The Coach as a Contributor to the Socio-moral Context: A Literature Review

Abstract

This purposeful review aimed at examining literature dealing with the role of the coach as a contributor to the socio-moral context. We carried out inductive analysis of the relevant literature through the constant comparison technique to synthesize the results of the reviewed studies and to gain insights into the characteristics of the studies.Thirty-four studies were included. Results suggest that coaches are main contributors to the socio-moral context and as such, they play an important role in their athletes' moral development. The coach contributes to the athlete's moral development through four main strategies: (1) modeling; (2) the creation of a socio-moral environment/context; (3) teaching moral skills and values; and (4) thorough discussion with the athletes about moral issues. In general, coaches promoted positive moral behaviour during training; however, sometimes, the coaches transmitted a different message to the athlete. A major implication of the purposeful review is that in order to fully assume their moral responsibilities, coaches have to be sensitized about the moral role they play and need to be aware of the impact their moral attitudes and behaviours have on the athletes.

The association between the years and modes of sports training and levels of moral competence across eleven sports

“…Little is known about the scale of influence their (coaches/PE teachers) own level of moral competence has on their trainees and whether and how this might relate to the actual training process. In yet another review Peláez et al [6] findings suggest that modelling, creation of a socio-moral context, teaching moral skills and values, and discussions with young athletes are the main strategies that turn out to be the most effectively used by sport coaches in promoting positive moral behaviour, therefore coaches have to be sensitized about the moral role they play and be aware of potential (positive/negative) impact of their conduct and attitudes.…”