Adults from the middle-classes are up to three times more likely to be regularly involved in sport than those from the working-class. The reason for this participation anomaly has been consistently linked to the differing lifestyles and opportunities to which young people from working and middle-class backgrounds are exposed. More specifically, working-class children are more likely to develop narrow, class-related leisure profiles and sporting repertoires during their childhood that serve to limit the likelihood of them remaining physically active in adulthood. In relation to this, one of the key aims of physical education (PE) in mainstream schools is to develop the range of skills and knowledge for all pupils and widen their sporting repertoires in an attempt to promote long-term participation throughout their lives. However, not only has PE provision in British mainstream schools been shown to be unsuccessful in promoting working-class pupils’ sporting/ability development, some suggest that the subject may even be perpetuating the social difference that has been shown to exist in relation to sports participation between social class groups. In order to address these issues the study set out to examine the extent to which the wider social background of white, working-class ‘lads’ and the actions and attitudes of their PE teachers came to impact on the way the lads influenced and experienced their PE curriculum/lessons. It also aimed to examine the impact that school PE then had on their sporting repertoires and participation in sport/active leisure outside of school. A total of 24 days were spent in Ayrefield Community School (ACS), a purposively selected, working-class state secondary school as part of a case study design. Over 60 practical PE lessons were observed that led to differing roles being adopted and guided conversations being conducted before, during, and after these lessons. Eight focus group interviews were also conducted with specifically chosen lads as well as one with the four members of male PE staff. Additional observations were also carried out during off-site trips, external visits, and in a range of classroom-based lessons. The findings were then considered and examined in relation to the work of the sociologists Norbert Elias and Pierre Bourdieu. The findings revealed that the pressures related to the modern education system and the social expectations linked to their working-class backgrounds caused a split between the lads at ACS in to three broad groups, namely: Problematics, Participants and Performers. These groupings came to impact on the ways that these lads engaged and achieved in school as well as the ways in which they came to negotiate and experience PE. The ‘Problematic’ group held largely negative views of education, but valued PE, especially when playing football, the ‘Participants’ were relatively successful at school yet apathetic regarding the content and delivery of their PE lessons, and a Performer group of lads emerged who engaged and achieved highly at school and participated in a range of activities in PE, but showed little intention of participating outside of school due to their pragmatic attitude to ‘learning’ in PE. Despite these differing school and PE experiences between the lads’ groups, the potential and actual impact of school PE on their sporting repertoires, skills, and interests was ultimately constrained by a range of issues. In the first instance the lads’ narrow, class-related leisure profiles and sporting repertoires linked closely to recreational participation with friends, alongside a lack of proactive parenting were significant limiting factors. In addition, the ability of some lads to constrain the actions of PE staff and peers to get what they wanted in PE rather than what they needed, and the negative views of most lads to skill development and structured PE lessons meant that PE at ACS was never likely to have a positive impact on the sporting repertoires and participation types/levels of its male pupils either currently or in their future lives.

This thesis explores the development of public policy aimed at achieving adult life-long participation in sport in Australia, Finland and New Zealand. Adult life-long participation has frequently been claimed as an aspiration of sport policy in Australia, Finland and New Zealand. This study identifies the characteristics of the sport systems and sport policy process in each of the three countries and outlines the development of policy concerning participation in sport amongst adults. A case study approach was adopted focusing on each of the three countries in turn. Adopting a qualitative methodology the study utilised document analysis and semi-structured interviews to elicit data regarding the development of, and factors impacting upon, the development of sport for all. Focusing upon the meso-level of analysis, policy networks was found to be a useful lens through which to view Finland, drawing attention to a policy subsystem where there has been a consistent focus on sport for all over the last 40 years. The advocacy coalition framework (ACF) provided the greatest utility for providing insights into Australia and New Zealand. The ACF drew attention to competing coalitions within the New Zealand and Australian sport sub-systems highlighting the tensions that had surfaced between elite and mass sport development. Despite little evidence in Australia, Finland or New Zealand of a policy or strategy that could be 'pulled off the shelf and called adult life long participation the findings indicated that Finland has been able to achieve high levels of adult participation in sport. Over the last 40 years successive Finnish governments have been consistent in their approach with regard to the role of national and local government in promoting Sf A. In contrast the Australian federal government has consistently expressed a desire to increase levels of sport participation amongst all Australians, however, despite consistent exhortations policy implementation has failed to reflect the rhetoric. Recent changes to the New Zealand sport policy landscape have made identifying a clear sport development pathway difficult, however, grassroots sport appears to have remained outside the current public policy focus. This study concludes that despite the existence of broadly similar factors such as rising levels of obesity, declining levels of physical activity and continued aspirations for sporting success, quite different sport policy approaches have been adopted in each of the three countries. This draws attention to the role of domestic factors, such as the distinctive socio-economic political and cultural systems in shaping the direction of, and salience of, sport policy to government.

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2015-07-15T14:56:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Lucia Castilho da Mota.pdf: 1454205 bytes, checksum: 1f2d6106f8f4e324e8455704db806587 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-15T14:56:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Lucia Castilho da Mota.pdf: 1454205 bytes, checksum: 1f2d6106f8f4e324e8455704db806587 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-26 / The third sector organizations (TSO) play an important social role in Brazil. With regard to educational and participation sports, partnerships with governments have been an important way to enable the democratization of their practice and to contribute to the human development of children and young people, especially those who are socially vulnerable, as guaranteed by law. Within this framework, the present study aimed at identifying the factors that influence the survival of TSO that work with educational and participation sports. The specific objectives aimed at identifying the TSO that work with educational and participation sports in the Greater São Paulo; analyzing how the facilitating factors and the critical factors influence the survival of these organizations; and devising a scheme that summarizes the influence of the main facilitating factors in the survival of these organizations. In order to do that, an exploratory and descriptive research was done, using the qualitative method, based on the phenomenological perspective. The chosen instrument for data collection was the interview supported by a semi-structured script, previously reviewed by two experts. We interviewed four founders and seven managers and / or coordinators, adding up to eleven interviews. The seven participating organizations of the research are affiliated with REMS (Sports Network for Social Change, in Portuguese). The data were analyzed using response categories according to Flores (1994), with the support of the software Atlas TI in the categorization of the results. The results were organized into four categories and these were split. The research concluded that among the main critical factors for the survival of the TSO are the heavy reliance on incentive funds, the lack of institutional financing; limited availability of funds for the communications, marketing and fundraising departments, the financing model under construction in Brazil, the legislation that needs to be realigned to the surrounding reality and the difficulty of measuring social outcomes. In relation to facilitating factors, the prevailing ones were the ability of articulation, institutional and sector dialogue with the government and the various segments of society, being part of networks, credibility and legitimacy of the organization, development of projects that have relevance and social impact, human resources identified with a social cause, the influence of the sector on the creation of public policies, the validation of the methodology, and the importance of the social entrepreneur. / As organizações empreendedoras do terceiro setor (OETS) desempenham um importante papel social no Brasil. No que diz respeito ao esporte educacional e de participação, as parcerias com os governos têm se mostrado um importante caminho para possibilitar a democratização da sua prática e contribuir para o desenvolvimento humano de crianças e jovens, sobretudo, os que vivem em situação de vulnerabilidade social, conforme garantidos por lei. Frente a este cenário, a presente pesquisa teve por objetivo identificar quais são os fatores que influenciam na sobrevivência de OETS que atuam com o esporte educacional e de participação. Os objetivos específicos visaram identificar OETS que atuam com o esporte educacional e de participação na Grande São Paulo; analisar como os fatores facilitadores e os fatores críticos influenciam na sobrevivência dessas OETS; e elaborar um esquema que sintetize a influência dos principais fatores facilitadores na sobrevivência dessas OETS. Para tanto, foi feita uma pesquisa de natureza exploratória e descritiva, cujo método foi o qualitativo, embasada na perspectiva fenomenológica. O instrumento eleito para a coleta de dados foi a entrevista apoiada em um roteiro semiestruturado, previamente revisado por dois especialistas. Foram entrevistados quatro fundadores e sete gestores e/ou coordenadores, perfazendo um total de 11 entrevistas. As sete organizações participantes da pesquisa são filiadas à REMS (Rede Esporte pela Mudança Social). Os dados foram tratados utilizando categorias de respostas de acordo com Flores (1994), contando com o apoio na categorização dos resultados do software Atlas TI. Os resultados foram organizados em quatro categorias e estas foram desmembradas. A pesquisa concluiu que, entre os principais fatores críticos para a sobrevivência das OETS estão a grande dependência de recursos incentivados, a insuficiência de financiamentos institucionais; pouca disponibilidade de verbas para os departamentos de comunicação, marketing e de captação de recursos, o modelo de financiamento ainda em construção no Brasil, a legislação que necessita de ser realinhada à realidade circundante e a dificuldade de mensurar resultados sociais. Em relação aos fatores facilitadores, os preponderantes foram a capacidade de articulação e de interlocução institucional e setorial com o poder público e com os diversos segmentos da sociedade, fazer parte de redes, a credibilidade e legitimidade da organização, o desenvolvimento de projetos que tenham relevância e impacto social, recursos humanos identificados com a causa social, a influência do setor na constituição de políticas públicas, a validação da metodologia, além da importância do empreendedor social.