Project Summary
Among the various opportunities young people have to practise sports, school sports are of particular interest because the ultimate goal of schools is to shape our future citizens. Although school sport has become increasingly popular in Canada, there are very few studies enabling us to assess whether it is achieving its stated mission objective, specifically to promote the overall development of student athletes through sport. An analysis of the data collected over the past three years confirms that (a) all the players involved (administrators, coaches, student-athletes, parents) believe that sport helps impart values and life skills to student athletes; (b) the way in which school sport is structured can affect the transmission of values and life skills; (c) coaches receive little training on teaching values and life skills and have difficulty providing tangible examples of activities they use to do so; and (d) recruiting coaches is a significant problem.
Research Methods
In phase 1, interviews were conducted with school principals (n=13), coaches (n=50), student-athletes (n=20) and parents (n=20). In phase 2, a questionnaire was administered online to survey and gather the views of over 1,100 school sport actors in Quebec (administrators, coaches, student-athletes and parents).
Research Results
All school sport actors (administrators, coaches, parents and student-athletes) believe that this type of sport is beneficial but agree that there is room for improvement. Administrators report perceiving the greatest gap between the ideal situation and what the situation actually is. When we compare the sport structure in Quebec (where student-athletes practise one sport year-round) to that in Ontario (where student-athletes can practise several sports because the season lasts only a few months) we note significant differences in terms of who does the coaching (teachers, parents, student-athletes) and, consequently, the expected effect of sports practice on the transmission of values and life skills. Parents play a supportive role (financial, logistical and psychological), but this role becomes less important in the student-athlete’s last year of high school. Interviews with student-athletes revealed that because of the way they are structured, certain sports provide more opportunities for
developing values and life skills than other sports. In addition, the opportunity to negotiate their specific sports activities with their coaches and parents may be an important factor to the global development of student-athletes through school sport. In this study, data was collected through interviews and a questionnaire, which provided the views of the various actors on school sport. It would be useful to conduct field observation studies in this area.
Policy Implications
Describe relevance of research to enhancing sport participation in Canada here. If possible, refer to specific relevant policies and/or programs as well as organizations and/or levels of government (municipal, provincial-territorial and/or federal).
Providing young Canadians with a positive sport experience in school will result in rising rates of sport participation and will help youth develop values and life skills. These two points have been previously raised in government reports.
- Sport Canada (2002; Canadian Sport Policy)
- There is a need to improve the place of sport and physical activity in schools and upgrade the training of coaches.
- Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (2003/2004; The Sport we Want)
- School sport functions independently from community sport and the two could be much more closely linked for the benefit of participants and the community.
Next Steps
Although sport can provide opportunities supporting the overall development of children and adolescents, we must maintain realistic expectations regarding the potential of school sport to impart values and life skills. The data indicates that a shortage of coaches leads administrators to rely increasingly on parents or students finishing high school, who often have no coaching training and are probably poorly qualified to use sport as a basis to teach values or life skills. Our initial reaction could be wanting to develop a training program specifically designed for schools but how would coaches respond? How many hours of training would be required to train a coach to teach values and life skills? Could we ask volunteer school sport coaches to put in even more hours? In addition, a strategy focusing solely on coaches would not be adequate because to ensure that school sport can contribute to the overall development of children and adolescents, coaches need the support of administrators, parents and players.
Key Stakeholders and Benefits
- Organizations Responsible for School Sport:
- Canadian School Sport Federation (CSSF)
- Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA)
- Fédération Québécoise du Sport Étudiant [Quebec student sports federation] (FQSE)
- Coaching Association of Canada (CAC)