ABSTRACT

Previous chapters have identified the prominence of youth sport as a specific component of sport policy throughout the period covered by this study. This chapter will examine in further depth the factors contributing to the increased salience of youth sport as a whole, trace the shifting priority accorded to specific youth sport agendas and consider the governance and implementation of these agendas. These trends cannot, however, be considered in isolation from broader policies relating to young people. In this respect, consideration of the education policies of successive governments is especially relevant since, as Ball (2008), (p. 1) recognised:

Education has become a major political issue, a major focus of media attention and the recipient of a constant stream of initiatives and interventions from government.