Situated within Bronfenbrenner's (1977; 2001a) ecological systems theory, this thesis rested the hypothesis that relative age effects (RAEs) are prevalent and recurring across broad systems and niche contexts of sport and education.

High level sport is linked to educational institutions. Historically, a number of systems designed to develop high level sports performance have been based at places of learning. This work is concerned with how an educational institution has gone about developing the sport of judo, taking the form of a case study of the Team Bath Judo Programme at the University of Bath, recognising that that system sits within a social and political context.

There is a growing body of literature investigating age-related declines in physical activity (PA) participation among young people and especially girls, who have lower rates of PA than boys throughout the teenage years. Low PA is particularly apparent within the context of the school physical education classes – termed here as the Physical Education (PE) environment. My PhD thesis aims to explore the reasons for some girls disengagement in PE classes. Using a longitudinal qualitative approach the study tracks the experiences of a sample of ‘disengaged girls’ from four case study schools in Scotland taking part in a school-based physical activity programme, Fit for Girls (FfG). My research investigates the impact of the programme on their engagement through recording and analysis of the changes that take place in their attitudes and behaviour over the course of two years. The study involved the design of a questionnaire to identify a cohort of disengaged girls for baseline focus groups. Twelve focus groups (n=41 girls) were carried out during 2008/09 (three in each case study school) to capture girls’ opinions, perceptions and experiences of PE classes. Twenty disengaged girls were then selected across the four schools, based on their willingness to participate and self-disclose PE experiences. The girls were recruited for three phases of longitudinal in-depth interviews, over a one year period. The aim of these was to track changes in girls’ engagement and experiences in the PE environment. My theoretical framework is based on Welks (1999) Youth Physical Activity Promotion model (YPAP), a socioecological approach which divides the influential correlates of physical activity into 1) individual-level predisposing factors, 2) enabling factors, including personal attributes and environmental variables and 3) reinforcing (social) factors. The results indicate that individual predisposing factors, such as perceptions of competence and identity in the PE class along with the social context (peers and teachers) contribute to girls’ disengagement in PE. This suggests that aspects of the wider psychosocial environment in which PE takes place may be more important than the physical activity itself, impacting on levels of participation and enjoyment. There were subtle, as well as clear changes in engagement among many of the girls. However, for others no change was evident. Individual girls’ experiences across time or ‘journeys’ illustrate the importance of the relationships between the individual, social and PE environment in facilitating and sustaining positive change.

Over the past decade in the UK, the rise in salience to government of physical education and school sport-related policy interventions has been remarkable for the wide-ranging array of objectives that these interventions have been expected to realise. This thesis analyses and evaluates government's sports policy for PESS centred on the Physical Education, School Sport and Club Links (PESSCL) strategy and Physical Education and Sport Strategy for Young People (PESSYP). These strategies together arguably represent the most significant initiatives relating to physical education and school sport (PESS), shaping the possible forms of PESS could take in the 2000s. Drawing on Basil Bernstein's (1990, 1996) theory of the social production of pedagogic discourse as the main framework used to investigate the policy for PESS, this thesis discusses the complexities and inequalities of policy-making in terms of examining dominant physical cultural discourses embedded within PESSCL and PESSYP, and the main agents/agencies contributing to the policy for PESS and evaluation processes. In addition, this thesis adopted a grounded theory approach to look at patterns of evidence in a range of resources from policy documents, newspapers, official evaluation studies and interviews, analyses that were underpinned by the research aims and theoretical framework of the study. This thesis identifies a number of physical cultural discourses constructing and constituting policies and strategies for PESS, including discourses of sport, health, citizenship, lifelong participation, and Olympic/Paralympic legacy. Moreover, this thesis presents evidence, consistent with Goodson‟s (1990) thesis about the social construction of school subjects, of struggles and contestation among vying groups, in this case between the Youth Sport Trust and Sport England (i.e. within the Official Recontextualising Field) as well as between the Youth Sport Trust and Association for Physical Education (i.e. between agencies within the Official Recontextualising Field and Pedagogic Recontextualising Field respectively). Furthermore, the powerful recontextualising agents/agencies including the media contribute to the recontextualisation of the discourse in which PESS policies are embedded. Finally, this thesis questions whether the main official evaluation studies undertake "evidence-based‟ policy making and practice because the evaluation studies not only provide implausible evidence but they are also focused solely on "numbers‟, whilst pragmatic and critical voices are excluded from the process of evaluation. Building on these key findings, this thesis concludes with a discussion of the implications for PESS. In particular, I discuss the possibilities for PESS to realise authentic forms of physical culture in schools in the context of a dominant sport discourse and an ongoing reduction in the autonomy of the Pedagogic Recontextualising Field. Finally, this thesis suggests that there is an urgent need for promoting communication between policy makers from within the Official Recontextualising Field and researchers and educators from within the Pedagogic Recontextualising Field and practitioners in the Secondary Field in order to achieve sustainable policy development school physical education and youth sport that benefits all young people in the future.

The aim of this study is to investigate how self-perceptions of expertise among sports coaches may develop, regress, and redevelop over time within the context of coaching, in light of recent reconceptualisations of expertise, expertise development, sports coaching, coach development, and adult learning. The developmental journeys of four expert-like sports coaches are explored using a life history/life course approach. Written life history accounts are gathered, and repeated semi-structured interviews undertaken (six per participant over two years), focussing upon critical incidents related to coach development and perceptions of expertise, to capture interpretations and feelings. Narrative inquiry is employed to investigate and represent participants' lived experiences, and how they create meaning and identity from them. Co-constructed storied accounts of expert-like coaches' developmental journeys are produced featuring local exemplary knowledge. Looking across the stories and their respective interconnections, to speculate on wider theoretical implications is a further aspect of the study. Theoretical standpoints from a new wave of literature across different subject domains, and a Bourdieusian perspective, are used as guiding interpretive frameworks. This study reveals a more nuanced and complex holistic portrayal of perceived expertise development in contrast to oversimplified conceptions that currently dominate in this field of inquiry. This uniquely longitudinal in-depth exploration of the lived developmental journey of expert-like coaches provides illuminating detail on the process, influences, and continuation of expertise development (that may inform the facilitation and flourishing of other practitioners); uncovering a more intricate conceptualisation of expertise development, encompassing the importance of change and adaptation upon ongoing and recursive (re)development.

Ce travail a pour objet de questionner l’utilisation des communications non verbales dans l'enseignement de l'Education Physique et Sportive. Les communications non verbales (CNV) diffusent des informations auprès des élèves, peuvent être contradictoires avec les communications verbales, les desservir, ou transmettre, à leur insu, les attentes des enseignants. Les communications seront abordées sous l’angle interactionniste. Chaque intervention verbale ou non verbale de l’enseignant crée une interaction avec les élèves dont l’objet peut être pédagogique ou didactique. Trois études ont été réalisées. La première étude exploratoire vise à questionner les croyances des étudiants en formation sur les communications ; afin de recenser leurs niveaux de connaissance et de prise de conscience de l’importance des communications dans l’enseignement, pour ensuitecomparer leurs réponses avec celles des enseignants en exercice, le tout permettant de comprendre l’évolution des croyances et éclairer les pratiques pédagogiques. La deuxième étude consiste, à partir d’une grille d’observation des CNV en classe, à confirmer l’exploitation d’une classification fonctionnelle des CNV. Une comparaison entre le dire, le faire et le dire sur le faire est réalisée à l’aide de différents entretiens. Les enseignants sont rarement conscients des communications qu’ilsexploitent en classe ; ils sont souvent surpris de la richesse des CNV exploitées, non consciemment. L’aspect affectif de la relation pédagogique est souvent valorisé lorsqu’ils se voient agir, contrairement aux premiers propos beaucoup plus réservés, et qui portent sur les apprentissages. L’accent est mis sur le rôle et la place du toucher et sur les routines en EPS. Les ressentis des élèves sont relevés pour les comparer avec les réponses des enseignants. La dernière étude se focalise sur l’aspect contextualisé des interactions non verbales à travers deux études de cas. Des variations semblent apparaître selon l’activité, les caractéristiques des élèves ou celles des enseignants. La recherche se conclut par des propositions d’enseignements supplémentaires pour la formation initiale et continue des enseignants. L’amélioration des pratiques pédagogiques quotidiennes des enseignants passe par une prise de conscience de leurs croyances et de leurs modes de fonctionnement in situ. / This study questions the use of non-verbal communication in the teaching of Physical Education. Non-verbal communication (NVC) sends information to students which sometimes contradicts verbal communication or unwittingly transmits teachers' expectations. Communication issues are addressed in this study under the interactionist’ perspective. Each verbal or non-verbal intervention of the teacher creates an interaction with students, whose purpose may be educational or didactic. Three studies were conducted. The first exploratory study aims at questioning the PE students beliefs about communication, in order to identify their level of knowledge, as well as their awareness of the importance of communication in teaching. Their answers are then compared with those of active teachers. This allows to understand the evolution of beliefs and to highlight teaching practices. The second study is based on the use of an observational grid on NVC during classes. It aims at confirmingthe operation of a functional classification of NVC. A comparison between explaining, doing, and explaining action is carried out using various interviews. Teachers are rarely aware of the types ofcommunication they use in the classroom. They are often surprised with the wide range of NVC they unconsciously use. They often highlight the emotional aspect of the pedagogical relationship, when watching themselves interacting with students in class, while they usually focus on teaching when first questioned about their educational methods. Emphasis is placed on the role and importance oftouching and routines in PE. What students say they feel is compared with what teachers describe. The last study draws attention on contextualized non verbal interactions, through two case studies. Changes seem to occur in the activity, according to the characteristics of students, or those of teachers. There search concludes with proposals both for initial and continuous training of teachers. Improving daily teaching practices can be facilitated through awareness of their beliefs and operational methods in situ.