ABSTRACT
As sport has become more intense, professional and commercialized so have the debates grown about what constitutes acceptable behaviour and fair play, and how to encourage and develop ‘good’ sporting behaviour, particularly in children and young people. This book explores the nature and function of values in youth sport and establishes a framework through which coaches, teachers and researchers can develop an understanding of the decision-making processes of young athletes and how they choose between playing fairly or cheating to win.
The traditional view of sport participation is that it has a beneficial effect on the social and moral development of children and young people and that it intrinsically promotes cultural values. This book argues that the research evidence is more subtle and nuanced. It examines the concept of values as central organizing constructs of human behaviour that determine our priorities, guide our choices, and transfer across situations, and considers the value priorities and conflicts that are so useful in helping us to understand behaviour in sport. The book argues that teachers and professionals working with children in sport are centrally important agents for value transmission and change and therefore need to develop a deeper understanding of how sport can be used to encourage pro-social values, and offers suggestions for developing a curriculum for teaching values through sport in differing social contexts.
Spanning some of the fundamental areas of sport practice and research, including sport psychology, sport pedagogy, practice ethics, and positive youth development through sport, and including useful values and attitudes questionnaires and guidance on their use and interpretation, this book is important reading for any student, researcher, coach or teacher with an interest in youth sport or physical education.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |21 pages
Why are sport and physical education valuable?
part |99 pages
Values, attitudes and achievement goals
chapter |12 pages
What sport values do young people hold?
chapter |17 pages
Which sport values are most important to young people?
chapter |19 pages
How important are ethical attitudes?
chapter |19 pages
How do values influence attitudes and achievement goals?
chapter |15 pages
How do values relate to motivation?
part |66 pages
Value transmission and value change
chapter |15 pages
How does the value structure underlie value conflict?
chapter |14 pages
How do we teach values through sport?
chapter |12 pages
How does coach behaviour change the motivational climate?
chapter |13 pages
How important are the values of significant others?
chapter |10 pages
How can sport practitioners balance conflicting values?
part |19 pages
Overview