domain of the LASS in which participants were visually primed with a narrative description of a student athlete that has made transition out of sport successfully. Five major themes emerged from the African American student athletes' perception of the career transition process: Inspirational Imagery Validation, Academic and Athletic Success, Classroom Accomplishments, Family Devotion, and Life After Sports. These themes are discussed in relation to relevant career development theories, athletic identity theory from the sport psychology literature, and applicable race and racial theories to sport in higher education. Future research directions and limitations are articulated.

Diggin' Deeper into the Culture of Revenue Sports

Athletic identity measurement scales have been addressed in the sport psychology (Brewer, Van Raalte, & Linder, 1993) and to a lesser degree in higher education sport research areas (Gaston-Gayles, 2004; Harrison & Lawrence, 2004). The purpose of this research note is to build on the work of the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) and Student Athlete Motivation Survey and Questionnaire (SAMSAQ) by examining theories of expectancy-value and self-affirmation with the development and refinement of the Baller Identity Measurement Scale (BIMS) (Rasmussen, 2009). Future research directions and implications with the BIMS are sketched via theoretical and practical synergy for scholars and practitioners that have interest in pre-college, college and professional athlete population.

Promoting a mastery motivational climate in a higher education sports class

Promoting a mastery motivational climate in a higher education sports class

Sport and Scholarships at Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence

This is an account of the growth and development of a scholarship scheme at one university, located in a wider context of expansion of sport in higher education. In itself the scheme is not profoundly significant but its importance lies in the impact it has had on elite student sport in Universities across Britain. It led the way until the Government was prepared to fund a national scholarships scheme. It provided a model for development based on partnerships with national governing bodies of sport. It is a genuine success story for a small Scottish university.

Educação Física, Esporte e Cultura no Ensino Superior: íntimas relações com o Brasil e a atualidade

This work deals with legal and professional conceptions of the Physical Education and sport in higher education and its relationship with the culture. The main idea of this subject is to insert the professional of Physical Education in higher education and the development of this practical in relation with historical cultural context that Brazil lived since the dictatorship. This process started with the redemocratization politics process and the development of the new visions of porting learning and the culture under the point of view of the anthropologic culturalism. Under the optics of american anthropologist Clifford Geertz, who treats the culture as a system of significant signs of which the individuals share, we tried to construct an interpretation of the above-mentioned profession, starting with authors and documents prominence in the sports field. We construct one brief reflection of the practical sportive as formation element of the culture, pointing a circular relation: sport is culture, as well as the culture defines the sport.

Approaches to Studying, Academic Achievement and Autonomy, in Higher Education Sports Students

The existence of different ‘approaches to studying’ in sports students and their relation to academic achievement and perceived autonomy have not previously been examined. Students (n=338) completed the Approaches to Studying Questionnaire (ASQ), and indicated their perceived level of autonomy. The subscales of the ASQ were not supported, with only modest internal consistency observed for the two reduced-item deep and surface orientation subscales. No gender difference was apparent for deep orientation but females were significantly higher on surface orientation (P<0.01). Weak but significant relationships were found between deep orientation and level of autonomy, and grade category (P<0.001). Mature students (aged over 21 at entry into higher education) demonstrated significantly higher deep and significantly lower surface orientation.