Exploring the pedagogical possibilities of Indigenous sport-for-development programmes using a socio-personal approach

Abstract

This paper considers the pedagogical properties and subsequent impact of sport-fordevelopment programs across a variety of sites in Australia. Moreover, this research adopts a socio-personal account of learning in an attempt to examine the contributions of the social and physical worlds related to surfing programs as well as the individuals' role in construing and constructing meaning through participation in these worlds. The major learning stories that emerged from this research were in relation to connections with and learning from the ocean, program providers, Indigenous peers and Indigenous community members. More specifically, learning reportedly related to spiritual (re)connection with land and ocean, the (re)development of Indigenous and surf-specific cultural knowledge, and the (re)establishment of familial and community bonds. While these stories are significant in their own right, the learning affordances present in these programs are worthy of further attention. Indeed, the contributions of the physical and social environments at each site had important implications for the overall pedagogical properties of the programs. For example, the physical conditions of the surf as well as the features of the coastal landscapes served to shape the activities and interactions of individuals within the programs. In a similar fashion, the contributions of program leaders impacted directly on the nature and direction of learning through the organisation and support of the social environment as did the personal agency of the individual learners. Through a socio-personal approach it is possible to consider the contributions of the social and physical world, how individuals engage, construe, construct and reconcile their experiences and the relations between all of these components when learning in sport-for-development settings.

A Comparison of Indigenous Sport for Development Policy Directives in Canada and Australia

“…Coalter (2010) identified cases in which distinctions between previous colonial iterations of sport used for development are blurred with the current SFD "movement. " Continuity in colonial sport practices is clearly problematic, but particularly in view of the number of SFD programs designed for Indigenous peoples that are, in part, tied to reconciliation (e.g., Rynne 2016). The Canadian government's promotion of Indigenous youth "identity-building" through Right to Play, as opposed to through an Aboriginal-led organization, is one such example in which reconciliation efforts through SFD are potentially problematic.…”

“…Australia is one example of a developed country with an increasing domestic SFD presence, particularly in Indigenous communities; this includes an increasing presence of sport development programs touting outcomes similar to those of SFD programs. Rynne (2016), for example, explored the pedagogical properties of local surfing SFD programs present in a variety of Indigenous communities in Australia; these programs "sought to connect specifically with issues related to reconciliation, education, aboriginal policy studies 32 cultural cohesion and healthy lifestyles" (Rynne 2016, 607). In addition to SFD programs designed for Indigenous peoples living in Australia, Rosso, McGrath, Immink, and May (2016) highlighted SFD's potential utility in building connections between Australian higher education institutions and communities.…”

Sport as a cultural offset in Aboriginal Australia?

“…The purpose of using sport then, as now, was to develop character, fair play, teamwork, work discipline and other socially approved characteristics within their target populations (Mullins 1983;Van Eekeren, Horst, and Fictorie 2013). During the 19th and early 20th centuries, sport was viewed as a means of social, physical but also moral development, and an educational tool in facilitating change and character building (Atalay 2006;Levermore and Beacom 2009;Rynne 2016;Van Eekeren, Horst, and Fictorie 2013). These elements are often foundational and highly perceptible in modern SfD incarnations.…”

“…Darnell (2007, 561) noted that the benevolent training mission of SfD volunteers to empower and assist is, to some extent, based upon a requirement to establish 'a dichotomy between the empowered and disempowered, the vocal and the silent, the "knowers" and the "known"'. Fuelling this concern for the 'other' are the modern neoliberal philosophies and values woven into SfD programme design such that participants (often marginalized young people) are framed as problems, with limited focus on the social determinants that have and continue to impact on those individuals and their communities (Coakley 2011;Dean 1994Dean , 2014Dean , 2015Rose 2017;Rossi and Jeanes 2016;Rynne 2016).…”

Surfing Scientific Output Indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus (1967-2017)

“…Surfing expansion and its different perspectives have also triggered scholars' interest for studying its several dimensions. Recently, scholars have approached surfing from sociology (GUIBERT; ARAB, 2017; LISAHUNTER, 2018), history (BOOTH, 2016;ESPARZA, 2016), pedagogy (BRASIL et al, 2016;RYNNE, 2016) or engineering (NESSLER; FRAZEE; NEWCOMER, 2018; SAKELLARIOU; RANA; JENKINS, 2017), to name a few. Some reviews were also carried out for analyzing the surfing literature for coastal management (SCARFE; HEALY; RENNIE, 2009), discovering the genesis of a new research topic such as surf tourism (MARTIN; ASSENOV, 2012), studying surfer's myelopathy disease (FREEDMAN et al, 2016) and summarizing the different protocols for measuring performance (FARLEY; ABBISS; SHEPPARD, 2017).…”