Contemporary Issues in Physical Education: Individual Reflection
A group of students from the University of Lincoln recently completed a placement/project at St. Peters St. Pauls School (SSPP). The placement was to run a 6-week volleyball lunchtime club, creating a competitive festival at the end of the placement and also trying to leave some signs of sustainability for the club to continue once the coaches had left.
During the placement, the group encountered a number of different incidents, an example would be attendance. However the main incident, which constantly occurred over the placement, was the behaviour of the students during the sessions. This left the group with some concerns on how to act, as the misbehaviours were causing distractions and danger to the other students and the session as a whole. Rose and Gallup (2007) discuss how recent polls show the trouble teachers are having managing behaviour in schools, and in some cases, the poor behaviour has forced some teachers to resign. It was therefore important for the group to ensure that the behaviour of the participants was managed efficiently, safely and professionally at all times. ‘Physical educators often face even greater challenges because of the larger number of students in each class.’ (Lavay, French and Henderson; 2007) When physical educators show low levels of anxiety, and the appropriate amount of confidence, it is found that this has helped provide better quality management of behaviour. (Bowers, 2009)
A problem the group had was that the volley club ran during the schools lunchtime break. This meant that strict sessions or strict behaviour management from the coaches could deter students from wanting to attend, which was discussed in a consultation with the teacher before the club began. Attendance was vital for the club to be successful as attendance was voluntary for the students therefore a good environment had to be created which would also help to attract students to come and take part in the club being offered. Mageau & Vallerand (2003) discuss how creating a supportive environment can allow participants to develop input and decision making skills. Creating this environment, along with the style of coaching from the coaches helped the students to learn and develop the required skills to play volleyball. The sessions ran in an open manner, allowing plenty of game time for the pupils who participated, and also in teams of favoured choice, but both of these factors helped lead to the misbehaviour which the group experienced. Rink (1998) suggests that to maintain an environment which supports both teachers and students, there must be high levels of cooperation between both parties. This also helps to engage students in the learning process.
The fact that the coaches allowed the pupils to pick teams allowed the teams to be made of friendship groups. This is where the majority of the misbehaviour came from. Very often there would be erratic and incorrect shots purposely played which not only disturbs the surrounding games but also become dangerous. If the volleyball is kicked or punched it travels at a more extreme force than normal, and when the sports hall is full with a number of different games taking part next to each other, a stray ball could hit any of the other pupils who are only concentrating at the game in hand. This leads to the risk of pupils being hit with the ball without any knowledge, which is even more dangerous.
Also on occasions during the six week placement, some pupils who turned up to play slightly late didn’t have the opportunity to arrange a team, therefore leaving the coach with the job to find a team for the pupil. When this happened, some pupils were heard and seen to treat the new member of the team wrongly, making them feel unwelcome and upset, which sometimes resulted in the pupil not wanting to join in at all anymore. This was deemed unfair and unacceptable by all the coaches, and on any occasion this was the case, those pupils who were seen to be upsetting or making another pupil feel in that way was asked to leave the session.
Due to the dangerous nature of the misbehaviour, it sometimes led to the coaches having to stop the whole session, disturbing everyone, not just the pupils who are misbehaving. This then created a stop start flow to the session, and with only 40 minutes to do the session, it prevents any coaching from happening, but more importantly stops the playing time which leads to less time to develop skills for the participants. ‘Disruptions not only disturb the teacher but also affect other pupils in class’. (Cothran, Kulinna, and Garrahy 2009) The quote helps prove why it was important for the group to deal with any misbehaviour quickly and professionally to prevent a loss of control of the session.
In regards to the coaches, when the group misbehaved, it then makes it hard for the coaches to concentrate on achieving the goals set out for the session. Because although the sessions were game based and the pupils were there to enjoy rather than learn, it was important to still teach the participants the skills for the game. The coaches had to deal with the misbehaviour rather than teaching new skills and explaining the rules. Hernandez (1994) explains how the rules, materials and technical-tactical elements help to identify the internal logic of any sport, making development of skills easier. However, misbehaviour results in the other participants not receiving the time to develop skills and the knowledge of rules as much as the group would like. As certain coaches dealt with the pupils who misbehaved, it isolated the rest of the coaches to take control of the remainder of the group. The pupils vastly outnumbered the coaches which in some cases led to more misbehaviour.
However, despite the misbehaviour the group had to deal with, as a group certain management techniques were adopted to deter the poor behaviour if it appeared in the session. Each coach uses the management technique which is most appropriate, and applies that management in a personal style.
In the first session, the group established the only rule that was being set. The rule was simply: ‘When a coach is speaking, you’re listening’. The group understood this ruling and throughout the placement, whenever a coach was explaining anything, the pupils showed the respect to listen. The rule, although a simple one, was an important rule throughout the whole six week placement for a number of reasons. Firstly, the school as a whole had not previously studied volleyball, leaving the majority of students who turned up without any knowledge on the correct techniques or rules. The rule which the group created came in to good use when things such as the rules or techniques needed to be explained. Any students who didn’t listen or pay attention during the explanations would be unable to develop any new skill learned and therefore prevented the session from progressing. Secondly, the sports hall at SSPP was not overly big, and when there was high numbers of participants, space was restricted. So when the coaches called out for the session to stop it was extremely important that every participant stopped to prevent any danger towards each other.
With regards to the misbehaviours discovered by the group, some coaches adopted a two strike rule. This rule gave the participants to chances, otherwise the misbehaving participant would be asked to leave the session. This was seen as the best form of punishment and deterrent as all the pupils that were involved in the session, obviously wanted to be involved. By endangering the privilege of being able to play in the club worked and helped retain the misbehaviour. When it comes to the teams that the pupils arranged, the coaches ran a similar ruling. If the team was caught misbehaving twice, the team would be disbanded and each player was put in to another team. Or if a disbanded team left the group with uneven team numbers, a new team was created through the coach’s discretion separating the misbehaving members of the group.
Another way some coaches dealt with any misbehaviour during a session was by putting any misbehaving participant on a time out. This prevented the pupil from playing for the amount of time the coach decided, leaving a team with unfair numbers. The logic behind a time out is that, once the player realised the team will struggle while a member of the team is on a time out, being on a time out didn’t just affect the misbehaving player but also the team. This created the barricade for misbehaviour because of the competitive element that developed throughout the six weeks. This competitive edge that developed helped managing behaviour easier for the coaches, as none of the pupils wanted to lose and all of the pupils were aware of the time out system, behaviour improved for the majority of the group.
With regards to preventing behaviour in the future, it would be worthwhile for the group to have an organised team structure before the club begins. Researching if the school has a house structure where pupils are separated in to different house groups. Then when the club starts, it is easy to organise teams and this could also prevent any misbehaviour. This could encourage more of competition in to the club, leaving all the participants wanting to win, rather than seeing the club as an opportunity to behave poorly. Organising teams could also prevent the friendship based teams which led to the majority of misbehaviour during the placement at SSPP.
It may also be beneficial, when coaching where attendance is vital, instead of asking misbehaving pupils to leave the session, give them sort type of responsibility. The responsibility can be scorekeeper or official because then, although the pupil is not allowed the privilege to play, the pupil is still involved in the session and by acting as the official or scorekeeper, developing knowledge on the game. By also keeping the pupil in the session, learning new skills is still available by watching the session, despite the pupil not being allowed in.
Also, especially in cases similar to this placement, where the placement ends with a festival it could be used as a deterrent for bad behaviour. By making the pupils involved aware that there is going to be a competitive festival to close the placement, it can also be used to ensure good behaviour in the weeks leading up to this. If pupils begin to behave it would then be easy to say that particular pupil has lost the opportunity to play in the festival. This should then rebound the misbehaving pupil in to behaving correctly while still enjoying volleyball and then regain the opportunity to compete in the festival.
Despite the instances of misbehaviour, throughout the placement, the group managed behaviour well throughout the placement and created good, intuitive ideas to do so. By applying the recommendations for future it should allow the group to continue to manage behaviour well, potentially increasing the management skills.
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