Book review

Sport education: international perspectives

(Routledge studies in physical education and youth sport)

Peter Hastie (Ed), 2011

London, Routledge

£24.99 (pbk), 240 pp.�xvi

ISBN-10: 0415781604

ISBN-13: 978-0415781602

In his retrospective account on the development of the Sport Education curriculum

model presented at the 1998 AIESEP World Congress, Daryl Siedentop exclaimed:

‘Sport Education has grown in popularity beyond my wildest expectations’ (Siedentop,

2002, p. 417). Sport education: international perspectives illustrates the degree that this

curriculum model has been adopted at multiple levels and across many countries.

This latest addition to the growing body of literature on Sport Education follows the

recently released second edition of The complete guide to sport education (Siedentop

et al., 2011), and it is unsurprising that the editorial role has been effectively filled by

Peter Hastie. The text is also one in the series of the Routledge studies in physical

education and youth sport that has promoted international dissemination and interest.

In the preface to the book, Hastie highlights the diversity of contexts where Sport

Education has been conducted. Although it is always ambitious to provide a full and

detailed representation of contexts, I was somewhat perplexed at the dispropor-

tionate attention accorded to primary or elementary settings in comparison with

secondary (high) school examples. What does this tell us about where the model is

being enacted and/or researched and why? I hoped to read of such questions or issues

somewhere in this text so the reader would be guided beyond the informative and

towards a more critical and progressive analysis. Hopes aside, Sport education:

international perspectives is rich with examples of how this curriculum and instruction

model has been implemented, refined, monitored and evaluated. It is truly a

reflection of the extent to which the educational tentacles of Sport Education have

reached. Casting an eye down the table of contents, the reader is immediately struck

by the way Hastie has captured the diversity of countries: Australia, Korea, Ireland,

the UK, Spain, Russia, the USA and Cyprus. The text opens with a chapter by Peter

Hastie that presents an overview of the model that is situated somewhere between the

aforementioned Guide to sport education and the recent reviews of literature that have

informed the Sport Education model (Wallhead & O’Sullivan, 2005; Kinchin, 2006;

Hastie et al., 2011). Hastie presents a tight but balanced account formed around the

initial goals of the model: competency, literacy and enthusiasm. The chapter is

augmented with a detailed array of references to guide the reader to selected works.

In the summary of this introduction, Hastie links a suggested status report of these

Sport, Education and Society

Vol. 18, No. 1, January 2013, pp. 130�134

ISSN 1357-3322 (print)/ISSN 1470-1243 online/13/010130-05

three goals with the presentation of following chapters as ‘evidence of their

achievement of those goals’ (p. 10). This statement is the only conjoint to the

remainder of the text, and more attention could perhaps have been given to how this

background chapter was or should be connected to the remaining contributions.

While readers could be left to their own devices to ask pertinent questions before

reading the text, Hastie’s considerable knowledge and experience of this model is not

applied to potential questions or provocation. This would seem to be a lost

opportunity. Other than an explanation of the three-part layout, there is little

priming for the structure and purpose of the ensuing chapters, and we are left

wondering why this structure was selected and perhaps more importantly, the

reason(s) for choosing an international project at this time.

The first part entitled Contexts of adoption of Sport Education includes four chapters

that represent Eastern and Western exemplars. Chapter 2 conveys how Sport

Education could be sustained in a primary school setting amidst staff changes and

the need for generalist and specialist teachers to work as a community and utilising

their unique strengths and abilities. The execution of the model received widespread

student and parent support. O’Donovan, MacPhail and Kirk present an intriguing

account of why this curriculum initiative succeeded in a potentially delicate

environment. The chapter by Jinhee Kim represents an ambitious report on the

historical, political and educational backcloth to the adoption of Sport Education in

Korean schools. Kim highlights the contextual hurdles that Korean teachers must

overcome to allow Sport Education. Kim warns that the most challenging hurdle is

that of teacher attitude that will need to be addressed, primarily at pre-service level.

The Korean context is contrasted somewhat by the following chapter that details the

recent emergence of primary school physical education in Scotland, including the

adoption of Sport Education as a component of recent significant developments. Jess

and colleagues present some interesting qualitative data that reflect the quite rapid

change that is taking place in many parts of Scotland as a result of sound and

workable collaborative initiatives. Chapter 5 outlines the operation of Sport

Education within a Basic Instruction Program (BIP) in a North American university.

This contribution highlights the situated influences that require refinement so the

model is both workable but retains its basic integrity. The authors identify an

acknowledged need to package their BIP to offer more satisfying and educationally

sound experiences for all participants and not just the motorically able. Student

survey responses highlighted the value placed on affiliation and role allocation. Time

limitation has meant that refinement of the model has been necessary, but the initial

work with Sport Education has prompted staff attention to expansion and

development.

Part two of International perspectives is entitled Students’ and teachers’ responses to

Sport Education. It opens with another primary focus reported from Cyprus. Niki

Tsangaridou details a study conducted with Year-4 students’ experiences with Sport

Education based at a Cyprus primary school. With limited resources and no prior

student experience of Sport Education, the developmentally adapted model was

trialled by using basketball as the selected sports code. Students endorsed the model

Book review 131

and voiced their preference for it over traditional physical education. Tsangaridou

argues that this research highlights the great value that holds at primary school level.

Ashley Casey presents a double-barrelled approach to implementing Sport Educa-

tion involving teacher/researcher complemented by the student experiences. Casey

outlines how the availability of resource material prompted the idea to try something

different. In an honest and reflexive account, the chapter details the bumpy road of

implementation that preceded several years of Sport Education seasons. The delivery

of Sport Education promotes a pedagogical shift towards a more constructivist

approach to teaching. The teacher perspective is retained in Chapter 8 that is set in

Spain. De Ojeda, Luquin and Hastie present a narrative account of the implementa-

tion of Sport Education from a novice’s perspective. Diego’s story highlights his

experiences in teaching Sport Education using a Spanish game that has similarities to

Dodgeball. The authors advocate the value of narrative as a tool to detail teachers’

localised accounts of implementation, and thereby assist others with successful

implementation. Readers are then carried across the equator to the island state of

Tasmania, south of the Australian mainland. Swee Chong Ang, Dawn Penney and

Karen Swabey present a research that focused on social and emotional learning, as

part of a state-mandated learning area entitled ‘Health and Well-Being’. The authors

detail the implementation of Sport Education as a potential vehicle for social and

emotional learning. This mixed method study highlights the potential of Sport

Education as a pedagogical tool to foster social and emotional learning, but the

isolated case study invites greater attention from researchers as the results from this

study are presented within a cautionary frame. Part 2 concludes with Tristan

Wallhead’s study that highlights student motivation during a Sport Education

season. Wallhead employs achievement goal orientation self-determination theory to

explore student competence, relatedness and autonomy. His opening vignette acts as

an anchor for an empirically based argument for more research beyond the anecdotal

that addresses students’ motivational responses to Sport Education. While some

doubt has been directed at the claims of such theories (Pringle, 2000), Wallhead’s

advocacy is commendable.

The final part is Professional development for Sport Education. Mathew Curtner-

Smith details his experiences of selling Sport Education to pre-service teachers, and

what pre-requisites are required to effectively and successfully effect the sale of Sport

Education, and finally, how pre-service teachers receive the model before imple-

menting it during their field experiences. Many of the issues that arise from the

implementation process are attributed to the way in which faculty structure and

deliver pre-service courses coupled with in-service teachers’ understandings and

behaviours. Gary Kinchin complements the context of pre-service teaching by

presenting four case studies grounded in reflective inquiry and included Sport

Education as part of their Curriculum Subject Assignment (CSA). Kinchin largely

lets the student teachers speak for themselves, promoting a rich and informative

forum around their individual and collective experiences of teaching Sport

Education as well as student learning. Chapter 13 shifts to an in-service context

set in the Republic of Ireland. Ann MacPhail and Deborah Tannehill present an

132 Book review

account of what counts as effective teacher professional development for a pair of

primary generalist teachers working collaboratively to implement Sport Education.

Both teachers worked closely with the second author who adopted a resource and

leadership role. This project highlighted and endorsed previous work around

teachers’ content knowledge and subsequent delivery. However, the authors argue

for modelling as an effective means to assist generalist teachers to implement Sport

Education. The book’s final chapter highlights the international array of contribu-

tions as well as the global uptake of Sport Education. Oleg Sinelnikov details how

Sport Education was presented as a contrasting form of professional development to

the traditional lecture-based and often out-dated programmes that often operate in

Russia. Sinelnikov presents mixed method data that highlight the process and

effectiveness of this alternative form of professional development and the importance

of extended and continuous periods of time.

Collectively, these chapters present a wealth of examples that highlight the

importance of context. International perspectives offers the reader with a plethora of

examples of how the model has been implemented; the issues teachers have faced

in the implementation process; and the significance of the ever-growing literature

that is available to teachers and researchers to overcome implementation hurdles.

Upon reflection after concluding this text two thoughts dominated the evaluative

process. The first was the text seems to reaffirm that despite the richness,

internationalisation and ongoing examples of its potential, the model is seemingly

not routinely prominent in secondary contexts*and that is surely a question that is

worthy of further attention and research. The second thought reinforces my earlier

comment on how the text could have provided a more complete account with the

inclusion of a final chapter that explored why there is such a dearth of secondary

examples. Moreover, potential developments, research foci, collaborative initiatives

and acknowledged gaps could have framed a final chapter that guided and

supported the evolution of Sport Education. Perhaps most importantly, this book

highlights the versatility of the model and illustrates why Daryl Siedentop should

not be surprised at the Sport Education diaspora. This is a fine collection of

examples that are well articulated and arguably beneficial to students, teachers and

researchers.

References

Hastie, P. A., de Ojeda, D. M. & Luquin, A. C. (2011). A review of research on Sport Education:

2004 to the present, Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy, 16(2), 103�132.

Kinchin, G. D. (2006). Sport education: a review of the research, in: D. Kirk, D. Macdonald &

M. O’Sullivan (Eds) Handbook of physical education (London, Sage Publications), 596�609.

Pringle, R. (2000). Physical education, positivism, and optimistic claims from achievement goal

theorists, Quest, 52(1), 18�31.

Siedentop, D. (2002). Sport education: a retrospective, Journal of Teaching Physical Education,

21(4), 409�418.

Siedentop, D., Hastie, P. & Van der Mars, H. (2011). Complete guide to sport education (2nd edn)

(Champaign, IL, Human Kinetics).

Book review 133

Wallhead, T. & O’Sullivan, M. (2005). Sport education: physical education for the new

millennium? Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy, 10(2), 181�210.

Clive C. Pope, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

Email: cpope@waikato.ac.nz

# Clive C. Pope, 2013

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2013.750475

134 Book review