FE sports lecturer professionalism: 'Freedom To Play, Or 'Do As I Say?' Narrative accounts of further education (FE) sports lecturer professionalism from FE institutions in the South West Of England

Bacon, Jacob

Abstract

Abstract

The primary aim of this research was to investigate how Further Education (FE) Sports Lecturers defined their sense of professionalism with reference to the jobs they did and the environments in which they worked. Individual narratives were generated for the academic years 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17 for five Sports Lecturers from FE institutions in the South West of England. Eight Sports Lecturers from four different FE institutions took part in the research through completing a Survey Monkey online questionnaire and five of these lecturers from two different FE institutions undertook a series of semi-structured qualitative interviews to answer the research questions. Individual narratives were constructed, analysed and discussed. Findings showed that there remained high levels of performativity and accountability in FE institutions and these caused a great deal of pressure and stress for the Sports Lecturers. There were similarities to school-based research where the Sports Lecturers experienced significant gaps between what they were teaching and what they perceived society needed. The Sports Lecturers often had to adapt their methods of delivery to work effectively in their contexts and consequently, they mainly saw their professionalism as an externally imposed, articulated perception of what lay within the parameters of their profession’s collective remit and responsibilities. This research also uncovered a new area of research entitled ‘competitive mediation’ which reflected how the professional practice of the Sports Lecturers was heavily influenced by structure and compliance, but they operated in ways which matched their own values and therefore they were mediating these tensions. It was found that the Sports Lecturers who had played competitive sport, felt that their sporting experiences helped them to develop skills which complemented their professional practice in their FE environments. However, the Sports Lecturers narrowed their curriculum delivery and they taught to the test to achieve good results which they then were happy to compare with their colleagues. These methods of delivery were seen to be a negative consequence of the structures which were determining their practice. Consequently, this research found that the FE sector might be moving further away from proposed democratic models of education and it was predicted that this would be compounded in the future with recent political developments.

Word Count: 60464

Citation

Bacon, J. FE sports lecturer professionalism: 'Freedom To Play, Or 'Do As I Say?' Narrative accounts of further education (FE) sports lecturer professionalism from FE institutions in the South West Of England. (Thesis). University of the West of England. Retrieved from https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/852061

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 6, 2019
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/852061
• Award Date: Feb 20, 2019