Physical education (PE) represents one of the most important physical settings in which to study motivational processes due to its uniqueness in including all young people with a wide range of physical abilities. Moreover, positive experiences in school PE are thought likely to enhance lifelong physical activity, giving PE an important role in influencing young people's involvement in physical activity both within and beyond the school curriculum. However, there is increasing concern over the physical activity levels of young people today, and understanding the changes in pupil's motivational processes during the time when they appear most at risk of declining levels of physical activity, may help researchers and physical educators intervene to offset the decline. Using Elliot's Hierarchical Model of Approach and A voidance Achievement Motivation (EIliot, , 1999; ElIiot & Church, 1997) as a theoretical basis, the purpose of this thesis was to examine pupil's approach-avoidance goal adoption in PE. Moreover, it was to determine the temporal pattern of approach-avoidance goals and the predictive utility of key antecedents, namely perceptions of competence and implicit theories of ability to these temporal patterns. Study 1 followed pupils across the primary to secondary school transition and examined their approach-avoidan,ce goals, implicit theories of ability and perceptions of competence prior to the transition and throughout Year 7 of secondary school. On the whole, the changes appeared to be suggestive of less adaptive motivationaf profiles, i.e., lower incremental beliefs, competence perceptions and mastery-approach (MAp) goal stnving. Competence perceptions and implicit theories of ability differed in their predictive utility of initial status and rate of change in approach-avoidance goal adoption. The effects of perceived competence appeared to be stronger in Year 6 of primary school while the effects of implicit theories of ability were more apparent in Year 7 of secondary school. Furthermore, in Year 6 of primary school, boys exhibited a more adaptive motivational profile than girls which remained throughout Year 7 of secondary school. Study 2a examined approach-avoidance goals, implicit theories of ability and perceptions of competence in pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 of secondary school. Pupils completed measures on four occasions over a 9 month period. Goals and perceptions were tapped in relation to PE 'in general'. MAp, mastery-avoidance (MAv) and performance-avoidance (PAv) goals exhibited a linear decline over time, whereas performance-approach (PAp) goals showed no significant change. Theoretical propositions regarding the antecedents of approach-avoidance goal adoption were supported. Year group was found to moderate a number of these antecedent goal relationships. Results suggest that Year 7 is a critical time for adolescents' motivation in school PE. Study 2b determined the influence of implicit theories of ability and competence perceptions on changes in approach-avoidance goal adoption in two specific activities in the PE curriculum. In both tennis and cricket, differences between pupils were more likely than differences between classes to account for changes in implicit theories, perceptions of competence and approach-avoidance goals over the course of a unit of work. Controlling for prior approach-avoidance goal adoption, 'incremental beliefs predicted change in MAp goal adoption and perceptions of competence predicted change in PAp goal adoption over the unit of work in both tennis and cricket. Differences in the predictive pattern of antecedents to changes in goal adoption emerged between activities. The final study (study 3) provided a more-fine grained analysis of normative achievement goal adoption in specific activities in PE by differentiating between approach-avoidance and appearance-competition performance goals. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the delineation off our performance goals. In line with the Hierarchical Model of Approach and Avoidance Achievement Motivation, partial support for the mediating role of performance goals was observed, but entity beliefs and perceptions of a performance climate' each exerted a direct positive effect on self-handicapping in PE. The addition of the appearance-competition distinction to performance approach-avoidance goals revealed differences in the direction and magnitude of the antecedent goal and goal outcome relationships. The results of these four studies contained within the present thesis provide interesting insights into pupils' approach avoidance motivation in PE at both the contextual and activity specific level. The changes in pupils' motivation, on the whole, are indicative of less adaptive motivational profiles as they progress through their school career. Implicit theories of ability and competence perceptions appear to play a role in offsetting this decline but future research endeavours should continue to pursue longitudinal research to identify other key predictors of within-and between-pupil change. This will ensure that achievement motivation research in the PE context is well placed to help educators promote more adaptive motivational processes and outcomes that sustain participation in physical activity.

This thesis comprises of a collection of four research studies in the area of motivational climate in physical education (PE). In the first study, a computer based observational measure of the teaching behaviours that influence motivational climate (TARGET) was developed and the degree of congruence between the observational measure and pupils' and teachers' subjective perceptions of the motivational climate was evaluated. Results revealed mastery and performance involving teaching behaviours, congruency between teaching behaviours and subjective perceptions of the climate, and significant differences between teachers' and pupils' perceptions of the motivational climate. The second study further validated the measure of teaching behaviours by comparing teacher behaviours and pupils' perceptions of the motivational climate in a cross-cultural study. Results indicated significantly higher levels of performance involving teaching behaviours and higher levels of a perceived performance climate in Singapore compared to the UK. Based on findings related to the authority structure in the cross-cultural study, the third study examined the effects of different teaching styles on the TARGET behaviours and pupils' focus group responses in PE lessons in the UK. Results revealed that pupil-centred teaching styles resulted in more mastery involving teaching behaviours and more adaptive motivational responses than the more teacher-centred style. Based on these findings, the final study instigated a mastery intervention programme for teacher education based on self-observation of filmed PE lessons and evaluated its effect on the TARGET behaviours, pupils' perceptions of the motivational climate and cognitive and affective responses. The mastery intervention programme was successful in fostering more mastery involving teaching behaviours. Contrary to the hypothesis, pupils' perceptions of the motivational climate were more performance involved post-intervention, which may have been due to the public nature of the recognition and evaluation of effort and improvement (mastery coded). Further, results revealed that low affect pupils significantly increased their cognitive and affective responses from pre- to post-intervention.

In completing this thesis I am interested in two broad questions; what is coaching and how do we develop it? Surprisingly after nearly forty years of coaching research there is no agreed answer to these questions in the literature. This is perhaps not that surprising since other more established roles such as teaching are still struggling with answering this sort of ontological question after many more years of research. Despite this struggle, I focus my attention on applying the theory of Professional Judgement and Decision Making (PJDM) to understanding what coaching is and what the implications are for coach development. In taking this approach and seeking answers to the broad questions I present five substantive chapters, two of which are critical desk top studies, the other three being empirical studies. These are wrapped in introduction (Chapter 1) and conclusion (Chapter 7) chapters. Chapter 2 presents what PJDM is and how it can work as a parsimonious theory to draw in current coaching literature to understand what coaching is and how it can work. Chapter 3 presents data from long jump coaches that suggests that coaches are capable of engaging and do engage in PJDM but only when pressured to do so. Prior to this, the coaches preferred to take more of a folk, experiential, gut feeling approach to solving a contextualised coaching problem. Building from Chapter 3, Chapter 4 identifies how individual differences in how coaches view knowledge and learning can explain their willingness to engage in PJDM and aligned formal coach development activities. More specifically, that coaches with a dualistic view on learning and knowledge will shy away from or even disrupt coach development that confuses their view on the world. Alternatively, coaches with a more relativistic view will actively seek out new knowledge to improve their understanding of coaching and athlete development. Drawing on the findings of the thesis to this point Chapter 5 identifies that to improve coaches’ willingness and capacity to engage in PJDM the biggest impact must come from formal coach education. As such Chapter 5 offers a summary of a broad range of empirical and theoretical research and how an aligned application of this research can lead to more impactful formal coach development. Chapter 6, builds from Chapter 5 by noting that more impactful formal coach development will require more professional coach developers. As such, in this chapter I define what a high performing coach developer should know and be capable of. This definition was subsequently used to develop of Postgraduate Certificate in Coach Education for The Football Association. To conclude therefore, I deliver answers to the two broad questions set at the beginning of the thesis. Firstly and briefly, coaching is a PJDM process that draws on formal, theoretical knowledge to solve coaching problems and make decisions leading to the achievement of goals. Secondly, that to develop coaches capable of PJDM, coach development must practice what it preaches and engage in creating development programmes that are supported by theoretical and empirical research relating to programme development, adult learning, curriculum building and individual differences.

La modélisation des effets de l’entraînement sur la performance permet de mieux conceptualiser les adaptations du sportif pour aider les entraîneurs confrontés à de multiples incertitudes, avec comme alternatives possibles à une performance de haut niveau, le surmenage, le surentraînement et la blessure. La quantification quotidienne de la CE est alors la première étape de la périodisation de l’entraînement. Notre revue de la littérature montre que ces effets sont un état non définitif des interactions entre différents facteurs exogènes et endogènes (Banister et coll., 1975, Busso et coll., 1990, Morton et coll., 1990). La notion de charge d’entrainement implique un niveau d’effet se traduisant dans l’organisme sous la forme de réactions fonctionnelles qui ont une certaine intensité et une certaine durée. Cela implique de suivre quotidiennement plusieurs marqueurs perceptifs.Les progrès de l’informatique et des objets communicants nous ont permis de concevoir un système informatique ergonomique afin de récupérer, de traiter, et de visualiser un grand volume de données, mais aussi de proposer une modélisation alternative des effets de l’entraînement. Nous inspirant des mécanismes généraux de régulation de l’homéostasie et de la chronobiologie, nous avons postulé que la capacité de performance quotidienne peut être modélisée par une onde dont l’amplitude, après avoiratteint un maximum, diminue graduellement pour tendre à retourner à son niveau initial durant les jours qui suivent (oscillation harmonique amortie). Nos résultats permettent de discuter des possibilités d’un tel système sur l’analyse des pratiques des entraîneurs en termes de gestion de la charge d’entraînement aux différentes périodes de l’année. Malgré le faible nombre de sujets (six joueuses), ils montrent que l’utilisation du concept d’oscillation harmonique amortie pour modéliser les effets cumulés et différés de l’entraînement semble prometteuse. Mais avant de l’appliquer à de plus vastes types de publics et de pratiques (réathlétisation, suivi de l’activité physique d’un public âgé), de plus amples recherches sont nécessaires / Modelling the training effects on performance allow to better conceptualize athleteadaptations to training to help coaches faced with many uncertainties, as possiblealternatives to high level performance, overreaching, overtraining and injury. The dailytraining load (TL) quantification is then the first step of the training periodization. Ourlitterature review shows that these affects are non final statement of interactions betweenexogenous and endogenous factors (Banister et coll., 1975, Busso et coll., 1990, Morton et coll., 1990). The concept of TL involves an effect level resulting in the body in the form offunctional responses that have a certain intensity and a certain time. It involves followseveral perceptual markers daily.The advances made in the area of computer and communication technologies nowoffer new opportunities for designing an ergonomic computer system to collect, process,and visualize large amounts of data, but also provides an alternative modelling of thetraining effects. Inspired by the general mechanisms regulating homeostasis andchronobiology, we postulated that the performance capacity of each training day can bemodeled by a wave whose amplitude, after reaching a maximum, gradually decrease totend to return to its initial level during the following days (damped harmonic oscillation).Our results allow us to discuss the possibilities of such a system on an analysis ofthe coaches practices in terms of training load management at different times of the plan.Despite the small number of subjects (six players), they show that the use of the concept ofdamped harmonic oscillation model for the cumulative and delayed effects of trainingappears promising. But before applying it to a wide range of subjects and practices(rehabilitation, physical activity of older person), further investagtion is needed

Viewing sport coaching as complex and relational, this thesis used the writings of Harold Garfinkel, who developed ethnomethodological inquiry, as an alternative social theorist to better understand the activity. The aim of this study was to explore and deconstruct the everyday interactions of coaches, through paying specific attention to the context under which such behaviours occur. Accepting that coaching is a social activity, the purpose was to examine the ‘taken-for-granted’ social rules that the coaches and players of Bayside Rovers F.C. (pseudonym), a semi-professional football club, utilised to achieve desired ends. In doing so, the study adopted an ethnomethodologically informed ethnography to observe, participate and describe how the coaches managed, manipulated and influenced others through their ‘social competencies’ (Lemert, 1997). The data were collected over the course of a full domestic season (10 months). Through adopting an iterative approach, the data were subject to a light ethnomethodological analysis, principally drawing upon the work of Harold Garfinkel (1967, 2002, 2006). What is presented then, are four codes that were used to describe and explain the behaviour patterns observed. The codes included; ‘play well’, ‘fitting-in’, the ‘brotherhood’ and ‘respecting space’. More specifically, the ethnomethodological analysis demonstrated how coaches and players ‘actualised’ the codes (Wieder, 1974). In this respect, Garfinkel’s writings are used as a ‘respecification’ of some fundamental aspects of coaches’ everyday work that is ‘seen but unnoticed’ (Garfinkel, 1967). From this perspective, the findings contribute to the increasingly refined body of research acknowledging coaching as a social activity, further highlighting the principal link between sociology and sport coaching.

British sport history has become a serious branch of historical enquiry over the past three decades. Yet, many questions as regards regions, chronology, space, gender and power remain unexplored, especially in Scotland before 1800. This study examines sport and physical education in the northern mainland burghs of Scotland c. 1600-1800. It is divided into two parts. Part One investigates the national and international contexts for, and influences on, sport and physical education in northern Scotland. It covers the wider intellectual discourse, how the north was influenced by, and contributed to, the development of national and international sporting practise and culture. It then assesses how physical education was taught at educational institutions in northern Scotland and the characteristics of elite sport. Part Two explores sport as played, experienced and regulated by ordinary people in the northern burghs. Popular sport was less influenced by an international context and was far more regionally and locally focused. Popular and festive sport were pursued for enjoyment, were organised, gendered and were a vital release for society. The authorities also attempted to control popular sport in urban communities but this study finds social control was not universal and the lower ranks had agency, resisting the authorities' decrees as regards sport. This study concludes that sport and physical education were a significant, although previously unexamined, component of social and cultural life in the northern mainland burghs, before 1800. In Part One sport and physical education changed considerably, both influencing, and adapting to, national and international discourses of, 'civility' at the beginning of the period, and towards the end, 'politeness'. Moreover, the introduction of sports clubs from 1750 signalled a change towards a higher degree of organisation. By contrast, Part Two demonstrates popular sport practices remained relatively consistent. Thus, the thesis emphasises the need for regional studies of Scottish and British sport and physical education, examining their features across the social spectrum and the elements of both change and continuity that, together, characterised sport and physical education across the British Isles in the pre-industrial period.

Community youth sport coaching is identified as a coaching domain tasked with delivering complex social outcomes. When coaching in this context, individuals can be expected to operate in multiple settings, as well as engage with, and support numerous participant types. To meet participant needs coaches are required to have a wide range of skills and competencies. Current research suggests how coaching roles emerge and competencies develop are not always clear. Therefore, to understand coach identity fully; there is a requirement to explore the meanings, values and importance placed upon coach roles. Past research illustrates that the manner in which coaches’ frame their role is instrumental to how they prioritise and organise critical moments of practice that warrant further reflection; thus allowing individuals to “construct the reality in which they function". This thesis intends to extend current knowledge on how sport coaches’ define, shape and “frame” their role in community youth sport settings. The research objectives are to: (a) examine the environmental conditions and personal views coaches’ hold with regard to community youth sport in the UK and, (b) evaluate elements that influence their role and individual approach towards coaching. In essence, (c) evaluate how community youth sport coaches’ shape and frame their role.

The purpose of this project of research was to investigate the perceptions of female coaches and their gendered identities using quantitative and qualitative data. A mixed-methods approach was taken using questionnaires and interviews. Videos depicting a coach interacting with athlete/athletes were shown to participants prior to completing the questionnaires. This method was used in order to investigate if there was a difference in how male and female coaches are perceived because of their gender and investigate if the masculinity/femininity of a female coach would influence others’ perceptions of their ability and the coach-athlete relationship. Semi-structured interviews were used to investigate how the influence of gender on perceptions of coaches may have influenced the experiences of female sport coaches. An unstructured interview was conducted to investigate the effect of gender across a coach’s career. This thesis has contributed to the body of knowledge concerning how female coaches are perceived and female coaches’ experiences in sport. It has advanced the literature on Social Role Theory to the context of sport. The main findings of this research are: (a) female coaches are rated higher than male coaches for relationship quality and empathy when in an emotional scenario, (b) female coaches perceived to be masculine are rated consistently higher within relationship quality and competency in a coaching scenario, (c) female coaches’ experiences are affected by their traditional social role associated with gender and by society’s gendered perceptions of sport, and (d) there are more factors which discourage rather than encourage the progression of female coaches.

Despite sound policy and educative reasons for its adoption, the use of Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) (Bunker and Thorpe, 1982, 1986b) amongst Physical Education (PE) teachers remains limited. Previous research has indicated that PE (student) teachers’ past and current experiences influence their interpretation and application of this instructional model. The purposes of this interpretative case study therefore were to (a) examine how PE teachers not formally educated in its use interpreted and delivered TGfU using net games and (b) identify the factors that led to their interpretation and delivery of this model. The participants were three purposefully selected teachers from a Sports Academy in the West Midlands, United Kingdom (UK). Data were collected through formal, stimulated-recall and informal interviews, lesson observation field notes, teacher reflective journals and lesson planners. The theoretical framework used to guide data collection and analysis was occupational socialization¹ (Lawson, 1983a, b). The data was inductively analysed teacher by teacher and then by cross-case analysis (Lincoln and Guba, 1985). Findings showed that the teachers demonstrated differing versions of TGfU based around teaching tactics, techniques and use of social constructivist learning strategies. Themes that influenced the teachers’ interpretations and use of TGfU individually and/or collectively were their knowledge of games; the capabilities and behaviour of their pupils and the influence of past and present colleagues. The original contribution to knowledge of this thesis is that the workplace appears incapable of encouraging the full version of the model to be utilised by teachers not previously educated in its use in the UK, irrespective of the relative simplicity of the game taught and the time frame. It is recommended that teachers receive Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to develop their understanding of the tactical problem-solving nature of games; ensure they have sufficient content knowledge and be able to implement the underpinning learning theory effectively.

The aim of the current thesis was to investigate coach narcissism as an antecedent of controlling and autonomy-supportive coach interpersonal styles proposed by self-determination theory (SDT); potential indirect effects that underlie those relations, and the outcomes of such coach interpersonal styles. The current thesis is comprised of a systematic review and three empirical chapters. Chapter 2 reviewed the literature on antecedents of controlling and need supportive interpersonal styles and identified narcissism as an antecedent of particular importance to sport coaching. This chapter has also illustrated a dearth of research investigating narcissism as an antecedent of coach interpersonal styles, which then became a key theme of the empirical studies that followed. Across these studies, narcissism was found to be positively associated with controlling interpersonal style in coaches (Chapters 3, 4, and 5), however it was not associated with autonomy-supportive style (Chapter 3). Some of these studies also revealed indirect effects (i.e., empathic concern, effectiveness beliefs about controlling interpersonal style) that helped explain the relation between narcissism and controlling interpersonal style (Chapters 3 and 5), and narcissism and autonomy-supportive interpersonal style (Chapter 3). Finally, coaches' controlling interpersonal style was associated with need frustration and positive attitudes toward doping in athletes (Chapter 4), and moral disengagement in coaches (Chapter 5). These novel finding extend SDT literature by offering further understanding on antecedents and outcomes of coach interpersonal styles.