The three dimensions of sport pedagogy are knowledge in context, learners and learning and teachers and teaching. These should be considered by the teacher or coach when making decisions on which teaching style or learning theory they should follow to ensure effective teaching and learning. It’s important though to realise that these three dimensions of sport pedagogy are closely linked and overlap.
Knowledge in context
“The selection of knowledge to be taught, coached or learnt is always a context bound decision” (Armour, 2011, p. 13). For teachers to be able to make decisions on how to approach teaching a certain group in a certain situation they need to consider the knowledge in context. Both management aspects like time and resources should be considered as well as the pupils characteristics that are learning. Furthermore the teachers have to follow the current national curriculum. This causes the teachers to try to find a balance between power and agency, on deciding what to teach through their own personal opinion but trying to be within the government guidelines. Consequently this has caused teachers to have less opportunity to decide for themselves what to teach (Evans 1999). However it can be difficult for teachers to constantly follow the national curriculum when it’s constantly changing due to social and political factors, therefore this may also affect how the teacher does effective practice (Armour 2011). It’s also essential as a teacher to follow what their intended learning outcomes are that they set for the pupils. They have to decide what they want their class to be able to achieve by the end. For example if they want to improve pupil’s netball passing, then select appropriate passing drills to use. Therefore teachers need to consider the context of the situation before making a decision on what to teach and how to teach it, so effective practice can occur.
Learners and Learning
It’s essential that teachers realise that learners are diverse and that they all have preferences on how they learn. They also need to realise that they come from a range of backgrounds such as different ages, experiences and cultures (Armour 2011). Therefore considering this the teachers can make a decision on what the best learning theory to use.
One learning theory that a teacher may use is behaviourism. This is the acquisition of new behaviour, which is modified through stimulus- response and selective reinforcement (Armour 2011). Pedagogy strategies that are linked to behaviourism are instructional ones (Armour 2011). This means that teaching styles such as Instructional styles can be considered to do a more behaviourist approach as it involves a learner producing a response due to the teacher’s instruction (stimulus). However, this can be considered simplistic as more must happen than an input producing an output, other processes in the brain must occur such as analysing and processing which lead to the outcome. Therefore cognitivism may be a more beneficial learning theory. This involves the transmitting information to the learners, who will receive the information and process it (Tishman et al 1993). Teachers may use cognitive methods to help the learner to develop further understanding through surface learning such as short term memorising and long term learning where they think more deeply and understand the concept so it’s less likely to be forgotten, the learners then link the knowledge. (Armour 2011). In the context of physical education this may lead to memory techniques being used, for example to learn complex rules of sport such as rugby rules. The teacher may keep asking and repeating the rules to the pupils so they start to memorise them.
The most effective learning theory in my opinion is constructivism. Boghossain (2006) explained that constructivism involves learners being active participants in the learning process, where they use experiences from their activities to find meaning which leads to them building their knowledge. Constructivism can be split into social and cognitive aspects. Cognitive constructivism was mainly developed through the work of Piaget and it’s based on how children develop through stages of learning and he argued that children develop through accommodation and assimilation of the information presented to them (Chambers 2011). Whereas social constructivism is based on how children learn through the use of experiences, rather than help from teachers or peers. This is explained through the zone of proximal development which suggests that teachers need to challenge pupils and learners to enhance their learning (Chambers 2011). Therefore discovery learning is a teaching style that can be used linked to constructivism. This involves the pupils the pupils discovering things on their own which can be remembered more easily in the future than when a teacher tells them what to do (Yilmaz 2011). I remember an example of this from when I was learning netball which involved me discovering on my own the ways in which is easier to shoot. Through practice and experience I learnt the more I flick my wrists the better my shot. On the other hand, a problem with leaving pupils to discover things on their own may not be beneficial to all, as it can depend on the pupil’s motivation. If they are not motivated to discover new things, they aren’t going to put the effort in when they are left alone to do so. Therefore again, it’s important that the teacher considers the learners characteristics before making a decision on learning theory’s and teaching styles to use.
Teachings and teaching
Teachers and teaching is a further dimension of sport pedagogy. This involves the importance and the ability of teachers to make a decision on what approach and teaching style they will use with their pupils and being flexible enough to use a variety of styles. This can again be linked to the context as it can be dependent on the teacher’s preference and experience. There are 11 different types of teaching style, which were developed by Muska Mosston in 1996. The spectrum of teaching styles range from more teacher centred approaches such as command and practice styles to more student centred approaches such as guided discovery and self-teaching. The spectrum can therefore be split into two parts, the reproductive styles and the productive styles. The reproductive styles involves the learner repeating behaviour that they see. Firstly there is the teacher command style, this involves the teacher telling pupils what to do and they respond. According to (Thomson, 2009) A benefit of the teacher using this type of teaching style is that the pupils have multiple chances to watch and hear the skill cues they are learning before practicing them due to watching demonstrations from the teacher or coach. An example of a teacher using the command style would be them showing a demonstration of a football penalty shot then the pupils copying. On the other hand Thomson (2009) argued that the pupils who may be more advanced in the skills they are learning, could easily get bored and unmotivated due to the class working in unison and possibly at a slower pace. Therefore it’s essential that when a teacher uses the command style they consider the effect it may have on those who are slightly more advanced, so again considering the context of the situation they are teaching in. In contrast to the command style Brunner (1961) described guided discovery is a teaching style which involves the pupils having a problem to solve on their own but the teachers provide hints and feedback For example using the football example again, the teacher may ask the group to think of different ways of dribbling with the football to get around a defender. In my opinion this will remove the problems that may occur with more advanced students getting bored, as it’s a chance to use scaffolding of their previous knowledge in football to provide well thought answers to the teacher, which can be motivating for them. However Mayer (2004) argued that a difficulty teachers and coaches may face with guided discovery is knowing how much guiding and support to provide in each circumstance. Therefore this requires further decision making to be done by the teachers, not only do they need to make a decision on what teaching style to use, they also need to decide how to apply the style as well in different contexts.
Conclusion
In conclusion, effective practice is dependent on many factors, such as the selection of the correct learning theory or the correct teaching style. This selection is dependent on the teacher considering the context of situation they are teaching in, such as the national curriculum, the student’s characteristics such as age and ability, and also the teachers own ability and training. Therefore the three dimensions of sport pedagogy overlap, for example in relation to the knowledge in context the teacher may consider the characteristics of the pupils, which may be a group which misbehave a lot. Therefore they use a teaching style such as command style to have more control, which is linked to the teachers and teaching dimension. Therefore it can be seen that a lot of complex decision making happens for the teachers to develop effective practice.