Week 11 readings

Question 1

Allen (2018) - what was the purpose of the study?

Answer 1

To examine the life skill learning and transfer experiences of 20 male participants (12–13 years of age) in a school context.

Question 2

Allen (2018) - summarise the methods

Answer 2

The Transfer-Ability Programme (TAP) delivered in a state funded secondary school in London

Participants attended the programme once weekly, for one academic year.

Sought to explicitly teach male participants life skills through sporting activities and facilitate transfer opportunities.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted at the end of the programme

Question 3

Allen (2018) - summarise the results

Answer 3

Use of explicit strategies and group discussions aid the learning and transfer of life skills.

School-based, life skills programmes of a similar nature should consider increasing participant autonomy during the programme development stage

Partnerships across the whole school environment also need to be evident in order to provide frequent opportunities for skill transfer.

Question 4

Allen (2015) - what does Camiré et al (2012) state about sport and life skills?

Answer 4

Previous research postulates that sport can be used as a vehicle to develop and transfer life skills. Sport is seen as a valued social activity that most youths will engage with at some point.

Question 5

Allen (2015) - summarise the transfer-ability programme (TAP)

Answer 5

Multi-faceted intervention designed to facilitate the acquisition and transfer of life skills through a range of sports.

It was hoped that offering a range of sports would promote engagement.

E.g. American football used to teach teamwork, martial arts used to teach discipline, goalball was used to teach communication, rock climbing used to teach concentration, boxing used to teach goal setting and football used to teach positive self-talk.

The programme provided the participants with structured practice, information on each life-skill, encouragement, motivational support and facilitated focus groups.

Question 6

Allen (2015) - what was the purpose of the paper?

Answer 6

To examine the enablers and barriers that may influence life skill transfer from the sports hall into the classroom.

Question 7

Allen (2015) - summarise the methods

Answer 7

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 (12–13year old) male students from a secondary school in London, who had been involved in TAP for one academic year.

Question 8

Allen (2015) - summarise the results

Answer 8

Five higher order themes (these themes are collectively known as the SPORT model) were identified;  
Support from peers
Pride
Opportunities 
Rewards 
Transfer experience

Question 9

Allen (2015) - SPORT model - support from peers

Answer 9

An important enabler in promoting life skill transfer from the sports hall to the classroom - appears the boys found their peer’s testaments of skill transfer to be more valuable in facilitating transfer than the coaches

Question 10

Allen (2015) - SPORT model - pride

Answer 10

The boys seemed particularly proud and pleased by the recognition they received from their parents and this seemed to be a powerful enabler and reaffirmed to them the importance of continued transfer.

Question 11

Allen (2015) - SPORT model - opportunities

Answer 11

All of the participants highlighted learning opportunities they had experienced during TAP and discussed how this was an important enabler in facilitating transfer.

The most frequently mentioned barrier was the lack of opportunities to use goal setting and teamwork outside of the sports hall.

Question 12

Allen (2015) - SPORT model - rewards

Answer 12

The participants gaining intrinsic rewards and receiving extrinsic rewards appeared to be important facilitators of TAP.

The findings suggest that as long as the individual feels they are learning a new skill, value the use of the taught skills and feel they are gaining some form of intrinsic rewards within the classroom, they will stay engaged in the programme.

Question 13

Allen (2015) - SPORT model - transfer experience

Answer 13

Many of the participants highlighted transfer experience as an enabler for future life skill transfer.

Once the participants had successfully transferred one skill into a different academic environment, they were then motivated to transfer skills more regularly.

The boys felt that participating in TAP had helped facilitate improvements in the classroom, particularly with their ability to complete academic work.

Question 14

Allen (2015) - what were some of the highlighted transfer barriers?

Answer 14

Boring lessons

Negative teacher attitudes

Question 15

Allen (2015) - what were some limitations of the study?

Answer 15

Small sample size

Findings come from retrospective recalls of the programme and may not be a true representation of enablers and barriers.

The participants in TAP were younger than previous studies on life skill transfer.

Question 16

Bean (2018) - summarise the implicit/explicit continuum of life skills development and transfer

Answer 16

The inherent premise of the continuum is that life skills development and transfer are optimized (Bean & Forneris, 2016)

The continuum is designed to assist coaches in establishing developmentally sound philosophical principles

Life skills development and transfer are optimized as coaches become more explicit in their approach.

Question 17

Bean (2018) - what are the six levels of the continuum?

Answer 17

Structuring the sport context
Facilitating a positive climate
Discussing life skills 
Practicing life skills 
Discussing transfer 
Practicing transfer

Question 18

Bean (2018) - the implicit/explicit continuum of life skills development and transfer - summarise structuring the sport context

Answer 18

Recognise the inherent demands of the sport

Set rules

Design the programme, creating an enriching and intrinsically motivating environment

Question 19

Bean (2018) - the implicit/explicit continuum of life skills development and transfer - summarise facilitating a positive climate

Answer 19

Model positive behaviours for athletes

Foster positive relationships

Support efficacy and mattering

Take advantage of naturally-occurring teaching moments

Question 20

Bean (2018) - the implicit/explicit continuum of life skills development and transfer - summarise discussing life skills

Answer 20

Define life skills

Talk about life skills and their importance

Enhance confidence for life skills development

Enable reflection on life skills talks

Question 21

Bean (2018) - the implicit/explicit continuum of life skills development and transfer - summarise practicing life skills

Answer 21

Intentionally create opportunity to practice life skills in sport

Enable reflection on life skill application in sport

Question 22

Bean (2018) - the implicit/explicit continuum of life skills development and transfer - summarise discussing transfer

Answer 22

Talk about transfer and its importance

Increase awareness of transfer opportunities

Enhance confidence for transfer

Enable reflection on transfer talks

Question 23

Bean (2018) - the implicit/explicit continuum of life skills development and transfer - summarise practicing transfer

Answer 23

Forge links with parents, teachers and community members

Provide opportunities to apply life skills beyond sport

Enable reflection of life skill application beyond sport

Question 24

Cronin (2018) - in the study, what key life skills did students perceive they were developing through PE?

Answer 24

teamwork, goal setting, time management, emotional skills, interpersonal communication, social skills, leadership, and problem-solving and decision-making.

Question 25

Cronin (2018) - what were the key conclusions to be drawn from the study?

Answer 25

Perceived teacher autonomy support, along with total life skills development, is related to participants’ psychological well-being.

PE teachers should integrate autonomy supportive behaviours into their teaching

Question 26

Mossman (2019) - research has found three important parental behaviours within sport, what are these? (Lee & MacLean, 1997).

Answer 26

praise and understanding
directive behaviour
pressure

Question 27

Mossman (2019) - what is parental praise and understanding?

Answer 27

Parental encouragement characterized by children’s perception of parental empathy displayed towards their sporting activity, promoting an increase of players’ enjoyment of and motivation for sport

The key contributor to the outcome variables, making the largest unique contribution to teamwork, goal setting, leadership, and total life skills

Question 28

Mossman (2019) - what is parental directive behaviour?

Answer 28

Largely involves one-way communication, where a person tells another how or why to do something and closely monitors that person’s performance of the task

Made the largest unique contribution to emotional skills, and problem solving and decision making

Question 29

Mossman (2019) - what is parental pressure?

Answer 29

Behaviours designed to prompt athlete responses and outcomes that are important to the parent (O’Rourke et al., 2011)

Pressure made the largest unique contribution to participants’ time management and social skills

Question 30

Mossman (2019) - what were some limitations of the study?

Answer 30

Low internal consistency reliability scores for the parental behaviour subscales, means that some findings must be interpreted with caution.

There was a concern with regards to social desirability and the honesty of responses.

The findings from this study are limited to the sport of soccer and predominantly male players.