To what extent is main stream sport an effective vehicle for contemporary youth work?

by gemmapickin (student)

To what extent is main stream sport an effective vehicle for contemporary youth work? Are other forms of active leisure likely to be more or less effective in this context? And why may they be so in the context of the wider role of ‘working with Youth’?

Miles (2000) believes that it is not possible to generalise what constitutes of ‘youth’, as it is too complex a term. Within pre-industrial European Society, there was no clear distinction between childhood and other pre-adult phases of life (Griffin, 1993). Gillis (1974) states that staged of youth and adulthood were defined primarily in relation to how dependant individuals were on the family of origin. During this time, children were amongst adults in everyday life, which resulted in them naturally being involved in activities such as alcohol consumption and gambling; activities that are now considered inappropriate for an individual of such age (Muncie, 2004).
Social scientists have portrayed young people as risk-taking trouble makers (Miles, 2000). Pearson (1983, 1993-4) and Humphries (1994) insist that young people being delinquent and particularly troublesome is nothing new. Muncie (2004, pg. 52) states that a recurring complaint is that the behaviour of people is worse than ‘20 or 30 years ago’ or ‘in my day’ or ‘before the war’. He also states periods in time in which young people have been described as the troublesome party; truancy and street crime in the 2000s, street gangs in the 1890s and street Arab’s in the 1830s, and that youth delinquency is nothing new.

Hall (1904) carried out a study on adolescence which has been described an age period has been one of ‘storm and stress’, or a time of normative development disturbance (Freud, 1969). Characteristics of this include the youth being described as ‘broken’ or in danger of becoming broken (Benson, Scales, Hamilton, & Sesma, 2006). Hall’s theory believed that adolescence was a period in evolution when humans changed from being beasts to being civilised, therefore overcoming one’s beast like impulses.

Sport has been known to teach children moral behaviours from engaging with others, watching the behaviour of others and/or being taught ethical behaviour (Gats & Messner, 2002). This approach to contemporary youth work is known as the ‘Youth Worker Approach’. Coalter and Taylor (2000) concluded that sport programmes which adopt this approach tend to be more effective because they created added value through sports practices, such as developing extensive social relationships. A good youth worker is perceived as one who empowers and protects when necessary, but also shows appreciation and supports (De Winter & Noom, 2003).

A programme that uses the youth worker approach which is widely known is the Princes Trust. The Princes Trust was founded in 1976 by the Prince of Wales after completing his duty in the royal navy. The trust runs support programmes to give young people practical and financial support need it most.

The aim of the programmes is to encourage young people to take on responsibility themselves – ‘helping them build the life they choose rather than the one they have been given’ (Princes Trust, 2010).
One programme that exists in the South West is ‘Get Started with Multi-sports.’ This programme gave the opportunity for young people to take part in a variety of sports to complete a qualification. Following this, a workshop was provided for them which included action planning, CV writing and job searching. This allowed young people to make the decision for themselves, and empower them to take control of their futures (Get Started, 2010).

Bailey (2005) believed the youth worker approach has also claimed to have ‘pro social’ outcomes. These are claims that sport is able to develop personal qualities, such as teamwork, fair play and ‘character’. These are qualities described by Holt (2008) that help an individual contribute to society and are able to operate better within it.

However some researchers have claimed that the youth worker approach is something of a vague ideology (De Bic, 2010). Theeboom et al (1993) believes youth workers lack the specific technical and organisational skills that are required in running sports activities and schemes.

The ...

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The Positive Youth Development perspective was originally found in the work of psychologists (Gottlieb 1997; Schneirla 1957) and biologists. Their research had included the study of the developmental processes in adolescence. Within literature by Eccles & Gootman (2002), ‘The Five Cs’ - - Competence, Confidence, Connection, Character and Caring – were hypothesized as ways of conceptualizing positive youth development. The 5 Cs were believed to be linked to the positive outcomes of youth development programs (Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2003a).

These youth development programmes include groups such as Scouts and Brownies. Scouts groups can be found nation-wide, and deliver a balanced programme of opportunities to young people that help them develop physically, intellectually, socially and spiritually; they call this ‘everyday adventure’ (Scouts.org, 2011). Public and Corporate Economic Consultants (PACEC) produced a report in 2011 which showed results that taking part in scouts made a huge difference to lives of their members and across the wider community.
According to the report, 88% of young people that took part that year said that scouting helped improve their key skills, including social skills, team work ability, leadership ability and confidence – skills that they admitted helped them in school and within employment. Wider community organisations also stated during the report that if Scouting was on a job applicants CV it would be a positive influence on their appointment. (PACEC, 2011).

Some researchers have found however that the model of the 5 Cs was not perfect. Lerner et al. (2005) there was evidence of shared variance between the current Cs that were not accounted for by the model. With this in mind, the structure of the current model could be adapted so that there are fewer Cs.

Zarrett, Fay, Li, Carrano, Phelps & Lerner (2009) believe that combining sport and youth development programmes provide the best results with regards to the growth and development of a young person. Young people that spend more than three or more hours a week participating in sports, or organisations at school or within the community was a developmental asset that was most linked to positive thriving outcomes within adolescents (Scales et al., 2000).

Researchers have claimed that physical education promotes sociomoral development (Miller et al, 1997) and the discipline within physical education has more to offer other areas of the curriculum. Many activities have been particularly effect at aiding the social development of young people, such as physical fitness programmes (Collingwood, 1997) and outdoor and adventure activities (Priest & Gass, 1997). However Gatz et al (2002) believes that sport is an institution which is characterised by unequal access competitiveness and commercialisation. Researchers have claimed that sport is used as a ‘hook’ which young people that are considered ‘at-risk’ reach out to because of its attractiveness and its value (Witt and Crompton, 1996). Other researchers have claimed however that sport in itself is not enough (Pitter and Andrews, 1997), and that physical activities can be used as a catalyst for change, therefore sport is just an effective means to an end.

Outdoor education has been has been valued as an aspect of good practice by Ofsted. (September, 2004). Young people that learn most effectively through non-formal learning environment are those who are disengaged and vulnerable (Sanders & Hendry, 1997). This has most widely been recognised within a report by the Tomlinson Working Group Report which places ‘wider activities’ as an entitlement to all. Wider activities are described as those ‘which do not take place in a formal classroom setting, including community work, sports and arts, and personal awards such as Duke of Edinburgh.’ (Social Exclusion Unit, 1999)

The cost of these types of activities however can be of an extremity and make it difficult for some young people to take part. Sport has been described as comparatively well-funded, but outdoor sports has no strategic or government funding (Wren, 1999). The cost of outdoor education is also higher with commercial companies, such as Time Outdoors, compared to leaders which are teachers, youth workers or volunteers.

‘Sport for Peace’ is also a program that intended to improve the physical education context for girls. This is done by moving away from the traditional form of physical activity where boys would normally dominate (Ennis, 1999). The programme focuses on equity, inclusion, and conflict negotiation and also giving them a sense of self and social responsibility.
Halas (2002) believes that physical education teachers need to be more flexible in the way they conduct their physical education curriculum, because traditional contexts of physical education can present feelings of fear and failure within a young person. They can also experience watching destructive relationships between others; therefore they may adopt and learn those irresponsible behaviours for themselves.
Long and Sanderson (2001) have stated using sport and leisure to tackle social exclusion and unemployment has very much been a part of the UK Governments agenda.
There are several programmes that are funded by both government and independent organisations that have been development to occupy young people’s spare time in a positive ways, e.g. Splash schemes and other activities run through the Youth Charter for Sport (www. ycs.co.uk)

To conclude after viewing the evidence above, it can be argued that to a degree sport can aid ‘at-risk’ youth in the development of their personal and social development. It is clear that there are conflicting opinions of the success of certain programmes due to monitoring of programmes after they have been put into place. Partnerships that exist between different parties, such as schools, communities and families can contribute greatly as to how successful these programmes can be. S

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