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Outline of Sport Pedagogy

The aim of this book is to provide a short introduction tosport pedagogy, a description of its research field and anupdated bibliography of this discipline. The second partof the book includes some research essays in which crit-ical thinking, reflective practice and moral reasoning areused as a means to promote values in sport and physicalactivity.

Emanuele Isidori, PhD, is associate professor of general and sport ped-agogy at the University of Rome “Foro Italico”, where he leads the ped-agogy laboratory and he also teaches at the European Master in Healthand Physical Activity. His main research interests focus on philosophyof education and cultural studies, lifelong learning and sport manage-ment, sport pedagogy, methodology of educational research and phys-ical education teachers training. Author of many books on these top-ics, he is currently involved in international research programs aboutsport and educational values.

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utlineof

SportPedagogy

Introduction and Research Essays

Outline ofSport Pedagogy

EMANUELE ISIDORI

copertina_isidori 21-09-2009 16:59 Pagina 1

A1i437

EMANUELE ISIDORI

Introduction and Research Essays

Outline of Sport Pedagogy

Copyright © MMIXARACNE editrice S.r.l.

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ISBN xxx

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form,by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche, or any other means,

without written permission from the publishers.

1st edition: September 2009

Contents

Part IIntroduction

7 Introduction to Sport PedagogyEMANUELE ISIDORI

1. The concept of Pedagogy, 9 – 2. Pedagogy, sport andphysical education, 12 – 3. A critical approach to sport andphysical activity, 14 – 4. Sport, education and human devel-opment, 16 – 5. Motivation, education and sport, 20 – 6.The process of learning, 23 – 7. Communication and edu-cation, 28 – 8. Diagnostic tools, 32 – 9. Sport, educationand development of moral reasoning, 35 – References, 39

Part IIResearch Essays

51 Sport Pedagogy, Values and Critical Reflective Methodology. A Case StudyEMANUELE ISIDORI, TANIA VOSSEL

1. Sport and educational values, 51 – 2. Case study in phys-ical education, 58 – 3. A case study in Corniglio junior highschool, 59 – 4. Materials and methods, 62 – 5. Techniques

55

to promote sport values, 65 – 5.1. Values list, 65 – 5.2. Fairplay competitions and scenarios, 66 – 5.3. Using and stim-ulating children’s ideas, 68 – 5.4. Sport movies, 68 – 6.Method of observation on sport values, 69 – 6.1. Moraldilemmas, 70 – 6.2. Role and model playing, 70 – 6.3. Sportposter, 71 – 6.4. Learning to cheer, 71 – 7. Results, 72 – 8.Discussion and conclusion, 76 – References, 81

83 A Research on Socio–Moral Dilemmas inSchool Sport in Italy, Spain, Portugal andFranceEMANUELE ISIDORI, ANTONIO FRAILE,AMÂNDIO GRAÇA

1. Introduction, 83 – 2. Theoretical framework, 85 – 3.Method, 88 – 3.1. Subjects, 88 – 3.2. Data collection pro-cedures, 88 – 3.3. Data analysis, 90 – 3.4. Results, 91 – 4.Discussion, 98 – 5. Conclusion, 100 – References, 102

6 Contents

Part I

Introduction

Introduction to Sport Pedagogy

Emanuele Isidori

1. The concept of Pedagogy

Pedagogy is the science of education. This science be-came independent in the XIX century, but of course educa-tion existed as early as in the primitive life of society. As arule we take for granted that education includes up–bring-ing, that is influencing the personality of the individual. Thesources of pedagogical knowledge are: practice, literatureand research. Its conceptions come from philosophy, psy-chology, sociology, biology, etc. and also of course from ex-perience. General pedagogy can be divided into:

– basic pedagogy (general, comparative, historical);– border pedagogy (social and psychological);– applied pedagogy (family, preschool, and also sport

pedagogy).

The aim of education is nowadays defined as a purpose-ful social acting towards socialization processing individu-ally at optimal possible rate and relatively autonomously,indirect influence. In pedagogy we speak especially about:concepts, facts, theories, knowledge, skills, performances,attitudes, traits and behaviours. More generally we discuss:

9

democratic thinking, humanistic approach, peace educa-tion, critical thinking, globalization, creativity, multicultur-alism, etc.

In research we face difficulties connected with qualita-tive and quantitative diagnostic methods. The main andtraditional theories of pedagogy are today:

a) pedocentric pedagogy whose representatives areJean–Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) and MariaMontessori (1870–1952). This pedagogy is regardedas a reaction to Joahnn Friedrich Herbart (1776–1841), best characterized by the idea that the child isthe sun around which everything turns: in fact it is apessimistic theory from the point of view of the edu-cator; it refuses any punishment and is useful espe-cially in the early age of childhood;

b) sociocentric pedagogy, whose most important repre-sentative is Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), founderof the Sciences of Education. This pedagogy can besummarized through the following concepts: individ-ual is valid when becoming useful member of the so-ciety, stress on collective, punishment, moraleducation; pedagogy and education are an importantpart of human culture;

c) pragmatic pedagogy. Among the most important au-thors who inspired this theory, there are the Ameri-can philosophers and psychologists William James(1842–1910) and John Dewey (1859–1952). We cansum up this theory as following: communication isthe basis of pedagogical process, and true is every-thing that works in the practice; experience is thensupported and success is deciding. Learning by doing

10 Part I – Introduction

is the main and most effective way we learn and crit-ical thinking is a tool for learning and connecting the-ory and practice. In this pedagogy, school shouldbecome a workshop for democracy;

d) behaviouristic pedagogy, inspired by John Watson(1878–1958) and Edward Thorndike (1874–1949),and the new behaviours (Skinner, Tolman andGuthrie), it comes from to behave and it is basedon the concepts of: stimulus (S) and reaction (R).This pedagogy focuses on quantitative approach,test and measurements in educational research.The aim of pedagogy is to create habits in behav-iours. Personality is a black box, human learning isbased on specific laws.

But there are other important contemporary tenden-cies in Pedagogy that can be used as a tools for betterunderstanding education, sport and their connection.The most important are:

e) performance pedagogy, it proceeds from pragmatismand accepts all new technologies. The main aim ofthis pedagogy is how to increase knowledge andskills. It gives preference to empirical investigationand it is typical of performance society;

f) theoretical and socio–critical pedagogy. In this theory,social relations, personal, in school and into the com-munity, are regarded as the main problem. This the-ory is in opposition to performance pedagogy andpositivism in general. It is interested on discussionson the sense of education and teacher training and, inPhysical Education, the stress is on well–being in-

11E. Isidori – Introduction to Sport Pedagogy

stead of performance, on emotional experience andintelligence;

g) postmodern pedagogy. Postmodernism is quite a newapproach, a form of cultural criticism concerning so-cial, economical and scientific aspects of the era ofglobal capitalism and individualism. It is in fact achallenge for better understanding of social world.The main requirement here is critical reflection andself–reflection. As ever there is the problem of val-ues (we find here a simple explanation): a value isanything that is worth doing and what does not standagainst humanity. The attack against democraticprinciples provokes, in postmodern pedagogy, thedevelopment and commitment for a reflective andcritical education.

2. Pedagogy, sport and physical education

We can define sport pedagogy as the study of theprocesses of teaching and coaching, the outcomes of suchendeavours, and the content of fitness, physical education,and sport education programs.

It is very difficult — if not impossible — to distinguishbetween the manifold activities that may be enrolled intothe field we call sport, physical exercise, physical and sporteducation, Physical culture, etc. Not to speak of definitionsof those terms.

The Council of Europe (Sport Unit) offers a simplifi-cation calling every activity as sport and defining it as«all forms of physical activity that are directed to presen-tation or improvements of physical fitness and mental


well–being forming at the same time social relations andattaining some performances in competitions of all lev-els». About sport we can say that it is a field that nowa-days:

– extending widely: nearly everywhere in the world youmay find some people active so that they may be in-cluded into sporting and/or physical exercises. Es-pecially when adult and even older people participatemore and more often–not to speak of children andyouth;

– it is also difficult to distinguish which activitiesshould be regarded as sports. So that we are nowhardly able to make some classification, when someold sports begin to split into two or more independ-ent sports (beach volleyball, for example).

As an example only we introduce this taxonomy ofsports and their characteristics:

a) elite sports: known for professionalism and commer-cialism;

b) competition sports: satisfaction from performanceand club social contacts, relaxation and excitement;

c) recreation sports: activities for health, relaxation andcohesion in different groups;

d) fitness sports: purpose is development of fitness; e) adventure sports: risk in adventures and different

tensions;f) lust sports: exclusive hedonistic purposes, designated

as “S–sports” (sun, sand, snow, sex, speed, satisfac-tion);


g) cosmetic sports: body building, model bodyimage.

Most physical activities require some social organisa-tion (clubs, sport centres, associations, etc.). In somesports there is also a great interest of spectators — thenumbers go to thousands and, mediated through espe-cially television, to millions. The original purpose of sportand physical exercises was to enhance all–round capacityof especially physical abilities — however nowadays werecord a growing specialization and also some aspects ofmental participation. As far as the top sport performancesare concerned it is no doubt that a full engagement of theathlete’s personality is needed. Both sport performances,but nearly all new exercises, are more and more demand-ing. Several scientific disciplines participate in conse-quence of that in those processes. We speak thereforeabout sporting life and point out pedagogical approach inapplication of all those findings. This is the difficult as-signment for teachers and even coaches to mediate allfindings to interested persons in an acceptable and un-derstandable way.

3. A critical approach to sport and physical activi-ties

It is especially sport for spectators and some great per-formances which become frequent target of criticism com-ing from variegated social circles and publications. Thefollowing consequences of sporting are as a rule the mostfrequent:


– sport is a mechanizing factor and some athletes re-gard their body as a “vehicle” for money;

– rivalry is growing and brings aggression since envysuppresses sociability; it even deletes instincts ofself–safety, sometimes instigating masochism. It maycause some deterioration of personality;

– the fans sometimes change into stupid specta-tors.

Besides critical views, there are of course also authorswho, based on investigations and their own experience, in-troduce evidences of positive influences. They say thatsport helps the:

– increase of assertiveness, self–confidence, emotionalstability, self–control, and efficiency, etc.;

– decrease of: alcohol abuse, anxiety, depression, pho-bia, tensions. The contribution of sporting and exer-cising is based theoretically on the thesis of specificactivities. The impact on personality developmentexists, however is not necessarily existing and not al-ways positive.

Today commercial sport is a reality. From the point ofview of sport pedagogy we are interested above all in thefuture. As a rule modern sport is regarded as a product ofindustrial development of society. Most common featuresare seen in: importance of performance, individual prod-ucts as the main aim, permanent progress, rational ap-proaches, complex methods in preparation, regeneration.However we find both positive and negative develop-ments.


a) positive contributions: a lot of money flows intosport through television; expansion of sport activeand passive interest; athletes become models foryouths and there is a great social respect of the bestones; Sport develops healthy family and personalliving styles. There is also a growing industry ofsport materials (better facilities), medical scienceand care, etc.;

b) negative consequences: Criticism from all sides,especially for change of values; business interestsare prevailing. Problematic interest of media in-fluencing sport; expectation of ever better per-formances. Growing threats to the health ofathletes and enormous expenses for training andcompetitions. Premature participation of childrenin competitions. A growing frequency of compe-titions, etc.

4. Sport, education and human development

In the development of man we distinguish phylogenesiswhich deals with the development of man since the begin-ning of mankind and ontogenesis which concerns the de-velopment of individuals since their birth. There is also adifference between growth and development. For devel-opment it is characteristic that:

– it is a whole process concerning the whole personality;– it continues in stages;– it is coherent and irreversible;– it is differentiating.


As a rule we recognise 3 deciding factors for the devel-opment of every individual. These are:

1) heredity;2) environment;3) education.

1) Heredity is an endogenic factor: it is a tendency oforganism to transfer features from parents to thedescendents. Transferred are mostly the physicalfeatures like height, body structure, race, haircolour, eyes colour, blood group blood pulse,blood pressure, salivary reflexes, some dynamiccharacteristics. As far as motor capacities are con-cerned only the dispositions are inherited. Tem-perament is conditioned to some extent, butundergoes in life to some development. Charactertraits are mostly influenced by individual educationand environment.

2) Environment is an exogenic factor: there is a scale ofstimulation and inhibition influences fairly wellknown. Mental capacities and emotions could bemostly stimulated, much less the instincts anddrives. Important is socialization which means infact becoming a member of society. Examples ofchildren living outside human society and, for ex-ample, cared and influenced by wolves never be-come full members of humans especially if they arefound in their later years; they are not able to learnhow to speak. Communication both verbal andnon–verbal is connected with imitation, sympathyand suggestibility.


3) Education is also exogenic: the difference from environ-ment is in the purposefulness of education. Nowadays,we define education as a social acting leading to rela-tively autonomous behaviour with the purpose of so-cialization. Drill is no more accepted although we knowabout the interference with heredity and environment.There are of course great differences in values and out-look which must be taken into consideration.

There are two main tasks in education: not to harm ordamage anything and stimulate what should develop.There are three main stages in development:

1) youth: the interactive stage;2) adulthood: the age of culmination; 3) old age: the age of involution.

We are of course interested above all in youth:

1) childhood: up to 11 years; 2) pubescence: 11 to 13–14 years; 3) adolescence: 13–14 to 18–20 year.

The aspects that should be followed are:

1) physical and motor development;2) social and emotional development;3) mental development;4) pedagogical problems of the stage.

Younger school age (6–11 years). Typical is progres-sive development; every year children put on weight, as


well as height, improving is resistance, pulmonary ca-pacity, etc. However ossification is not yet finished.When they like physical activity it is possible to supportexercises of speed and coordination, not of strength andendurance. They are socially dependent and when theystart the school attendance it is for them in their ego-centrism quite a new situation. Important is their basicgrowth of emotions — after recognizing only good andevil, now they understand the sense of truth, justice,courage, given word, friends. The characteristic of thisperiod is a transition from fairy tales to reality, logic, ad-venture, acceptance of attitudes of adults, generalizingand beginning of abstract thinking, number of activewords grows twice; and happy period of life, optimism,activity, period of realism, influence on life style, on con-centration and will.

Older school age (11–14/15 years). In pubescence we arewitnesses of their very important biological changes influ-encing sexual maturation. The consequences of thosechanges appear in disharmony of physical development,thanks to especially growth of body height. Motor discoor-dination is of course typical of individual who avoid exer-cising and sporting. At first, children have an inclinationto extraversion and later on to introversion. The develop-ment of abstract thinking comes, with rational approachesand critical evaluations. Educators should regard behav-iours of pubescents as phasic problems.

Adolescence (14/15–18/20 years). All disproportions arebalanced, it is a period of full physical powers which mayafter all be proved by many sport records of boys and girlsof this age period. However that development is evidentlya little one–sided as the development of personality is


slower. To show the progress at this period it may be men-tioned that their muscles make with 15 years 32,6% ap-proximately of body weight and with 16 years 44,2% ofbody weight. It is a period of completing and also full ca-pacity of abstract thinking. A strong striving for social in-dependence brings frequently civic problems which resultsin vandalism, lies, stealing, etc. Only an impressive and tol-erant personality of educators is therefore accepted.

Hebetic age (20–30 years). That is an age of completephysical and mental powers. The difference is between thebeginning and the end of the period mostly in the socialsphere. Evidently this is the period of preparation to pro-fession and of beginning of the family life. Responsibilityand change of thinking appears in the progress of attitudesfrom revolutionary ideas to compromising. In professionalsporting the end of short–term sport career is coming andthe athletes face the second long lasting occupation.

5. Motivation, education and sport

Sport and physical education offers a lot of possibilitiesto all individuals to participate. For instance, we frequentlydo not doubt that children like to take part in any moving,but in fact it is so that some of them feel not to be capableto take part in games or activities — we should understandthat they are demotivated since they regard themselves asnot qualified.

Bad experience leads those children to demotivationwhich is the loss of motivation. It is important especiallyin youth. Children live in their ideas in the present, whereasadolescents in the future and old people in the past and


when they see their personal inadequacy they do not findnecessary “psychical strength”.

Motivation comes from Latin “motum” that equalsmovement, passion. We distinguish intrinsic, inner and ex-trinsic, outer, motivation. Intrinsic motives have as purposethe activity itself, extrinsic motives come from outside(money, popularity, evaluation by mates, etc.). It is evidentthat it is questionable to speak in commercial sport aboutintrinsic motivation and coaches studying expressed ingreat majority that the principal task for them is to securemotivation for their athletes.

Extrinsic motivation. We should not regard it as not rec-ommendable. Sometimes, in fact, a child starts an activityunwillingly (request of parents) and only after some time— which may last even years — it creates an intrinsic mo-tivation. An instigation for all educators: extrinsic motiva-tion should bring the individual to the activity in a propermanner. It does not mean to push the young individual. Areal motivation is the art to create a space where the indi-vidual finds him/herself the will and relation to the activ-ity itself.

Intrinsic motivation. So we have to help everyone to findsome attitude to a relevant activity. It is necessary not toforget that sport itself attracts youth quite differently withless enthusiasm to all the required demands connectedwith long–term preparation for the performance. Also ithappens that if a long perspective of winning prevails thendisappointment and demotivation may appear. We distin-guish three types of intrinsic motivation:

1) inquisitiveness, that is searching for new experience;2) competence, when someone wants to show his abil-


ity. Of course tasks of medium difficulty are the mosteffective;

3) personal causality means an endeavour to show owncontrol of the activity. This is true especially in ado-lescence age in the effort of an individual to presentso his/her independence. In team tasks it is impor-tant that every member obtains a personal aim andtask, and also that the progress in performance iscontrolled and appreciated.

Apart from classical division of motivation on intrinsicand extrinsic, also other approaches appear. In all humanactivities we meet some expectations which are always con-nected with chance for success and failure. This is an oldconcept of achievement motivation, but it is evident fromthe everyday life that our behaviour is greatly socially de-termined and a result of the two contradictory tendenciesto attain success and to avoid failure. This concept can ex-tended to the whole life career and this is interesting mainlyfor athletes since sport is a short–term career and profes-sional athletes are facing a retirement from superior sportat an age when the other people have already solved theirlong–term career.

There are many different influences in our lives whichwe call incentives. These are, for example, sensorial, pleas-ure, social recognition, affiliation, material, etc. All that isconnected with emotions both positive and negative whichplay important roles in continuation of all activities /emo-tions is a reaction to some stimulation, real or imaginative,which brings changes in internal organs and in muscles;expressed by change in face and behaviour; it may also in-fluence the coming behaviour.


It is true that very strong emotions may help in any per-formance growth, but it should not be forgotten that sim-ilar situations may block a fluent progress of muscularmovement and derogate so the performance. High emo-tions are frequent in sport and they may bring not only pos-itive but also detrimental consequences connected withanxiety, aggressiveness, loss of courage, etc.

Moreover, it is necessary to distinguish between physi-cal and psychic fatigue. There are of course individualswho like a little drudgery, a hard work — and those have agreat advantage in any activity. The trouble that appears insome activities is monotony. When anything lasts too long,uninterruptedly in a same manner, then you will find indi-viduals who feel fatigue very quickly. For someone this is anuisance and a psychic fatigue follows (when a teacher orcoach loses attention of the members of his group heshould try to attract the attention by some story or any-thing amusing). So he may find very soon how it is in factwith the fatigue of his group.

6. The process of learning

Learning accompanies our whole life. The process ismostly explained as a relatively steady improvement in be-haviours as a result of practice or experience. It is possibleto deduce it from the behaviour or performance of the in-dividual, but of course the process of learning itself is notobservable.

That is the source of troubles and questions like: how infact people learn? What processes and mechanisms theyemploy and how they work at different stages of develop-


ment? What differences appear in different individuals?All these and other questions are important for education.

Children inherit a set of motor schemes which helpthem in their development when these are gradually dif-ferentiated and developed. There are two kinds of learningthat follow:

1) the C–learning, based on perceptive differentiation;the weak schemes are strengthened;

2) the L–learning, when the schemes assimilate incombination and consolidation, reciprocal assimi-lation.

There are several theories of learning, so we mentiononly the classical which follow:

– associationism, is based on finding that learning is ad-vancing when the law of similarity or law of contactare applied;

– reflexive theory, based on the research of Ivan Pavlov(1849–1936) who derived from his investigations theimportance of external stimuli, of strengthening, andabove all information nowadays called feedback;

– behaviouristic theory, connected with names likeWatson, Thorndike, and Skinner who formulated, onground of their observations of behaviours aftersome influence on them, the law of effect, the law ofreadiness, and the law of exercise;

– cognitive theory, in contrary to regarding learningonly as reacting to stimuli (behaviourism) it pointsout the so called insight. Refusing trial and error as abasis of learning, it believes that it is the structure


that represents the function and it is important forteaching.

In order to make the process of learning more under-standable it is possible to point out some important agents.

Schmidt (1988) has defined motor learning «as a set ofinternal processes associated with practice or experienceleading to relatively permanent changes in the capabilityfor responding» (p. 346). The motor learning depends on:

1) characteristics of the person;2) nature of the task;3) structure of the environment (Fig. 1).

Key elements in Schmidt’s definition of Motor learning are:

– aspects of practice or experience;– a set of internal processes;– relatively permanent changes in the capability for re-

sponding (Fig. 2).


PERSON

TASK

ENVIRONMENT

Figure 1 – General scheme of motor learning.

This is only a scheme, of course that may help to thepractice and to get into the theoretical comprehension ofmotor behaviour and of information processing. Expertsin this field speak of three processes which can be called:

1) inputs of information;2) central operations;3) outputs of motor and mental functions.

All the processes are influenced by the following fac-tors: attentiveness, memory, decision making, task, timing,quality of instruction, feedback.

In motor learning the main outcome is called skill. Wemay attain two different levels:


Timing and

type of

feedback

Internal

processes

“The black

box”

Motor

behaviour

(output)

Organization

of practice

Adaptive and

part-task

training

Figure 2 – Motor learning and Schmidt’s definition.


1) automatic level, enables fast processing without in-tensive effort (for example, walking);

2) controlled level, which is important in some skills insports.

In order to make the problems more accessible and inorder to help both the learner and the teacher or coach wedistinguish in the process as a rule three phases:

– I phase: of coarse, rough, coordination of the skillswhich is characteristic by attempts and mistakes withinsufficient technique of the skill which is mostlycaused by lack of perceived information;

– II phase: of fine coordination when, gradually thetechnique of the skill and at the same time the per-formance improve in optimal conditions with goodperformance; however learning is not continuous andstagnations may appear;

– III phase: of variable application, when the skill isconstant and its good technique appears even in un-usual conditions. Only then also anticipation may besuccessfully applied. But of course the stability ofskill may disappear. Only some simple skills remainlife long as riding a bicycle.

When anticipation was mentioned it should be ex-plained: it is a behaviour with an advance, known as fakingor feinting which is «a mock blow or attack on or towardone part in order to distract attention from the point onereally intends to attack».

Anticipation is known and applied in many combatsports and games. The components are concerning time,

when the signal comes, space what position, and acts whatis going actually to be done. Sometimes it is not easy toreact correctly since indications are both external and in-ternal. Other important processes are:

– reminiscence, influence of intervals;– stimulation, influencing the feelings connected with

movements;– ideomotor training, is imaging the skill sequence only

in ideas;– transfer, is switching a skill or movement in general

from one situation to some other. Important is, forexample, transfer from one limb to the other, bilat-eral transfer, important especially in games. In factthe transfer is not automatic as it depends on indi-vidual personal laterality and is based on coopera-tion of the hemispheres of the brain.

7. Communication and education

Educating, at school or in sport, is a profession full ofinteraction with not only instructing, but also influencingand sometimes guiding.

In physical activities there is more over that a barrier be-tween physical and psychic factors. The profession relies oneducational–psychological capacities of the educator, notforgetting that education is both science and art. Thereforealso self–education based on reflection of the educatorhim/her–self is pointed out.

Because of the interaction with their students and ath-letes, communication is an important aspect of sport pro-


fessions. Important is what an educator actually does incontact with members of his group: and that is instructing,demonstrating, correcting, listening, motivating, persuad-ing, attracting, etc. Simply having some aims and purposeswe are going to communicate. As a rule communication in-cludes three or four factors as follows:

– expressing him/herself;– listening;– understanding non–verbal communication;– developing conflict and confrontation skills which is

partly complex of the three preceding capacities.

The only way how to improve all the components ofcommunication is to follow one’s own skills and improvethem. Feedback is here the main process.

We can distinguish six elements in the communicationact of one person sending a message to another one.

The success of communication depends on all the fac-tors introduced in the scheme, and it is influenced by manyparallel accompanying components such as disturbances,experience and attitudes, personality developments, etc. Itmay even happen that you are observing the speaker and


Table 1 – The actions of communication.

Sender Sending the message Receiver

Decision to send a

message (1)

to the receiver (3) Decoding of the

message (5)

Encoding of the

message (2)

Channel for

transmission (4)

Internal response to

the message (6)

listen, but all of a sudden you realize yourself thinkingmore on something else and remember nearly nothingfrom what you have just heard. Speakers make mistakeswhen they speak too fast, or too silent or rumble or so, andespecially when they stick to some topic that is not verymeaningful for the audience be it individual or a group.

Investigations reveal that in some situations we hearonly half of what is communicated, and sometimes we un-derstand only a part of it not believing in all we under-stand. And then we may remember very little from whatwe have heard.

Some authors affirm that from 70% of communications,mostly about 45% belongs to listening. Concentration isof greatest importance in listening, as well as to remove dis-turbances from the situation, follow the speaker and payattention to the main ideas. For the success of communica-tion non–verbal communication skills are very important.These are:

1) kinesics or body language;2) proxemics or the distance between the persons;3) paralanguage or the way we speak.

1) Kinesics. Some people evaluate the others accordingto their physical appearance. Also body posture, ges-tures, facial expressions and touching play some roleswhich we can record as characteristic of personality.

2) Proxemics. Distance that is kept between two personsis meaningful since there are differences in the ten-dency to come closer to other person or contrary tothat. So it is possible to distinguish different zones ofdistances between people.


3) Paralanguage. Important is also how you talk in com-munication; this concerns: articulation, tempo, vol-ume, rhythm, resonance. We have already mentionedthat monotony is boring, while suggestive talk maybe effective.

Communication is frequently used by the human beingto manage conflicts. The basis of a conflict is a dissonanceof two people on some opinion, activity, solution of a situ-ation. Conflicts belong to life in society, therefore we facethem everywhere. Principally when reflecting how to solveit we have to decide what is more important for the timebeing for us, whether we prefer to attain our aim or mean-ing, or to keep friendly relation. Different styles for solu-tions exist. Probably if we do not want to lose our own aimand retreat — then it is recommended to shift or postponethe solution and gradually attain acceptance of our ownaims. Sometimes good tactics are essential.

However not always is it possible — and not againstsome opponents — and then confrontations follow.When confrontation is unavoidable the educator shouldnot push the situation to an open hostility. It is recom-mended: before attack someone it pays to think. Neverlet emotions speak for your thoughts. Also it is reason-able to ask yourself whether you understood the pointsof the other person.

Situation may improve if you give to the opposing per-son a feeling of appreciation; he will be probably inclinedto gradual discussions. A great mistake is speaking toogenerally, much better is to be concrete, to speak to thepoint.

The five “Don’ts” are recommended as follows:


1) do not say “you must”;2) do not stop communicating;3) do not employ sarcasm, irony, cynicism;4) do not use negative verbal evaluations;5) do not discuss individual problems with others.

And most important is to restore a standard atmospherein all situations.

8. Diagnostic tools

Speaking about diagnostic tools means actually to con-tinue educator’s work. Since it is required: in order to besuccessful in influencing other people it is recommended toknow him/her–self, the others and the subject. In any casein order to be well prepared for such an assignment it isrecommended to employ as much scientific diagnosticmeans as possible. It does not mean to undertake a re-search in a regular pedagogical activity, but to use verifiedtechniques as much as it is useful.

Though not going into details of scientific investigations,we feel as sensible to mention at least a few pieces of infor-mation. First of all there is a total retreat from behaviourism,recording only the inputs and outputs. Also a strong ten-dency not to rely on positivistic methods, only objective datastatistically elaborated. And third: the qualitative approachis now regarded as convenient, since we deal with livinghuman beings and it is recommended to make use also ofsocial scientific and natural scientific methods.

First of all it is observation. The old classical method isundoubtedly an inseparable component of the job in any


interaction. The difference from the simple behaviouristicapproach is in effort to disclose motivation of behaviourof the pupil or athlete and to reveal some characteristictraits of personality — the purpose is evident.

We follow of course both motor movements of those aswell as mental performances and social contacts in thegroup. For every observation, four elements are important:

1) to determine the purpose of observation;2) to type out evidences of behaviours of what we fol-

low;3) to register the evidences;4) to make a record of observed evidences.

Of course only a systematic training in observation willhelp in sound analysis of the recorded evidences. A codingSystem is useful; we should not forget however that it al-ways simplifies a little. The same problem is connectedwith so called systematic pedagogical investigations whenrecords are made every five seconds.

Evaluation is another important tool in physical edu-cation and sport. This word is nowadays very frequentand popular. Really we nearly make evaluations on everystep. It is a process of ascribing a value to phenomenonthat is followed. So in education when we find that an in-dividual understands all our hints and recommendationsquicker and correctly reacts, we can adjust the tempo ofinstructions and raise the level of explanations. Naturallyour evaluations are only relative with respect to age, otherpersons, defects, etc. They also may be actual or poten-tial, positive or negative. It is recommended to begin al-ways with positive appreciations. We can employ some


scale resembling measurement since even numbers areused.

Sometimes we speak about kinds of evaluations. A pri-mary evaluation is immediate, the secondary is the genuineevaluation since it includes reflection and takes future as-pects into consideration. The primary evaluation is some-times called estimation.

Rating scales. It is an evaluation of the second person orhim/her–self by means of in advance prepared measure-ment or better to say scale. In fact we rate something all daythrough, giving ratings to nearly everything, mostly withoutrelevant scale. Experience seems to give us right to do so.Rating scales are only rarely standardized because theynearly always concern a relative distributions of evaluationsin a group of people. That means that for excellent individ-uals the highest point may have an absolute value which ina not so good group nobody attains. We say that ratingscales are relative since they are prepared for a specificgroup of individuals. When we try to regard the results asmeasurements — since we operate with numbers — it isnecessary to treat them on ordinal, not interval, scale.

There are several types of rating scales, the most fre-quently used are the numerical scales, where we follow ei-ther the intensity or frequency of some phenomenon. To befrank numerical rating scales are as a rule not very reliable,nevertheless they are most frequently used both in researchand in education. Standardized scales or critical incidentstechnique are much more reliable.

Mistakes which we make in rating are either standard, orcalled “halo effect”, central tendency, stereotyping, etc.The shortcomings in evaluation are connected with thepersonalities of the individual. These are:


1) experience: both professional and life experience;2) knowledge and similarity: resembling helps;3) intelligence: it is a cognitive process, insight is impor-

tant;4) complexness: a primitive individual may hardly un-

derstand a complicated individual;5) aloofness, distance: emotional relation hinders objec-

tivity:6) aesthetic feeling: sense for symmetry, harmony,

wholeness.

In an effort to obtain information of the members of thegroup of pupils, adults, sportsmen or athletes other diag-nostic means are employed, like content analysis, inter-views, semantic differential, etc. From social sciences it isespecially ethnographic approach — to live a long timewith the followed group — that is recommended also foreducation. But in research it is especially questioning andquestionnaires that are employed. In the time of preferringspeed everywhere longitudinal approaches are not verypopular.

9. Sport education and development of moral reasoning

In describing the development of man we had to deal withthat process only very generally. Yet one aspect of that devel-opment deserves more attention and that is moral education.

May be also because our society cannot be quite satis-fied with the situation of fairness, justice or equity. Now letus try to supplement the findings on development by con-temporary knowledge on moral development. The major-


ity of scientists recognizes a conception elaborated byLawrence Kohlberg (1927–1987).

That development is logically depending on physicaland mental development of every individual. Kohlberg di-vides the moral reasoning into three levels:

– level I: preconventional morality, when the child be-haves in decisions on egocentric concern. There areno internalized, abstract concepts of morality. This isappropriate for a child until age 8 or 9. The authorfinds possible to distinguish at that level two stages:punishment and obedience, and instrumental rela-tivism;

– level II: conventional morality, when children behaveon concepts that others, primarily their parents, havetaught them. This level corresponds to the Piaget’smodel of concrete operations in mental develop-ment. Adolescents and many adults live at this levelof moral reasoning. The author distinguishes herestages 3, interpersonal concordance, and 4, societalmaintenance or «law and order». At this level moraljudgements and behaviours accordingly observed aremade on the basis what others say is right more thanon ground of understanding of moral concepts;

– level III: postconventional or autonomous morality.The individuals take moral judgements on high levelconcepts of fairness, equity and justice. They are notdirected by others, but they have their own conceptsof what is right and wrong. It corresponds to thestage of operational thinking. Kohlberg distinguishesalso at this level two stages: 5, social contract, and 6,universal ethical principle.


As mentioned before, the purpose of education is so-cialization of the individual. When consulting what so-cialization actually means we find again formalexplanation: becoming member of society or a little moredetails.

Sport education can be considered as a part of socialsystem in which there are, on one side, the influencing el-ements (parents, teachers, coaches, etc.) and on the otherone children, pupils, athletes, etc.

The figure 3 summarizes the way in which physical ed-ucation’s components influence themselves within the so-cial environment.


Figure 3 – Systemic approach to sport education.

TeacherCoach

Program

(physicaland sporting)

PupilAthlete

Conditions

Environment

Inputs

Outputs

As a rule there is a programme of influencing in quitecertain conditions. And that process including all main el-ements is influenced by an environment in some inputs andthe result of education may be also recorded as outputs.Let us try to describe more in detail at least the basic ele-ments with concise characteristic:

– parents: influence is individual, supervision existsparticipation is given;

– teacher at school: collective influence, supervision,obligatory participation;

– other institutes: collective and individual participa-tion, voluntary participation, no supervision;

– friends: individual, collective and voluntary partici-pation, no supervision.

Evidently, the social processes are both functional andintentional. It would be of course necessary to describe allthe problems around and to investigate all the conse-quences in order to be able to say where are the bases ofcriticism on society, but we have so far no concrete data todo so. Nevertheless it is possible to say that evidently func-tional influences prevail.

We certainly can conclude so much: it is a crucial re-quirement for everyone who has the chance to contact theothers, especially youth, that he makes his best in order toimprint them the necessity to think and behave in accor-dance with the needs of a physically and psychically soundsociety.


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Part II

Research Essays

Sport Pedagogy, Values and Critical Reflective Methodology. A Case Study

Emanuele Isidori, Tania Vossel

1. Sport and educational values

Physical Education has much to offer to its participants,but it is a discipline that suffers in comparison with manyother school subjects. Teachers and educators of this sub-ject need to work together to raise awareness of its poten-tial. A school subject that can contribute to social andpersonal development, as well as to cognitive and, ofcourse, physical development, is a rarity in school curricu-lum.

There are many different types of children in school andeach one has many different needs. So, a different ap-proach is required to meet those different needs. This dif-ferent approach consists in a physical education that hasmuch more to offer than just education of the physical partof a person and it perceives some specific outcomes: phys-ical, competitive, sporting, spiritual, moral ethical, emo-tional, affective ones, etc.

Complexity of sport in contemporary society requiresthe development of a methodology that allows physical ac-tivity and sport professionals to develop a critical and re-

51

flective attitude towards the theoretical and practical prob-lems they face in their profession.

This critical reflection can be the starting point for de-veloping a new ethical, educational and epistemological ap-proach on sport professions and their sciences (Isidori,2008b).

Sport and physical activity are characterized by a strongcomponent of human values and educative attitudes. Sophysical education, through motor activity, has not onlytechnical components or wellbeing as first aims.

Critical self awareness about one’s own practice, is thefirst condition to train and to understand physical andsport education’s values. The possibility of developing thiscapability of self awareness depends on the context inwhich sport and physical activity are organized and not onthe techniques are taught or used to perform that specificactivity.

So, it can be said that there are not activities or sportsthat are better than other ones in term of education or pro-motion of values.

Actually, the intrinsic value of sport depends on sportagents (coaches, trainers, teachers), on the organization oflearning context, on the human quality of the structuredsituations to teach sport and also on the general meaningsgiven to practice and competition.

The pedagogical knowledge is the most important condi-tion to make, for instance, a simple coach into an educationalagent. Educational agent will be able to use the pedagogicalissues and sport sciences to make sport become a pedagog-ical relation with educational intentions as aim. Structuringthis kind of learning situations, it requires a continuous crit-ical reflective exercise by the educational agents.

52 Part II – Research Essays52

Critical practitioners can be defined those who lookback on their work, actions and consequences and recon-struct what happened and why; otherwise they propose al-ternatives and take into account the social, moral andpolitical contexts that surround their actions, or teachingand schooling.

This reflection needs, first of all, to be guided and sec-ondly to know what aspects of action to reflect upon.Therefore it is important to provide a knowledge base ofvalues, goals, contents and educational practice withinwhich professionals can situate their reflections. These pro-fessionals also need a guidance on how to reflect abouttheir practice.

Values are so representative topics of educational re-search that it can be said a scientific theory in this field isnever true if it is not preceded by a careful reflection onthe fundamental values that characterize the human being(Arnold, 1998).

Sport and physical education are strictly related withvalues as honesty, sense of justice, fairness, respect for oth-ers and enhancement of the person. Education to valuesthrough sport is an important theme of sport pedagogy.Sport pedagogy, in fact, is a science studying sport in rela-tion to homo educandus (man/woman who needs to be ed-ucated). It is a science which justifies the educationalchoices made in relation to ethical principles related tophysical activity and sport. Sport pedagogy always includesa philosophic component related to the moral dimension ofthe human being.

For this reason, it is not correct to try to define valuesanswering to the question «what are they?». Value, in fact,always manifests itself through a concrete person who

53E. Isidori, T. Vossel–Sport Pedagogy, Values and Critical Reflective Methodology 53

shapes and develops the value itself. Summarizing the wideliterature about this topic (Steenbergen, De Knop &Elling, 2001), it can be said that values are elements that:

– make possible human beings life in society, avoidinghis isolation;

– make possible community and society’s life avoidingtheir destruction.

Values represent the framework of every human action.Education is always connected with values; they representthe starting point, the contents and the purpose of educa-tion. Values represent a set of ideas and beliefs, belongingto a society, influencing human behaviour and the systemof social norms.

The acquisition of values goes through socialization andcommunication process in which human being is involvedsince he was born. So, every action happening to thehuman being, it will always influence his personality. With-out values, there is no possibility to carry out any educa-tional process or to think the meanings of education itself.

The human being cannot live without culture and val-ues. Therefore, because the human being is not thinkablewithout education (Fullat & Isidori, 2002), it can be saidnot only that values are the explicit and implicit contentsof education, but also that all the values belonging to thehuman being are always educational ones (Burrows & Jum-sai, 2001). Educational values represent the base to buildhuman identity and the whole formation and personality.

Values are connected to the behaviours of the personbut they are not directly observable because they are ab-stract, they represent an idea. It is for this reason that ed-


ucation to values through sport must intervene on thesebehaviours using play and physical activity to led childreninto the assumption of fundamentals values, that is a cor-rect lifestyle and a good relationship with the others(Maulini, 2006).

Sport education needs to intervene on the deviant be-haviour, preventing and actively intervening on the practi-tioners of sport and physical activity. Even if values seem tobe external to the human being, actually, they are insidehim; they require a free choice and a conscious assump-tion. Values are always part of a system.

They are not disconnected each other but they create asystem of integrated parts. Sport is educative when it al-lows the development of a person’s physical attitude in re-lation to her cognitive, social and affective dimensions.There are almost three different types of values in sport(Isidori, 2008):

– pure values;– negative values (or anti–values);– mixed values.

Pure values consist in a kind of positive values that guar-antee the respect of the person’s dignity and contribute toher individual development (Gutiérrez Sanmartín, 1995).They represent the starting point and the purpose of sportand physical education. Examples of these kind of valuesare: health and wellbeing; peace; socialization and socialintegration; friendship in a group; loyalty; motor creativ-ity; self–control.

Negative values represent the negative contents thatmotor activity and sport might have. Examples of negative


values are: violence; manipulation; narcissism; hedonism,consumerism; victory at every cost, racism; sexism.

Finally, mixed values are all the values that can be con-sidered pure values or negative values depending on theenvironmental context in which they develop. Some ofthem are, for instance: victory; reward; competition; per-formance; interest; skill; health and wellbeing; identifica-tion with high level athletes. This kind of values can bedefined “neutral” because they require a strong commit-ment and a choice by the subject who decides to assumeand to develop them.

An example can be the coach–educator who, throughhis choices, becomes responsible for his athletes/studentsand their ideas and conceptions about sport and physicaleducation.

Generally speaking, school sport and physical educa-tion have often very few possibilities to be innovated andto offer educational opportunities to students. But the Eu-ropean Union recognizes the importance of school sportas a tool to promote values in children and youths (CEC,2007). According to its policy and the UNESCO’s one,sport practice at school must promote educational valuessuch as participation, fairness, self–control, respect for theother players and for the rules. The contemporary educa-tion must prepare pupils to spend their free time in thebest way and educators have to use physical activity as alifelong tool to promote values related to health and socialinclusion in young people.

The most important goal of education is to help stu-dents to improve their autonomy and social responsibility.While in the traditional model of sports promoted bysports federations, the main goals consist in improving the


specific children’s abilities to optimize the results in com-petitions, at school it is always recommended to delaysporting specialization as much as possible. In fact, schoolsport must deal not only with the development of psy-chomotor behaviours but also with the affective, cognitiveand social aspects.

While at school, education is focused on values like coop-eration, solidarity, creativity, in the informal context (out ofschool), the capitalistic society’s values, with its concepts ofcompetition, selfishness, power and importance of the resultspredominate. For this reason it is important to know and un-derstand deeply and critically school sport values becausethis is the starting point for a good educational practice.

In order to develop a moral education, it is extremelyimportant a teaching method that focuses on participation,team working, dialogue and reciprocal exchange and re-sponsibility in the decision.

Teacher is, of course, the most important figure involvedin promotion and good practice of physical activity: whenteacher and pupils are involved in a new venture, thereneed to be some guidelines that both teachers and pupilsare aware of and are expected to follow.

Usually, teachers work in an educational communitythat has, and imposes, a set of common values requiredinto school curriculum’s framework, in which elementssuch as the following ones are valued:

1) social and health benefits;2) religious beliefs, tolerance and spirituality;3) equality;4) values, fundamental disciplines and crosscurricular

themes.


58 Part II – Research Essays

The ethic sport code considers fair play something ofessential in each sporting activity. According to the diction-ary, “fair” has its origin in the old English foeger and canmean among other things “attractive”, “beautiful”, “un-blemished”, “clean”, “clear and sunny”, “just and honest”,and “according to the rule”. Fair play consists in a set ofcertain attitudes or virtues (as expressed in the Englishideal of the gentleman amateur). Fair actions in competi-tions can be considered attractive, unblemished and cleanin that they do not merely serve self interest but are per-formed from an impartial sense of the common good andfrom a sense of obligation. They refer to conceptions ofjustice and what counts as acting in accordance with a rule(Loland, 2002).

2. Case Study in physical education

Case study research can involve close examination ofpeople, topics, issues or programs. These entities areknown as particular cases unique in their contents andcharacter (Isidori, 2009a). Case studies are unlike ethno-graphies because they seek to answer focused questions byproducing in–depth descriptions and interpretations overa relatively short period of time (few weeks or a year).Ethnographies tend to ask much broader questions, ob-serve and explain practices and beliefs, and make culturalinterpretations in studies that may last for as long as a yearor more (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007).

In addition, unlike biographies and other historical re-search approaches, case studies investigate contemporarycases for purposes of interpretation and deep understand-

58

ing. In some instances, case studies are used to provide in-formation for decision making or to discover causal links insettings where cause–and–effect relationships are compli-cated and not readily known, such as school reform or aparticular government policy.

In traditional research such as experiments, generalizabil-ity is a clear and main objective where findings are expectedto apply to other similar settings and populations. General-ization is not a goal in case studies, for the most part, be-cause discovering the uniqueness of each case is the mainpurpose. Case study researchers examine each case expect-ing to uncover new and unusual interactions, events, expla-nations, interpretations, and cause–and–effect connections.

Generalizability, however, is quite possible when basedon several studies of the same phenomenon.

In addition, readers of these case studies often use theirown experiences to give meaning to the case reports, usingjudgment to enhance their understanding of the case andcomparing that to similar cases they have encountered.

Case studies are often viewed as an easy way to do re-search. All the researcher needs to do is to make some ob-servations and to conduct some interviews and then towrite the story of what happened. As with most researchapproaches, case study work is actually quite demanding,requiring reflective and very focused research efforts (Grat-ton & Jones, 2004).

3. A case study in Corniglio junior high school

Corniglio is a small mountain village situated in theNorth of Italy, near the city of Parma (Emilia Romagna).


Because of its geographical position and the poor job op-portunities, the inhabitants living there are very few, as it ishappening in many mountain areas of Italy. For this rea-son the classrooms observed to carry out this case study islimited to a small group of students belonging to the onlylocal high school.

For these students, occasions to practice indoor sportand physical activity during the week, above all in winter,are minimal since the local administrators do not organizeactivities nor provide sport educators and instructors; thedistances between students homes and the only existinggym are far and the local afternoon transportation is onlythe personal one.

For this reason, the importance of physical education atschool is very clear and in fact, the school planning pro-gram of this Institute contemplates an increase of physicaleducation times: one hour in the 7th grade (from two tothree hours) and two hours in the 8th grade (from two tofour hours). The improvement of physical education, es-pecially at this particular age, in the adolescent period, al-lows to build a very complete program of activities withevident benefits for health.

The study has analysed school students of 7th, 8th, 9th

grade (American system), 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade (UK sys-tem). Classes were not homogeneous because framed bystudents with different physical and motor capacities(someone very well skilled and others sedentary), as wellas different attitudes and interests. Pupils appearedwith a lively behaviour, without self regulation and re-spect for the games’ rules, a total lack of fair play and alow cognition and awareness of sport as moral valuessystem.


They did not play together; they did not know “teamgame” (probably because the opportunities to practice itare limited) and, especially the children in the 7th grade ap-proached to a new subject, because they had never prac-ticed physical education before. Italian Primary school, infact, lacks in occasions to really educate children in sportvalues, and so it becomes fundamental not to overlookthese aspects in junior high school, especially at the begin-ning of puberty.

The aim of the study was to verify if, after a period ofpractice oriented to moral growth and fair play, pupilsmodified their behaviour, increased their self esteem andself efficacy and acquired positive emotions and experi-ences during physical education classes.

This third aspect, in fact, is very important and it cannotbe neglected: studies demonstrate that a negative and afailed perception during physical education classes or dur-ing sport practice in general, are a primary sport defectioncause in adolescents.

It is not easy to evaluate an interior aspect of the humanbeing like the moral one. So special instruments reportedbelow were adopted to evaluate with a scientific score thismoral change. Limits of this study were: lack of control ofthe same students outside the classroom or outside the gym(outside the curricular hours of physical education). Im-possibility to verify the transferability of their learned be-haviours out from the school environment. Observationtime: it extends into seven month, but it is a too short timecompared to the complete academic year, considering onlytwo hours per week of physical education on 36 curricularhours.


4. Materials and methods

Multiple research methods have been used to analyzethe experience in Corniglio junior high school. The mostevident one was the observation method which started inOctober 2008. After meeting the children, it was started topromote some team games varying lessons themes as muchas possible.

After a short period it was easy to note that, especiallyin the 7th and 8th grade, there was an educative and behav-ioural problem that negatively influenced students learn-ing as students and their global formation as human beings.

Speaking about the main values of physical education,pupils were, at the beginning, very impulsive and arrogant;they were not able to accept their teacher as a guide andduring sport games, their behaviours were not morally sat-isfactory. After they began a group discussion about moralvalues in sport, at the end of October 2008, during the nor-mal didactic program, two tests were performed. The firstone was a simple self–esteem evaluation test of each indi-vidual child and of the classroom in general (obtainedthrough the average of total self–esteems of the pupils di-vided into the number of participants for each class).

For this kind of questionnaire, the Rosenberg’s GlobalSelf Esteem Scale adapted to the context of Physical Edu-cation was used. The scale measures self–esteem with amaximum of 40 points, using specific questions: this tool isvery useful to understand what each child thinks abouthim/her–self and about his/her possibilities and skills.

Later, a second test was performed. This test includedsome questions related to sport values with openanswers/questions, and the assignment of a score to each


value considered as best by each student. Both the testswere anonymous and anonymity was also kept during thesecond administration at the end of the experience.

Reasons were two: the first one was to avoid the inhibi-tion in answering due to the fear of being evaluated by theirteachers; the second one is that in this kind of study, it isnot measured the “moral change” of an individual student,but a general change happening in all the group. So indi-vidual student’s score is not relevant. In test number two,some questions were presented with regard to:

1) their opinion about their self behaviour duringclasses in the gym hall;

2) their way to perform the game and to control theiranger;

3) interest about the subject “physical education”, de-scribing the most beautiful experience done untilthat moment;

4) experiences that they would like to do in the future.

This second test was very useful, to understand theirstarting point about sport values. Questions with score al-location related to the point 3, were divided into threeareas:

1) affective and social relation Area, including the items:cooperation, participation, friendship with schoolmates;

2) individuality Area, including the items: individualperformance; final victory, ability to play the game,to compete without errors, personal benefits ob-tained through the game (popularity, for example);


3) area of sportsmanship and sport consciousness, in-cluding items: rules respect, loyalty, respect for refer-ees and their decisions, respect for opponents.

As it results, self esteem level was a 31/40 score for the7th grade, 29,3/40 for the 8th grade, and 30,6/40 for the 9th

grade. Scores are not so high even if, analyzing every ques-tionnaire, nobody affirmed to feel useless or to have a sen-sation of failure. Dealing with the moral values discussion,observing the results, it was easy to understand whichareas, and so which values, were believed to be more im-portant and in which areas it was necessary to work more,promoting experiences to increase or inhibit attitudes ofthese same areas.

Open questions were very useful as a critical reflectivetools, to evaluate if children were able to perceive their be-haviour, if they were interested on the subject and whatkind of activity they liked to practice in the future. The an-swers helped to understand better the integration level inthe classrooms, the group dynamics and the mutual stu-dents opinions.

First results showed a general difficulty in values def-inition, desire of winning at every cost, little conscious-ness of sport values and their application, a general lowself esteem (31/40 in 7th grade, 29,3/40 in 8th grade,30,6/40 in 9th grade). Subsequently, after having obtainedthese results, a didactic program to promote sport valueswas put in place, integrating different methods suggestedby the literature.


5. Techniques to promote sport values

5.1. Values list

In some lessons developed in classroom, it was identi-fied the idea of sport value and anti–value, drawing up anexact list and defining by practical examples every valueidentified. The values list is one of the different educationalmethods used for analyzing and promoting sport valuessystem (Isidori, 2008a).

Sports values often seem inconsistent if considered inthemselves and in relation to society in which they shouldbe expressed. These contradictions show a problem ofsport values system that rises from cultural contemporarycrisis, from hesitation to adopt values that regulate orshould regulate individual and social life.

This perplexity depends on the fact that all sports val-ues (as educational values) can be always denied or dis-cussed. That shows a more deep root of sport values insociety and the trouble perceived to use them as a tools forhuman education.

Sport values should always be built and applied by peo-ple through their life experiences, considering:

– choice of right sport values;– evaluation of sport values selected;– action.

When applying values list techniques, children are in-vited to draw up a list of values they consider more impor-tant and significant for themselves and that they appreciatethe most. Teacher helps students to analyze their behav-


iours model in relation to the values list identified, invitingthem to think if in some cases contradictions appeared.After this work group that was carried out in all the threeclasses, some values of the following list were identified asthe most important and relevant.

5.2. Fair Play competitions and scenarios

After becoming conscious, at least in theory, about sportvalues, the three students groups identified Fair Play as themain value of sport, the only one that describes and in-cludes all the other values. All sports, games and physicalactivities include something of the notion of morality. Thisis usually manifested in playing fairly and doing the rightthing. It is very difficult for sports and games to operatewithout sportsmanship and moral behaviour playing a cru-cial part.

This is especially true at school, during recreation and atamateur level. It would seem therefore that school physicaleducation is an ideal vehicle to promote ideas of playingfairly and healthy good sport. Morality does not exist inisolation. It is based on a system of values. To a large de-gree, teachers work in an educational community that has,and imposes, a set of common values.

Referring to Corniglio school, a multi–sport competitionwas organized, involving all the components of the classes,mixed into various teams, white and coloured, for the 7th and8th grade and white and coloured for the 9th grade. Theseteams were the same during all the observation period.

These competitions were the main part of the annual di-dactic program: all the codified team sports were part ofthe competitions and were taught in advance with care in


all their technical components (basketball, volleyball, minirugby, soccer, baseball, flag–football, etc.).

As expressed in the Fair Play Manifesto, during thecompetitions, fair play actions (to help and to encouragethe team mates; to respect the referees, to participate ac-tively, to shake hands and to congratulate with the oppo-nents, etc.) were counted as real scores, so that thetechnical result of every single competition was not so fun-damental to win, but the real victory was also given by thescores taken through fair play actions.

Dealing with the single students, each one was providedwith a “Fair Play Card”, in which every positive and fair ac-tion was written down by the teacher and considered inthe final global evaluation of physical education. Actually,these actions could be done also outside the gym hall oroutside the hours of physical education (for example dur-ing school’s trips, “sky day” or other activities); but in thiscase, a witness or a confirmation from class mates or col-league teachers were necessary.

This method was very useful to transfer the fair play be-haviours learned by students to their school life, whenstudying other disciplines.

The following games and exercises were obtained fromAnthony Laker (2001), who refers to didactical experi-ences reported in the book Fair Play for Kids edited inCanada in 1990 by the Fair Play Commission.

These games and experiences were adapted to theCorniglio high school context. The main objectives ofthese games were to improve cooperation and to createfair play scenarios to be used also in the “Fair Play com-petition”.


5.3. Using and stimulating children’s ideas

During the month of February 2009, another didacticalstrategy (called “using children’s ideas”) was carried out.This strategy implied that children, divided into fewgroups, created simple sport games including specific re-quirements:

1) game must involve all the class mates, without con-sidering their motor ability;

2) game must have a proper regulation and procedures;children in fact must invent the rules and present thegame to the other classes;

3) game must carry out some fundamental values cho-sen from what discussed in other lessons;

4) game must be consistent and put in practice when being created.

What was elaborated by the students was very interest-ing: some games they produced were also object of anotherparallel “Fair Play Competition of the Invented Games”.

5.4. Sport movies

Moreover, another educational methodology used topromote sport values in Corniglio school was thesport–movies based one. This methodology consists in adirect and collective vision of the film chosen, preceded bya brief technical introduction of it (director, production,awards, plot, specific information, etc.) and the use of awritten questionnaire with open or closed questions pro-posed to children and youths as a critical means for analyz-


69E. Isidori, T. Vossel–Sport Pedagogy, Values and Critical Reflective Methodology

ing and reflecting on its educational and moral contents(Isidori, 2009b).

Two movies, based on popular sports and characterizedby dramatic and emotional story lines, were chosen aimingat promoting a critical reflection on some aspects and val-ues of sport in students. The first movie, A boy from Cal-abria (1987) was seen from the 7th and 8th grade; the secondmovie, Coach Carter (2005) was seen from the 9th grade stu-dents.

6. Method of observation on sport values

This kind of method includes a set of various techniquesand consists in using a rational approach in understandingvalues, adopting dialogic modality allowing the thoughtsdevelopment about ethic of values and solving the sportvalues conflicts. Students are invited to produce verifiablecontents about a value or an happened situation, compar-ing them with their experiences and intentions.

Generally, sport values analysis takes into account thesocial, cultural and political frame, introducing a methodthat progressively guides the subject to analyze situationscharacterized by the presence of controversial values, inorder to reach conclusions to critically and rationally de-fend and support himself. This method, derived from theapplication of various social sciences, uses a really properscientific methodology that can be summarized in the fol-lowing passages:

– problem definition;– sum–up of the significant events;

69

– statement of veridicity of these facts;– determination of their importance;– adoption of a personal decision about value.

This method tends to evaluate students moral develop-ment through participation and observation’s techniquesand the critical–reflective working group. Among the maintechniques applicable to sport field, the following ones canbe pointed out.

6.1. Moral dilemmas

This technique is based on the concept of evolutionarymoral education elaborated by Kohlberg on Piaget’s theo-ries (Reimer, Pritchard Paolitto & Hersh, 1990). It consistsin presentation of a short story to a little groups of personsimplying a dilemma regarding a value which solution iscomplex and difficult. Not always there is an unique solu-tion, neither obvious or evident, neither questionable, butdiscussion will enforce the person to reflect and to choosebetween two or more alternatives.

6.2. Role and model playing

The aim of this technique is to facilitate the develop-ment of social perspective and empathy in the person. Itconsists in dramatization of situations presenting moralconflicts elements and that outline a solution requiringdialogue and analysis of different perspectives, startingfrom a role or model identification. Identification with arole or a reference model allows the subjects to better un-derstand their behaviour, values and implicit finalities


they are looking for. During the experience in CorniglioJunior High School, both the described techniques wereput into practice: dealing about moral dilemmas, threedifferent dilemmas were presented according to theclasses and to the ages of the subjects. In 9th grade, for ex-ample, a more complex case regarding also hygienic as-pects was proposed.

6.3. Sport poster

This method consists in creating a big poster to reflectupon the phenomenon of sport and physical activity. It wasproposed to the three classes; each child expressed his/hercontribute writing a thought about the two areas of theposter: a biological area, where the main topic to discusswas about the importance of sport and physical activity inrelation to wellness and wellbeing, and a second area, thepsycho–social one, focusing on topics dealing whit sportand psycho–socio cultural implications.

6.4. Learning to cheer

“The school of cheering” (www.scuoladitifo.it) is a di-dactic project sponsored by Volkswagen Group in collab-oration with the Italian Olympic Committee. The main aimof this project is to promote the genuine values of sports,in particular of football, using the habit of shouting con-nected with it as an educational tool. The project was de-voted to the primary school and to the 9th degree classes ofthe junior high school. The main aim of this project is toeducate children to understand, to respect and to acceptthe principles of the civic cohabitation and the social con-


text connected to sport within a transversal curriculum.The aims of this projects are:

– recognize sport, and in particular football, as an eth-ical value in itself;

– to promote the development of criticism, in the senseof capacity to analyze information and experiencesin objective way, evaluating advantages and disadvan-tages to make a conscious decision;

– to be able to read and understand a simple statisticanalysis in relation to a specific phenomenon;

– to produce and elaborate text and music of a songincluding the values perceived.

Football as well sport in general, is a favourable contentof positive values and it is important that youths are guidedto recognize and understand these values through educa-tive experiences. The didactic material sent to the schoolwere very useful: through a multidisciplinary way, childrenwere invited to reflect on negative aspects of an impropershouting and to identify and promote positive and fair playattitudes. The modality employed were: working groups;class discussions; tests; vision of movies and in particular ofa DVD, produced by Discovery Channel, titled Ultras inthe world, burning terraces; reading of articles and sum-maries on sport extrapolated from Italian newspapers.

7. Results

In April 2009, both questionnaires proposed in Novem-ber 2008 were given to the children during the normal di-


dactical lessons. The first one, based on Rosemberg Self–Es-teem Scale (SES) was exactly the same before it wasadopted at the beginning of the study. Results connected toeach value have been compared and reported in the graphsbelow1.


1 In the graphs, the first columns show the situation before and the secondones after the questionnaires administration.

Figure 1 – Self–esteem in students.

Figure 2 – Affective area.


Figure 3 – Individuality Area.

Figure 4 – Fair Play Area.

Emotion’s analysis. The following data were obtainedthrough specific tests administered to the three classes ofthe experimental group during the fall season. In particu-lar, students had to answer to three short questions asking:

– What kind of emotions did you feel during thegames?

– How was your behaviour during the lessons?– Which values were important during your today ex-

perience?

Questions were performed every week at the end ofeach lesson, when strong emotions came out. Number per-cent was calculated counting positive attitudes (happiness,joy, fun, etc.), negative moods (anger, embarrassment, in-competence), and mixed emotions including feelings aswell as positive and negative ones at the same time (Fig. 5).


Figure 5 – Emotion’s analysis.

Emotions during PE class

72%

19%

9%

positive attitude

Negative attitude

Mix

8. Discussion and conclusion

The aim of this study was to demonstrate and to affirmthat physical education in school context has a strong powerand importance in the general education of the children.

The specific objective of the experiences reported wasto verify and to compare with the control group if, after aperiod of practice oriented to moral growth and fair play,pupils modified their behaviour, increasing their self–effi-cacy and self–esteem perception, as well as living positiveemotions during their physical education classes.

As one can see in the results shown before, the threeareas observed are modified in some parameters:

– 7th grade class has increased from 4.2 to 4.75 the af-fective area, 8th grade has decreased the same areafrom 4.4 to 4.3, and the 9th grade has remained stablein 4,5 score as it was in November. It can be affirmedthat in 7th grade the experience was successful be-cause the affective area increased of 13% of score,showing that children consider more important thanbefore the idea of friendship, participation to thegame and playing together; these elements were dif-ficult to put into practice at the beginning of theschool year.In 8th grade this parameter got worst decreasing of2%. This can be explained only by considering thatthis class was very particular and problematic: it wascomposed only by six students with very poor intel-lectual capacities and social and familiar problems;the brief intervention acted with this study could notchange a rooted problematic situation.



Finally, in 9th grade no wide changes occurred but itcould be considered that the starting score in thisarea was the highest among the three classes and thatmeant a general consideration of friendship and par-ticipation as the main values in opinion of the chil-dren of this class.In conclusion, it can be affirmed that the best resultwas obtained in the 7th grade, where there was a realchallenge, thinking that this class met physical edu-cation for the first time and its students did not useto play together;

– the individuality area has passed from 3.8 score to3.2 in the 7th grade class with 16% of decrease, from3.75 to 3.03 in the 8th grade (–19%) and from 3.2 to2.7 in the 9th grade (–16%). As it can be seen fromthe results, in all the three classes, scores have de-creased showing that the intervention was successfuland that children have reduced their egocentric wayto behave in favour of an openness to their schoolmates and friends.Values such as “individual performance”, “personalbenefits obtained by the game” and “final victory”have lost interest in children’s opinion, understand-ing that in team games, the real aim is the total unionamong the participants and not the only single per-formances. In particular, 9th grade class confirms tohave reached a higher level of maturity at the end ofthe three school years;

– the area of sportsmanship and fair play, very impor-tant for this study, starting from 4.4, it has changedinto 4.53 in 7th grade (+3%), into 4.04 starting from3.9 in 8th grade (+4%) and from 4.1 into 4.4 score in

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78 Part II – Research Essays

9th grade (+7%). In addition, it can be said that inthis last area the intervention has modified in posi-tive this parameter and, even if the per cent score ofincrease was not really elevated as expected, it de-notes an increase of sportsmanship and fair play andconsequently a better awareness and consciousnessof some concepts like “respect” and “loyalty”.Apart from the scientific results, the observations canconfirm that behaviour has changed effectively: chil-dren look like more collaborative and respectful witheach other; they cared about the “fair play card”,knowing that at the end of the year, good behaviourswould have been rewarded with a higher evaluationin physical education, confirming that the reward sys-tem works as a strong motivation to do something.–Control group have not shown real changes in thethree areas. Looking at the results of 7th grade class,nothing has happened and the parameters have re-mained almost exactly the same from the beginningof the year. Even in 8th grade values have remainedthe same, with a small decrease in individuality andsportsmanship area, attributing the result to the factthat there are only two pupils in this class and social-ization is very reduced.With reference to the 9th grade, it can be said that theparameters have not grown neither decreased; any-way, they were just very high at the beginning of theschool year, showing that children of this class werestill little educated to the sport values in the previousschool year;

– about the self–esteem score, it can be said that nowide changes occurred in experimental group as it

78


was expected: in 7th and 9th grade, there has been anincrease of 1.3%, while in 8th grade a decrease of12.4%. Control group reported the same parametersof November in 7th grade, and an increase of respec-tively 11.9% and 2.3% in 8th grade and I 9th grade.The general increase in self–esteem can be a conse-quence of physical education practice and symptomof a positive students relation with their own bodyand the changes occurring in preadolescence period;

– finally, looking at the emotional aspects and sensa-tions felt during physical education classes, it can beaffirmed that during the period November 2008 –April 2009, 72% of the experiences were perceivedwith positive emotions by the students (with feelingsas well as happiness, joy and fun) during Physical Ed-ucation classes, 9% of the experiences were felt asmixed emotions, that is positive and negative at thesame time, or not well identified. Finally, the 19% ofthe experiences were felt negative by children, withfeelings of incompetence, uselessness and anger insome situations.

The results of the study show that a planned interven-tion in sport values education combined with a critical re-flective methodology in teaching physical education atschool, can modify a general attitude of a class or a per-son. It must be considered that it is very difficult to meas-ure the real changes of a person, and especially ofadolescents, because, as we have said above, it is numer-ically difficult to assign score to something related to theinterior and moral dimension. It would be the same in thecase of adults, because of the metaphysical nature of sport

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values and the difficulty to explain and put them intopractice.

Moreover, we have not to forget that, especially in Ital-ian mountain area, where there are few opportunities tosocialize, the power of physical education and sport atschool becomes more important than somewhere, espe-cially for the social and emotional aspects. In many cases,school is the only opportunity for children to be in contactwith a peer group and it can help them to avoid isolationand social marginalization.

The study shows, in fact, that without any intervention (asshown by the control group) children have not a real change;on the contrary, they risk to become more and more intro-verted than they are. It can be also affirmed that thecritical–reflective methodology applied on sport values is use-ful for teachers too who can learn more about their pupils andthey can reflect better on their work and everyday practice.

The reflective methodology reflects the dynamic processof the teaching experience and also of general and sport ped-agogy as a dynamic science committed to the education ofthe human being through play/game, movement and body.

This research wants to show the vast potential of phys-ical education, that is a subject offering unique opportuni-ties for physical, cognitive, social and affectivedevelopment in children and youths, contributing in a veryreal way to a truly holistic education. At the moment itspotential is underused and the subject is undervalued. Therealization of its full potential would contribute greatly toan increase in the perceived educational worth of physicaleducation, raising the social consideration and regard notonly of the discipline, but also of all its professionals.


References

Arnold, P. J. (1998). Sport, Ethics and education. London: Cassel.Burrows, L. & Jumsai, A. (2001). Los valores humanos en la educación.

Barcelona: Ariel.CEC – Commission of the European Communities (2007). White

Paper on Sport. Brussels: The European Commission.Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research methods in

education. London–New York: Routledge.Fullat, O. & Isidori, E. (2002). Le parole del corpo. Roma: Anicia.Gratton, C., & Jones, I. (2004). Research methods for sport studies. Lon-

don–New York: Routledge.Gutiérrez Sanmartin, M. (1995). Valores sociales y deporte. La actividad

fisica y el deporte como transmisores de valores sociales y personales.Madrid: Gymnos.

Isidori, E. (2008a), Pedagogia dello sport e valori. Verso un approcciocritico–riflessivo. In E. Isidori & A. Fraile, Educazione, sport e val-ori. Un approccio pedagogico critico riflessivo (pp. 19–97). Roma:Aracne.

Isidori, E. (2008b). Becoming a reflective practitioner in physical activ-ity and sport. A new challenge for sport pedagogy. Studia Univer-sitatis Babes Bolyai, Educatio Artis Gymnasticae, 53(2), 33–38.

Isidori, E. (2009a). La pedagogia dello sport. Roma: Carocci.Isidori, E. (2009b). Sport pedagogy through movies. A methodology to

promote values in sport education for children and youths. StudiaUniversitatis Babes Bolyai, Educatio Artis Gymnasticae, 54(1),51–60.

Laker, A. (2001). Developing personal, social and moral educationthrough physical education. A practical guide for teschers. New York:Routledge–Falmer.

Loland, S. (2002). Fair Play in sport: a moral norm system.London–New York: Routledge.

Maulini, C. (2006). Pedagogia, benessere e sport. Roma: Aracne.Reimer, J., Pritchard Paolitto, D., & Hersh. R. H. (1990). Promoting


moral growth. From Piaget to Kohlberg. Prospect Heights, IL:Waveland Press.

Steenbergen, J., De Knop P., & Elling A.H., (2001). Values and normsin sport. Oxford: Meyer and Meyer.


83

A Research on Socio–Moral Dilemmas in School Sportin Italy, Spain, Portugal and France

Emanuele Isidori, Antonio Fraile, Amândio Graça

1. Introduction

This study examined the socio–moral values of youthparticipating in sport programs in Italy, Spain, Portugaland France. 916 thirteen–year–old boys and girls, balancedby country and gender, were presented with three vignettescontaining particular moral dilemmas in relation to hon-esty, respect, and companionship likely to occur withinschool sport programs.

Complementary data were collected through focus–group discussions involving four to ten participants of eachcountry. Descriptive analytical procedures reveal that thelarge majority of the participants, regardless of country,placed the respect for participation rights above winninginterests; they are also sensitive to peer rejection, givinghigher priority to companionship; but they are divided onmatters of honesty, with boys being more prone to acceptfaking than girls.

Moreover, the arguments provided by the participantsdid not reveal a simplistic either/or pattern of responses tomoral dilemmas; instead, there emerged a spectrum of rea-sons for choosing an alternative within the dilemma.

83

Even though participation in sport programs could notbe seen as a panacea for solving all the society’s ills (McGeeet al., 2006), research supports that sound sport programshave a positive effect on children and youth’s physical andmental health; on physical and motor skill aptitude; andalso on affective, emotional, moral, and social development(Hedstrom & Gould, 2004). Besides the general belief onthe positive impact on health, education, and socializationdomains, sports exert an exceptional power of attractionand enjoy strong popularity among children.

Unfortunately, the marriage between sport and chil-dren is not necessarily a happy one, for, quite often, thecontrary is the case (Telama, 1999). Critics often con-demn the highly competitive nature of youth sports, theexcessive focus on winning; the high levels of pressure onchildren; the precocity of specialization; and the increas-ing rates of injuries, burnouts, and dropouts (Hedstrom& Gould, 2004). Moreover, the role models played byadults (e. g., coaches, parents, administrators, profes-sional players), the influence of the media, and the valuesinstilled in children through the sport practice are also amatter of concern.

In all this, the question remains, however, as what arethe moral values of youth participating in sport programsand how are these values manifested in sport activities.This information could be useful to coaches, teachers, tu-tors, and parents in order to design and choose appropri-ate activities for the moral–ethical development of youngpeople.

In view of this, the purpose of this study was to exam-ine the moral values acknowledged by participants inschool sport programs in four European countries, France,


Italy, Portugal, and Spain, which have, by the way, distinctmodels of school sports (Fraile Aranda, 2004).

2. Theoretical framework

Ruled by the agonal principle, the very nature of sportis filled with moral problems. «It appears as a paradox ofrequiring competition (postulate victory) and equal oppor-tunities (postulate fairness)» (Bockrath & Franke, 1995, p.292). As such, sport is at the crossroads of moral debate.On the one hand, it is open to abuse and corruption; on theother hand, besides being a source of pleasure, it also fos-ters a sense of humanity. In this regard, from a reasonablestandpoint, it can be affirmed that abuse and corruptionwill always be considered to undermine the foundations ofsport practice.

In a critical appreciation of empirical research, Jonesand McNamee (2000) contend that applying a kind of uni-versal moral barometer, disregarding the rules, norms, andvalues operant in the ethos of the sport results in an over-simplified and reductive account of moral character. Theethos of the sport (the prevailing cultural convention,norms, and codes) and the goals, expectations, and re-quirements of particular sports will inevitable influenceparticipants’ moral reasoning and actions.

Similarly, Bredmeier and Shields (1986a) sustain thatsport is a unique context, somewhat separated from reallife, within which moral social reasoning can be bracketed(i.e., exempted from the observation of restraints thatapply to everyday life) thus giving way to a sort of “gamereasoning” that allows one to disregard social morality and

85E. Isidori, A. Fraile, A. Graça – A Research on Socio–Moral Dilemmas 85

justify egocentrism. Some empirical evidence tends to sup-port this, showing how athletes (especially male team sportathletes) tend to exhibit less mature levels of moral reason-ing in matters of aggression (Beller & Stoll, 1995; Brede-meier & Shields, 1986a, 1986b).

Nonetheless, there are times where athletes use moralreasoning, follow the rules, act according to the norms ofsportspersonship, and take into account their opponents’welfare. Underlying the intention of this study is the inter-est on appreciating the presence of important values asso-ciated to sportspersonship, such as honesty, respect andcompanionship, in the scenario of school sport practice.

Honesty is a virtue that qualifies the integrity of a per-son, her disposition to live in an authentic, genuine man-ner, adhering to moral values. «Honesty requirestruthfulness, so that trust is generated between partners»(Arnold, 1999, p. 47).

Thus, a person is considered honest if she acts intentlyand unforced in a righteous manner, as a result of coher-ence of thoughts, feelings and actions. An honest persondoes not fear the truth, and has nothing to conceal, is atpeace with her internal life, does not worry about what oth-ers think or say of her. Sport as a valued practice requirescommitment to honest behaviour, which implies more thanmere compliance with rules and norms instituted by sportgovern bodies, and enforced by referees.

Respect is a demonstration of care and attention to-wards all that is valuable. It is a disposition for maintain-ing good relationships, and for neither depreciating norneglecting peers’ behaviours during sport activities. Fur-thermore, respect is strongly related to rights and dutiesthat one has towards the others, which convert in the


manner one considers groups and teachers or coaches.Respect is also connected to the rules of the game, a mat-ter where teachers, coaches, and referees play a decisiverole to ensure that players comply not only with the for-mal rules but also being faithful to the spirit of the game,by avoiding cheating or taking advantage with trickystrategies that misrepresent the spirit of the rules, whichare sometimes part of the hidden aspects of coaching andtraining.

Companionship expresses one’s commitment to providesupport to other human beings, and one’s concern for theirsafety and wellbeing. Companionship is a form of altruism,which according to Gibbons and Bressan (1991) is framedupon three attributes: empathy (understanding and sensi-tivity to others’ feelings and thoughts), openness to incon-gruity (balanced humour and kind–heartedness to helpovercome odd situations), and willingness to cooperate (ac-cept and sustain mutual dependence).

Sport practice offers abundant occasions in which thiskind of attitude towards team–mates is required. As thesuccess of an individual player or a team depends on col-laboration of team–mates, team sports are a suitable envi-ronment to promote companionship through the desiredtransformation of a human group into a real team. Individ-ual players need to learn to play cooperatively and realizethe interest of involving team–mates in relevant game play,even if, at times, one does not obtain immediate results.

Apparently, within the ethos of competitive sport, itwould be more difficult to sacrifice immediate results thanin recreational or educational sports, where the importanceof winning is not so dramatically emphasized. Gutiérrez(1995) contends that, in the first stage of schooling, similar


importance is given both to the ambition of success and tocompanionship, though, afterward, the importance ofcompanionship as a value increases among students.

3. Method

3.1. Subjects

The sample of this study was constituted by 916 thir-teen–year old boys (n = 447) and girls (n = 469) involvedin regular school sport programs at schools of Valladolid,Spain (n=226); Porto, Portugal (n = 245); Roma, Italy(n=215); and Tarbes, France (n = 230). Accessibility ofcountries, cities, and schools, and a balanced distributionof participants by country and gender were the main sam-pling criteria, which satisfies the exploratory purpose ofthe study. The sampling of participants was sought to in-clude all the attendants of the chosen sport programs.

3.2. Data collection procedures

Data were collected in two phases. In the first phase, inorder to survey participants’ moral judgment tendencies,they were presented moral dilemmas in the form of shortnarratives containing matter susceptible of confrontingthem with a value conflict (Kohlberg, 1984). Participantswere asked to read and respond to an application sheetwith short, open narratives embodying moral dilemmas re-lated to honesty, respect, and companionship. In each sit-uation participants had to choose and mark one of twoalternatives (egocentric oriented or principled oriented),


the one they would adopt if they were the protagonists.Narratives were based on common problems observed inchildren sport.

Face validity was sought by submitting the narratives toappreciation of a panel constituted by 10 sport peda-gogues. They were asked if narratives covered relevant top-ics, fitted the values under scrutiny, and if language usedwere easy and understandable to 13–year–old children.Scholars’ comments contributed to improve narrative, toreduce vagueness, and to focus on targeted dilemmas.

To placate doubts and criticism, it is assumed that ratherthan being envisaged as a general measure of sportsperson-ship, the adopted dilemmas were selectively restricted tohonesty, respect, and companionship by contemplatingparticular instants where those values could be calledupon.

In addition, in each country, prior to instrument admin-istration, PE teachers and coaches involved with childrensport programs included in the study were asked to com-ment and suggest amendments to the dilemmas narratives.Comments were consensually favourable, and do not hintany change.

The second phase of data collection consisted of smallfocus group discussions designed to delve more deeply intothe grounds of judgments expressed about the aforemen-tioned dilemmas. For this, it has been shown that shared di-alogue around those dilemmas, with the inherent reflectionand affective involvement, could activate more advancedforms of moral development (Ruiz Omeñaca, 2004).

A 60–minutes focus group discussion interviews involv-ing 4 to 10 participants were organized in each country.The selection of group discussion members sought inten-


tionally a heterogeneous composition according to gender,team and individual sports, and diversity of opinion on thematters to be discussed.

After hearing the narrative introducing each dilemmaparticipants were invited to express their judgment, justifytheir claims, and debate them with peers. The discussionmoderator assumes a neutral position, protecting the freeexpression of participants’ perspectives, trying to balanceopportunities of participation, and stimulating those whoare less inclined to participate in discussion. Overlappingtalk was avoided in order to obtain an audible tape record-ing and make possible a reliable transcription of partici-pants’ interventions.

3.3. Data analysis

Basic descriptive statistics were used to analyze childrenalternative choices in each dilemma. Crosstabs analysis bygender and country, with the Chi–Square tests, supportedthe basic strategy for making sense of the survey data.

Transcripts of group discussion were analyzed itera-tively, beginning by coding data into two broad categoriescorrespondent to alternative choices, followed by a searchof themes for grouping data within those broad categories,using a constant comparison approach. Data segments ofboth more typical and more nuanced stances were selectedand sorted to represent the participants’ moral reasoningdiversity. Haan’s model of moral development as presentedby Bredemeier and Shields (1986a) was used as an aid todata interpretation.


3.4. Results

Results related to honesty, respect, and companionshipare presented according to variables of gender and country.

1) Honesty. Looking into the sample as a whole (table1), we could see that responses to dilemma 1, fakingor not faking a penalty in a soccer match, were dis-tributed by the two alternatives, with some advan-tage for the honesty option. Yet, the analysis ofresponses by gender reveals remarkable differencesbetween boys and girls.The majority of boys (62%) chose the faking option,while the majority of girls considered that unfair(64%). Perhaps, a more competitive spirit of boyspulled them towards self–interest, whereas girlsseemed more committed to fairness.Admitting cheating puts sportive behaviour underthe convenience of self–interest, with the risk of un-dermining participants’ morality (does the end jus-tify the means?). In fact, at the group discussion, oneof the participants who approve unfair behaviour


Table 1 – Percentages of values of students’ responses to dilemma 1 onHonesty.

* Pearson Chi–Square = 61.617; DF = 1; P–Value = .000.

Gender* Country

alternativeWsample

n = 916

Boys

n = 447

Girls

n = 469

Spain

n = 226

Italy

n = 215

France

n = 230

Portugal

n = 245

a) 46% 62% 36% 47% 51% 47% 52%

b) 54% 38% 64% 53% 49% 53% 48%

claims unabashedly that if the objective is to win,cheating could be acceptable.Boys who approve the faking of a penalty justify theirstance with the importance they accord to winning.One of them provides the following statement: «I’llsimulate the penalty because we need to get pointsfor the championship, and we must do anything towin them».Another one is prone to admit cheating, but only inexceptional circumstances: «In a final, I would acceptfaking a penalty, because the important thing is the vic-tory; but in a normal match I would not accept it».A Spanish girl seems to adopt a strategy of exempt-ing cheating in sport from moral rules: «I think thatto fake a penalty is not a crime».For the majority of girls, in contrast, the pressure ofwinning does not seem to be so moving. They do notendorse unfair play. They do not approve that a teamthat is playing better could be put down by cheatingstrategies. One girl argues: «Imagine it is a player ofthe opponent team that fakes a penalty, would youlike it?».Fair play is also viewed as a transactional affair, im-plying responsibility from both sides: «The others donot fake a penalty. We should not fake».But, if the others do it, should we engage in an eye foreye morality? And if yes, should we attend they takethe initiative, or should we presume that they will dothat if they get the chance? Returning to survey data, the analysis of distribu-tion by country shows that among Portuguese andItalian participants those who admitted the possi-


bility of faking a penalty outnumbered those whoreject that idea, though only slightly, while amongFrench and Spanish participants, the situation wasreversed. Nevertheless, the analysis by country didnot reveal significant differences in participants’evaluations.Looking at explanations in the focus group discus-sion, from those who refuse the idea of actingagainst the spirit of the game, one participant statesthat: «the best player is the one who wins withoutcheating». This stance reflects not only the adherence to the fairplay idea but also the understanding of the moral ad-vantage it represents, in so far as the concept of bestplayer is both referred to sport performance and per-sonal excellence.

2) Respect. In dilemma 2 — respecting or not respect-ing the promise of given an opportunity to play to allplayers when the result is in doubt (Table 2) — thereis a clear trend towards alternative (a) respecting thepromise made to players. A large majority of partic-ipants (80%) vote for securing the Sara’s rights to


Table 2 – Percentage values of students’ responses to dilemma 2 onRespect.

Gender Country

alternativeWsample

n = 916

Boys

n = 447

Girls

n = 469

Spain

n = 226

Italy

n = 215

France

n = 230

Portugal

n = 245

a) 80% 78% 83% 85% 86% 77% 81%

b) 20% 22%) 17% 15% 14% 23% 19%

play as it was promised by the coach. It could be ar-gued that if the coach had not made the promise, therights of Sara to get an opportunity to play might besomewhat weakened. Insofar as the competitive orientation tends to sacri-fice participation in favour of results, only a commit-ment to a normative determination (be it written orself–imposed) could balance those conflicting inter-ests, and put competition in perspective. It is note-worthy to say that, for 20% of the participants, theinterest in the final result is sufficient to discardpromises that were made.Analysis by gender portrays that the large majority ofparticipants in both groups are favourable to keepthe promise of participation, although in the girls’group it happens more extensively than in boys (83%vs. 78%). In so far that differences did not reach sta-tistical significance, results did not provide definitesupport to the less competitive orientation of girls re-ported in previous studies (Sirard, et al., 2006), whofound that, for girls, it is more important to partici-pate than to win.Analysis by country corroborates the trend for thepriority of keeping promise of participation over theimmediate interest on results of competition, thoughthe Spanish and Italian participants appear to bemore supportive of this position than the French andPortuguese.In the follow–up study, during group discussion bothantagonistic and conciliatory positions were appar-ent. While a Spanish participant underlined herpoint of view by saying: «when the coach promises


95E. Isidori, A. Fraile, A. Graça – A Research on Socio–Moral Dilemmas

that a player will get an opportunity to participate inthe match, the word given to that player becomesmore important than any result the team might ob-tain». Another participant refused this position, saying that:«Above all, the most important is the result, and onlythen, the participation of all players».Some participants try to conciliate both the interestin winning the game and the right of Sara to play: «Ifthe replacement is to be made, make it; but the bestplayers should not be replaced, any other playercould be replaced. I would make the replacementever since the score were favourable».

3) Companionship. In dilemma 3 — inviting or not invit-ing a low skilled player for the team, when no onechooses her — the large majority of participants(91%) were sensitive to the despondent position ofClaudia (the low skilled girl) and pointed that Miguel(the boy facing the dilemma) should invite her to takepart of his group (see table 3). Similarly to previousdilemmas, also in dilemma 3, girls as a whole seem tobe less attracted than boys to egocentric choices. The

95

Table 3 – Percentage values of students’ responses to dilemma 3 onCompanionship.

Gender Country

AlternativeWsample

n = 916

Boys

n = 447

Girls

n = 469

Spain

n = 225

Italy

n = 215

France

n = 230

Portugal

n = 245

a) 91% 88% 94% 91% 95% 90% 89%

b) 9% 12% 6% 9% 5% 10% 11%

fact that Claudia is a girl perhaps predisposes girls tobe more sensitive to her situation. On the other hand,being Miguel’s group exclusively constituted by boys,it could hint some boys to disregard an altruistic initia-tive and pass over the upsetting situation of Claudia.Anyway, differences between genders were not sup-ported by statistical analysis.Analysis by country only shows non–significant dif-ferences, with Italian participants exhibiting higherpercentages for companionship comparatively toparticipants from other countries. This dilemma confronts participants with a decisionbetween being an altruist or avoiding to displeasefriends. In the group discussion, a Portuguese par-ticipant takes it as a test to check the strength of com-panionship: «I think that if the other members of thegroup were good friends they should understand thatMiguel invites Claudia to join the group, in order toavoid she is left alone».This judgment conveys that inviting a girl to join agroup should never perturb the harmony among itsmembers, and if so it would put in question both theconfidence Miguel deserves from his friends and theconsistency of their companionship.Evidence of care and empathy is salient in the wordsof another Portuguese girl: «I would try to changethe mind of my mates about her being excluded, andto make them see that an identical situation couldhappen to any of us at any time».At odds with this reasoning in favour of solidarity itis the argument of a Portuguese boy that prizes theinterest of the group members. «In my case, I would


not invite her because I consider we have not somuch occasions for being together, and if we do thatit would flaw our group dynamic».Group conformity is another argument to refuse ac-cepting the excluded girl in the group. As a Spanishparticipant states: «I wouldn’t invite her because Ibelong to a group, and if the group does not agree, Ishould respect that decision. If she has no group, itis the coach who must place her in a group».Instead of passing the responsibility over othergroups, a French participant also put that duty onthe coach: «It is the coach who should make the de-cision to assure that no one remains excluded whengroups are already arranged to the practice».Implicitly there is in this stance a critic to the coachmanagement decisions. The first decision (freegrouping) left a girl with no group, the second deci-sion (who does volunteer) risk a no volunteer call oran uneasy, unwelcome inclusion. Some groupingstrategies cause often and inadvertently distressingsituations for disadvantaged participants.Having players to help and work collaborativelywith low skill level peers, and creating a supportivesocial environment for those participants is far froman easy task for teachers and coaches, who shouldnot expect innocently for some kind of spontaneoussolution. A Spanish girl reveals some insight into thisissue: «If the reason why nobody wants her in theirgroup is her skill level, in order to avoid unbalance,the coach should form the groups to avoid such animbalance».


4. Discussion

One of the seminal reasons for the promotion ofschool–based sport programs is the belief in their educa-tional value; in the power they have to build up character,and to cherish virtues. However the taken for granted ben-efits do not exempt those programs from critical appreci-ation of their moral grounds and orientations.

The analysis of responses to dilemmas related to hon-esty, respect, and companionship do not reveal any signif-icant difference between Spanish, Italian, French, andPortuguese participants in school sport programs. Thelarge majority of participants endorse a participatory, in-clusive rather than a selective, winning orientation forthose programs. Respect and companionship were highlyvalued both by boys and girls with no significant differ-ences between them. These results could be interpreted asa sign of a prevailing non–elitist orientation of up to13–year–old school–based sport programs within thoseEuropean countries.

On the other hand, gender differences were remarkablein judging the dilemma around faking or not faking apenalty, with boys much more prone than girls to admitunfair behaviour. Since this is a kind of recurrent strategywithin elite team sport ethos, that gets ambiguous evalua-tions from society, children do not receive clear messagesabout its moral wrongness.

Bredemeier and Shields (1986a) reported that collegeathletes tend to rank at low levels of moral reasoning indilemmas related to aggression in sport. In order to accom-modate to the self–interested or team–interested nature ofsport, the authors introduce the concept of ‘game reason-


ing’ as a form of bracketed morality that redefines egocen-tricity as appropriate in the set apart world of sport. In cer-tain sense the acceptance of fakery could be seen as anexpression of that bracketed morality.

Drewe (1999), in a qualitative study on ethical dilemmasand moral reasoning of athletes who play on a CanadianUniversity’s sport team, classify their reasons into six moralcategories: (1) doing unto others as you would have themdo unto you; (2) fairness; (3) respecting others; (4) not hurt-ing the team; (5) respect for the game; (6) fear for gettingcaught. Almost all of these reasons were apparent in theparticipants of our study during group discussion, with em-phasis on the first three categories that Drewe (1999) asso-ciated to a deontological perspective, to an adherence touniversal, impartial principles of justice and fairness.

According to the author this view may underestimate theimportance of virtues as sympathy, compassion, concern andcompanionship. In a similar direction, Singleton (2003)points out the insufficiency of an ethic of justice to build upfair play in sport competition. Instead, she advocates an ethicof care: «one that highlights relationships and responsibili-ties and encourages students to develop moral behaviourthat fosters the production of a ‘social web of relations’ forone another as they play» (p. 207). Moreover, Arnold (2001)gives preference to a virtue–based approach, to a charactereducation «concerned with the cultivation and deploymentof certain forms of human excellence, rather than with theperformance of acts based on duty or a calculation of con-sequences» (p. 148).

School–based sport programs differ from PE becauseadherence to those programs is voluntary, which does notmean necessarily restrictive. Siedentop (2002) set down


four goals to youth sport programs: the educative, thehealth, the elite–development, and the preservation ofgood practice goals. The elite–development goal is intrin-sically selective, restricted to those that wish and have thepotential to pursuit excellence in sport, but it has also to beframed in sound moral grounds. As Arnold (2001) puts it:«sport, when seen as a valued human practice, is in itself aform of moral education» (p. 135).

Siedentop (2002) acknowledges that the importantqualities of character sport can teach does not come auto-matically, as it can also teach bad qualities. So the preser-vation of good practice constitutes a crucial goal for allthose who have responsibility in sport domains, and partic-ularly for those involved in research, who must obligethemselves to critically examine sport programs orienta-tions and effects, but also to be acquainted with the speci-ficities of the ethos of sports at their different expressionlevels (Jones & McNamee, 2000; Kirk, 2006).

5. Conclusion

Findings support that school sport programs constitutea complex social experience for children, well–provided ofmoral problems, which offer them the opportunity to dealwith a diversity of challenges for judging and acting upon.

Age 13 participants in school sport programs fromFrance, Italy, Portugal, and Spain seem to share an inclu-sive, participatory view of sport practice.

However while the interest on winning is likely to over-shadow the spirit of the game for the majority of boys, thereverse happens in girls.


Arguments pro or contra the alternatives of eachdilemma reveal not only different degrees of maturity ofmoral reasoning, from more egocentric to more principledjudgment, but also compelling reasons to distinguish andjustify what is wrong and what is right.


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