Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T13:33:56.872Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sport, Educational Engagement and Positive Youth Development: Reflections of Aboriginal Former Youth Sports Participants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2016

Nicole Fitch ,
Fadi Ma'ayah ,
Craig Harms  and
Andrew Guilfoyle
Nicole Fitch*
Affiliation:
School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA 6065, Australia
Fadi Ma'ayah
Affiliation:
School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA 6065, Australia
Craig Harms
Affiliation:
School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA 6065, Australia
Andrew Guilfoyle
Affiliation:
School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA 6065, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Nicole Fitch, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA 6065, Australia. Email: n.fitch@ecu.edu.au.
Get access

Abstract

Participation in sport during high school has been linked with a range of educational and developmental benefits. However, there is limited research investigating the benefits of participation in sport from the perspective of Aboriginal former youth sports participants. The purpose of the current research was to investigate how participation in sports impacted on the educational engagement, aspirations and development of Aboriginal former youth sports participants. Interpretive phenomenological analysis of semistructured interviews with six participants was conducted. Analysis was conducted utilising the Positive Youth Development asset framework. Participants reported a positive influence for their participation in youth sport on key education related assets including, achievement motivation, school engagement and relationships with teachers. Participants also reflected upon the role of participation in youth sports in the development of empowerment and positive identity assets. For these participants, involvement in youth sport had clear educational and developmental benefits. It is concluded that youth sports participation is one developmental context with the potential to have a positive influence on the educational and developmental trajectory of Aboriginal youth.

Keywords

positive youth developmentsportAboriginal and Torres Strait Islandereducation
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 46 , Issue 1 , August 2017 , pp. 23 - 33
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, M., Squire, C., & Tamboukou, M. (2008). Doing narrative research. Los Angeles: SAGE.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2005). The Western Australian Aboriginal child health survey. Retrieved from http://www.creahw.org.au/kulunga-research-network/waachs/ Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2008). 4714.0 – National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social survey. Retrieved from http:/www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4714.02008? Google Scholar
Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). (2011). Evaluation of the sporting chance program. DEEWR.Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIWH). (2011). The health and welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, an overview 2011. Catalogue No. IHW 42. Canberra: AIHW.Google Scholar
Benson, P. (1997). All kids are our kids: What communities must do to raise caring and responsible children and adolescents. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Bessarab, D., & Ng'andu, B. (2010). Yarning about yarning as a legitimate method in Indigenous research. International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies, 3 (1), 37– 50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broh, B.A. (2002). Linking extracurricular programming to academic achievement: Who benefits and why? Sociology of Education, 75 (1), 69–95.Google Scholar
Camiré, M., Trudel, P., & Forneris, T. (2009). High school athletes’ perspectives on support, communication, negotiation and life skill development. Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise, 1 (1), 72–88. doi: 10.1080/19398440802673275.Google Scholar
Creswell, J.W., & Miller, D.L. (2000). Determining validity in qualitative inquiry. Theory into Practice, 39 (3), 124–130. doi: 10.1207/s15430421tip3903_2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damon, W. (2004). What is positive youth development? Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 591 (1), 13–24. doi: 10.1177/0002716203260092.Google Scholar
De Bortoli, L.J., Thomson, S., & Australian Council for Educational Research. (2010). Contextual factors that influence the achievement of Australia's indigenous students: Results from PISA 2000-2006. Camberwell, Vic: Australian Council for Educational Research.Google Scholar
DinanThompson, M., Sellwood, J., & Carless, F. (2008). A kickstart to life: Australian football league as a medium for promoting life skills in Cape York Indigenous communities. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 37 (1), 152–164.Google Scholar
Duke, A. (2014). A different voice: Examining positive youth development in African American girls through youth participatory action research. Doctoral dissertation. Retrieved from EBSCO host psyh database. (Accession No. 2014-99091-277).Google Scholar
Eccles, J.S., & Barber, B.L. (1999). Student council, volunteering, basketball, or marching band: What kind of extracurricular involvement matters? Journal of Adolescent Research, 14 (1), 10–43. doi: 10.1177/0743558499141003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eime, R.M., Young, J.A., Harvey, J.T., Charity, M.J., & Payne, W.R. (2013). A systematic review of the psychological and social benefits of participation in sport for children and adolescents: Informing development of a conceptual model of health through sport. The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 10 (1), 98–98. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-10-98.Google Scholar
Fraser-Thomas, J.L., Côté, J., & Deakin, J. (2005). Youth sport programs: An avenue to foster positive youth development. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 10 (1), 19–40. doi: 10.1080/1740898042000334890.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gergen, K.J. (1985). The social constructionist movement in modern psychology. American Psychologist, 40 (3), 266–275. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.40.3.266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayman, R., Polman, R., & Taylor, J. (2012). The validity of retrospective recall in assessing practice regimes in golf. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 10 (4), 329. doi: 10.1080/1612197X.2012.705511.Google Scholar
Heath, M. (2011). Dealing with the big picture in Australia. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 89 (10), 701–776. Google ScholarPubMed
Holt, N.L., Tink, L.N., Mandigo, J.L., & Fox, K.R. (2008). Do youth learn life skills through their involvement in high school sport? A case study. Canadian Journal of Education/Revue Canadienne De l'éducation, 31 (2), 281–304. doi: 10.2307/20466702.Google Scholar
Husserl, E. (1971). “Phenomenology” Edmund Husserl's article for the encyclopedia britannica (1927): New complete translation by Richard E. Palmer. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, 2 (2), 77–99. doi: 10.1080/00071773.1971.11006182.Google Scholar
Jones, G.J., Edwards, M.B., Bocarro, J.N., Bunds, K.S., & Smith, J.W. (2016). An integrative review of sport-based youth development literature. Sport in Society, 20, 1–19. doi: 10.1080/17430437.2015.1124569.Google Scholar
Keddie, A., Gowlett, C., Mills, M., Monk, S., & Renshaw, P. (2013). Beyond culturalism: Addressing issues of Indigenous disadvantage through schooling. The Australian Educational Researcher, 40 (1), 91–108. doi: 10.1007/s13384-012-0080-x.Google Scholar
Larson, R.W. (2000). Toward a psychology of positive youth development. American Psychologist, 55 (1), 170–183. doi: 10.1037/0003-066x.55.1.170.Google Scholar
Mahoney, J.L., Eccles, J.S., & Larson, R.W. (2004). Processes of adjustment in organized out-of-school activities: Opportunities and risks. New Directions for Youth Development, 2004 (101), 115–144. doi: 10.1002/yd.74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, H.W., & Kleitman, S. (2003). School athletic participation: Mostly gain with little pain. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 25 (2), 205.Google Scholar
Merkel, D.L. (2013). Youth sport: Positive and negative impact on young athletes. Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine, 4, 151. doi: 10.2147/OAJSM.S33556.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Petitpas, A.J., Cornelius, A.E., Van Raalte, J.L., & Jones, J. (2005). A framework for planning youth sport programs that foster psychosocial development. The Sport Psychologist, 19 (1), 63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Purdie, N., & Buckley, S. (2010). School attendance and retention of Indigenous Australian students. Closing the Gap Clearinghouse, Australian Government.Google Scholar
Reeve, R., & Bradford, W. (2014). Aboriginal disadvantage in major cities of New South Wales: Evidence for holistic policy approaches. Australian Economic Review, 47 (2), 199–217. doi: 10.1111/1467-8462.12061.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rix, E.F., Barclay, L., & Wilson, S. (2014). Can a white nurse get it? ‘Reflexive practice’ and the non-Indigenous clinician/researcher working with Aboriginal people. Rural and Remote Health, 14 (2), 2679.Google Scholar
Schwab, R.G. (1999). Why only one in three? The complex reasons for low Indigenous school retention. Research monograph no. 16. Canberra: Center for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, The Australian National University.Google Scholar
Smith, J.A., Larkin, M., & Flowers, P. (2008). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. London: SAGE.Google Scholar
Standing, M. (2009). A new critical framework for applying hermeneutic phenomenology. Nurse Researcher, 16 (4), 20.Google Scholar
Struthers, R., & Peden-McAlpine, C. (2005). Phenomenological research among Canadian and United States Indigenous populations: Oral tradition and quintessence of time. Qualitative Health Research, 15 (9), 1264–1276. doi: 10.1177/1049732305281329.Google Scholar