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The period from 2013 to 2019 was one of relative continuity in policies for physical education (PE), school sport and physical activity (PESSPA) in England. Starting from the advent of the government's flagship PE and Sport Premium (PES Premium) initiative in 2013, the end of the period was reached 20 with renewed uncertainty in 2020 about the future of PESSPA policy. It is therefore an appropriate point for this article to 'take stock' of PESSPA policies and their consequences since 2013. The political science literature on policy design underpins the approach to considering the mix of both policy goals and those instruments used by governments to achieve them. To do so, a comprehensive set of policy documents, published reports, academic literature and empirical research on schools' use of the PES Premium was interrogated. Policy goals articulated by government since 2013 reinforced, rather than resolved, long-standing debates about the purpose of PESSPA. Health-related objectives rose in prominence, but sat uneasily alongside continued commitments to competitive sport. Only a narrow range of the policy instruments available to governments were used in pursuit of their policy goals. PES Premium funding was solely distributed to primary schools, with limited use of regulation and information systems to shape PESSPA provision. These aspects of policy design contributed to increasing reliance on external coaches in primary schools and indicators of a decline in secondary school provision and participation, resonant of prioritisation of short-term approaches over longer-term strategic development. Possibilities for improving future PESSPA policies are considered as a result.

Research question: This article addresses the need to develop a comprehensive understanding of research on the formation and content of youth sport policies by presenting a review of studies across the period from 2000 to 2020. The review examined the scale and scope of these studies, collective research findings, and theoretical and methodological approaches utilised. Research methods: Compatible approaches to research synthesis were utilised. Scoping review methods supported searching within 31 relevant journals. Scoping review techniques augmented by those of 'meta-study' were used to analyse the 71 articles that were identified through the review. The definition of youth sport policy research through inclusion/exclusion of articles was determined Results and Findings: Youth sport policy research was dominated by studies in Europe and North America. There was also a predominance of qualitative methods, with studies being collectively limited in their utilisation of theory. Forty-four percent of studies examined policies focused on schools, with similar proportions (between 17% and 20%) addressing policies for welfare and safeguarding, community-based participation, and high-performance sport. Youth sport policy goals were often found to overlap and be influenced by other policy agendas, with health being a prominent policy concern. Implications: Besides the need for a wider geographical spread, improved theoretical underpinning and expanding quantitative methods should be priorities for future youth sport policy research. Extending normative analysis and study of democracy and inclusion in youth sport policy-making should also be pursued, especially as young people appear commonly excluded from these processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gendered differences in participation in active lifestyles (encompassing sport, physical activity, and physical education) are well established, with young men typically participating in more activities than young women. This paper uses a theoretical approach inspired by Bourdieu's notions of habitus, field and capital to explore the 'how' and 'why' of these differences. Drawing on mixed-methods data obtained from questionnaires (n = 332) and semi-structured interviews with 33 young men and 37 young women aged 15-16, we present two gendered trends which explain gendered differences in active lifestyle participation. Firstly, in this research, young men participated in more activities than young women, viewing their participation as integral to their identity, their sense of self. Young women, in contrast, viewed sport as an 'optional' extra, something they could do, if they wished. Secondly, in relation to the differences in the type of activities participated in, young men were more likely to participate in traditional team sports, whereas young women chose to engage in gym/fitness activities to promote appearance and feminine attractiveness. We argue that the gendered norms which dictate 'appropriate' gendered active identities are damaging to both young men and women who may wish to deviate from these norms. Social capital is allocated to gendered bodies in accordance with these norms, influencing how young people are viewed in their social hierarchies. A gender-neutral narrative which destabilises gendered sporting norms whilst simultaneously celebrating diversity is needed to promote a safe and inclusive environment where all young men and women can engage in sufficient physical activity.

Prominent developments in English PE and school sport (PESS) policy across the period of Conservative-led governments since 2010 have not been empirically or comprehensively researched. In addressing this shortcoming, this study was uniquely underpinned by punctuated equilibrium theory in order to respond to long-standing difficulties of differentiating and explaining both policy change and continuity. Application of this theory benefited from the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data from ten elite interviewees, policy documents and searches of broadsheet newspapers and parliamentary records across a 15-year period. Overall, the ring-fencing of significant funding for PESS since 2013 indicates that successive Conservative-led governments maintained and further embedded the enhanced status of PESS that had initially emerged in the 1990s. On the other hand, significant modifications in PESS policy increasingly aligned it with health-related objectives and were implemented through a decentralised model that differed significantly from the standardised, top-down approach enacted by preceding Labour governments. It is argued that these policy changes represent a 'policy punctuation' which occurred across 2010 and 2013 when the attention of cabinet ministers was drawn to PESS as a result of a confluence of external events and dramatic spikes in wider media and political interest. Subsequently, a reconstituted but expanded coalition of key PESS policy actors has supported the re-establishment of 'equilibrium' and continuity in PESS policy. These findings demonstrate the broader importance of distinguishing the continuation of a relatively high status for PESS from the intermittent salience that it has at the highest levels of government. In-depth explanation of both a rare policy 'window' for PESS policy change and long-standing institutionalisation of policy continuity was also significantly enhanced by the utilisation of punctuated equilibrium theory, demonstrating its distinctive value for future studies of PESS and sport policy.

The study of interorganizational relationships in amateur sport has developed significantly over the past 30 years alongside rising expectations for multisector integration between sport organizations and other partners. This stems from sport organizations seeking innovative ways to achieve their mission and neoliberal government policies adding institutional pressure for interorganizational cooperation. This review paper discusses the wider cultural and political forces that shape the drive for legitimacy through partnerships across sector boundaries and outlines the theoretical influences on interorganizational relationship research in amateur sport between economic and behavioral paradigms. In addition to considering how prevailing frameworks and findings inform the current body of knowledge in sport management, we critically reflect on implicit assumptions underpinning this work given that partnerships now saturate the discourse of sport management policy and practice. Our review questions whether reality lines up with our "great expectations," and explores what limitations and opportunities remain for future interorganizational relationships research in amateur sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequent calls for sport for development (SFD) to be reoriented toward transformative social change reflect the extent that policies and programs have instead focused on individualized forms of personal development. However, SFD research has yet to substantially address fundamental ontological assumptions and underlying conceptualizations of transformative social change. To addresses this gap, this article considers how Margaret Archer's Morphogenetic Approach can help explain how transformative social change might occur through SFD activities. Three conceptual contributions are brought into focus: (a) assuming a realist social ontology; (b) making distinctions between structure, culture, and agency; and (c) identifying social change as happening across three temporal phases. The authors conclude by identifying potential benefits and implications of applying the Morphogenetic Approach to consider the potential for SFD to contribute to social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the potential benefits of an alternative type of engagement with sport than is commonly considered in the literature on sport and international development. The research explored the extent to which students from one UK and two Ghanaian universities were empowered through working together to identify proposals for sports equipment in Ghana. A multimethod research design used video diaries and e-mail, text message, verbal and focus group interviews. The findings indicate a number of project design factors that constrained the empowerment of Ghanaian students. However, both Ghanaian and UK students were strongly motivated by, and developed new skills because of, the innovative nature of the project. Similar projects in the future can contribute further to the empowerment of young adults, if designed appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Primary schools have been widely identified as a key site to tackle childhood obesity. While specific school-based interventions have been widely researched, there is an absence of collective analysis of national policies targeting childhood obesity and its determinants in primary schools. Therefore, this narrative review of English policy documentation from 2010 to 2017 examines the extent of alignment across governmental aspirations and implementation approaches towards childhood obesity, physical activity and healthy eating. Methods and analytic framework: Using Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review methodology, 43 relevant policy documents were identified. From these documents, statements of policy aspirations were coded according to the different levels of the socio-ecological model (SEM). Information on policy implementation was coded according to Hood's "NATO" taxonomy of "Nodality", "Authority", "Treasure" and "Organisation" tools which governments can utilise to implement policy. Findings: Common articulations of aspirations to address recognised problems of childhood obesity were identified across policy documents, with the need for multi-level action articulated more clearly for healthy eating than physical activity. The government's signature Childhood Obesity Plan published in 2016 was an isolated example of a policy document that encompassed aspirations across all SEM levels, but still replicated a wider trend in which only aspirations for individual-level behaviours were articulated with precision. Policy documents evidenced uses of information dissemination, funding, organisational direction and, less prominently, governmental authority to drive policy implementation in primary schools. However, the use of these policy tools was often vaguely specified and disjointed both across different tools and between physical activity and healthy eating policies. Conclusion: High-level aspirations in national policy documents align across the dual approach of tackling childhood obesity by enhancing physical activity and healthy eating. However, the effectiveness of policies is likely constrained by limited alignment across different levels of the SEM and across different policy implementation tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the urgent need for critical analysis of the relationships between sport and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals enshrined in the United Nations' global development framework, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Importantly, there has yet to be any substantial academic exploration of the implications of the position accorded to sport as 'an important enabler' of the aims of 2030 Agenda and its broad set of Sustainable Development Goals. In beginning to address this gap, we draw on the concept of policy coherence for two reasons. First, the designation of a specific Target for policy coherence in the 2030 Agenda is recognition of its centrality in working towards Sustainable Development Goals that are considered as 'integrated and indivisible'. Second, the concept of policy coherence is centred on a dualism that enables holistic examination of both synergies through which the contribution of sport to the Sustainable Development Goals can be enhanced as well as incoherencies by which sport may detract from such outcomes. Our analysis progresses through three examples that respectively focus on: the common orientation of the Sport for Development and Peace 'movement' towards education-orientated objectives aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 4; potential synergies between sport participation policies and the Sustainable Development Goal 3 Target for reducing non-communicable diseases; and practices within professional football in relation to several migration-related Sustainable Development Goal Targets. These examples show the relevance of the Sustainable Development Goals across diverse sectors of the sport industry and illustrate complexities within and across countries that make pursuit of comprehensive policy coherence infeasible. Nevertheless, our analyses lead us to encourage both policy makers and researchers to continue to utilise the concept of policy coherence as a valuable lens to identify and consider factors that may enable and constrain various potential contributions of sport to a range of Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the diffusion of “Sport for Development and Peace” (SDP) across sub-Saharan Africa following global policy impetus provided by international organizations, including the United Nations, since the start of the twenty-first century. In so doing, the article centres on a geographical region that has been unconsidered in the policy diffusion literature and, particularly, responds to calls for research into the effects of policy characteristics on diffusion mechanisms and patterns. This rationale beget methods that differed from the predominant use of quantitative, dichotomous indicators of policy diffusion, instead integrating data from global, international and national policy documents, from a review of SDP literature, and from stakeholder interviews in Ghana and Tanzania. Patterns of increasing governmental engagement with, but limited implementation of, SDP policies contrasted with the significant expansion of SDP provision by diverse NGOs. In turn, these patterns represented the varying influence of different diffusion mechanisms on state and non-state actors. Compared with the diffusion of other types of policies, these findings indicated the effects of an instrumental, malleable but complex global policy model for SDP diffusion. There is, therefore, significant value in further research that examines how policy diffusion may depend on the configuration of particular policy characteristics, mechanisms and actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robert Putnam’s conceptualization of social capital has been commonly associated with, and used to analyse, sport-for-development programmes. This paper bucks this trend and uses James Coleman’s rational strain of social capital to examine the use of sport as a component part of a programme to support male adults in addressing connected problems of substance misuse, homelessness and other forms of social exclusion. Using a qualitative research strategy, in-depth and longitudinal data were collected using individual interviews and focus groups with programme participants and key stakeholders over a three-year period. The results suggest the importance of unintentionality for the formation and use value of social capital; indicating that social capital created through this programme was individual, contingent on interactional context and benefited individuals in line with Coleman’s six aspects of social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of attention towards issues of governance in both global sport-for-development (SfD) policy and academic literature is placed in stark relief when compared to the significance accorded to such issues in international development. This article addresses this lacuna in sport-for-development by drawing on international development literature as well as interview data from representatives of international agencies, domestic governments and in-country non-governmental organisations involved with sport-for-development in Ghana and Tanzania. As previously recognised in other development sectors, the commonality of narrow, project-based approaches in sport-for-development contributes to excessive donor influence, fragmentation, competition and limits both impact and sustainability. It was in response to similar problems that, from the mid-1990s, Sector-Wide Approaches were instigated within specific sectors in particular countries as a more systematic model of development governance based on leadership by the domestic government and co-ordination among donors and other stakeholders. Although interviewees' perspectives and some exemplar sport-for-development initiatives aligned with key features of Sector-Wide Approaches, significant challenges to their effective instigation in sport-for-development can be identified. Nevertheless, examining the applicability of Sector-Wide Approaches to sport-for-development raises important issues that require further consideration and demonstrates the necessity that sport-for-development, more generally, learns from the longer-established field of international development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the period from 2002 to 2010, the significance of youth sport to the Labour government in England led to substantial funding for initiatives aimed at increasing young people’s participation in sport and physical activity. In keeping with the government’s rhetoric of evidence-based policy, a plethora of different research reports on specific youth sport initiatives were commissioned. The purpose of this study was to synthesise relevant reports to better understand the implementation of Labour’s youth sport policies and to consider the extent to which insights drawn from these reports could extend understanding of effective approaches to improving young people’s participation in sport and physical activity. Inspired by a ‘realist synthesis’ approach, the research methodology focused attention towards the mechanisms, contexts and outcomes of youth sport initiatives. An iterative six-stage approach guided the identification and analysis of 13 research reports and enabled refinement of an initial programme theory that, drawn from governmental policy, encompassed mechanisms associated with management, use of resources and the provision of activities. In practice, approaches to addressing long-recognised problems in the supply of youth sport opportunities were supported by the scale of nationally provided financial resources and were reported to have some positive impact on participation. However, there were also indications that long-standing inequalities in participation remained resistant to change and this potentially reflected the lack of innovation in youth sport initiatives. Similarly, it is concluded that the politically constrained focus of the research reports limited their potential to contribute to evidence-based policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Achieving effective local collaboration, a strong theme of the previous Labour government, may actually become more important given Coalition government policies emphasising decentralisation and encouraging alternative providers of public services. Therefore, it remains essential to learn from experiences of collaboration especially as, despite significant research, few studies explicitly identify guidance for improving this practice that is of specific relevance to local policy actors. In order to do so, a decentred and ethnographic approach was adopted to examine collaboration in a case study of a Sport and Physical Activity Alliance in Casetown, a medium-sized city in the south of England. Findings from this case study reinforced those found in other studies that pointed to the constraints of targets imposed by the Labour government, ingrained approaches to public administration and lack of open acknowledgement of power differentials impeding the development of effective collaboration. Drawing on the suggestions of those involved in the alliance, an alternative vision of collaboration is advocated, focused on shared learning and bottom-up implementation within more fluid and open structures in which there would be greater scope for the exercise of agency on behalf of those individuals and organisations involved. As during the period of the Labour government, aspects of current wider policy agendas may impede as well as support the development of this alternative vision of collaboration. Nevertheless, it is argued that reflexive local actors may collectively be able to address the contextual challenges that exist in order to develop more effective forms and practices of collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential contribution of sport to development within the Global South has recently gained prominence in terms of policy, practice and as a subject of academic interest. Internationally oriented perspectives are predominant both in descriptive and analytic contributions to the emerging sport-for-development literature. Descriptive accounts highlight the importance of international policies, resources and organizational stakeholders. Analytic contributions are aligned with instrumental and hegemonic strands of the mainstream development literature that have been criticized for insufficiently contextualizing development within localities in the Global South. To address this limitation of much existing sport-for-development research, this study of sport and community development in Lusaka, Zambia, was guided by Bevir and Rhodes's [(2003). Interpreting British governance. London: Routledge] ‘decentred’ approach and Long's [(2001) Development sociology: actor perspectives. London: Routledge] actor-oriented sociology. Data were primarily collected through 37 interviews with representatives of organizations involved in youth and community development work in two case study communities. Sport was almost universally considered by interviewees to be an important aspect of local development efforts due to its popularity, accessibility and the malleable way it could be used to address complex and locally identified problems. Organizations involved in sport-for-development were primarily indigenous, received limited international input and were more diverse than commonly identified in the existing literature. Particular approaches to sport-for-development both linked to and challenged local cultural values. These findings suggest that the two case study communities represent counterexamples to internationalist perspectives in the sport-for-development literature. Consequently, it is suggested that alternative methodologies may enable a more balanced consideration of the relative influence of local and global aspects on sport-for-development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sport is being increasingly recognized for the contribution it can make to the Millennium Development Goals and, in particular, the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In both sport-for-development and HIV/AIDS sectors, partnerships are advocated as an effective approach to achieving policy goals. This exploratory study examined the nature of partnerships involving non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that use sport as a tool for HIV/AIDS prevention in Zambia. Sensitized by development literature, the study utilized an inductive, qualitative research approach primarily centred on interviews with key stakeholders from a variety of governmental and non-governmental agencies both based in Zambia and supporting sport-for-development programmes from overseas. A large number of different partnerships were identified by interviewees that varied significantly in terms of their purpose and form. Within the Zambian sport-for-development sector, organizational fragmentation and competition for resources provided by overseas agencies inhibited the development of partnerships aimed at policy co-ordination across the whole sector. Productive bilateral partnerships existed between sport-for-development NGOs and between these organizations and health-based NGOs. However, the sport-development sector lacked integration into more strategic partnerships that addressed HIV/AIDS policy issues. Incremental progress is identified as the key to future improvements in partnerships involving sport-for-development NGOs. Further research that examines how partnerships influence the delivery of programmes within specific communities would also enhance understanding of the contribution of sport to development efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of National Lottery funding for the provision of local sporting opportunities in England, research concerning the implications of the central governance of Lottery funded programmes has been limited. Drawing on theories of governance and governmentality, the research presented in this paper focused specifically on the Big Lottery Fund's governance of local partnerships in the New Opportunities for PE and Sport (NOPES) programme. Qualitative data collection enabled comparison of national aspirations for, and governance of, local partnerships with actual partnerships in three case studies. This analysis demonstrated that local contexts influenced local partnerships to a greater degree than the Big Lottery Fund's governance of the NOPES programme. The degree of specificity in national aspirations for local partnerships as well as the tools available to govern the NOPES programme nationally are used to explain these findings and, as a result, implications for both theoretical and policy development are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encouraging collaboration has been a central component of the Labour government's drive to modernise the delivery of public services and has been a key facet of recent sport policy in England. The proliferation of different forms of collaboration represents a reaction to the changes instigated by previous Conservative governments, which created a fragmented and congested state in which management approaches were based on competition and the value for money delivered by individual governmental agencies. However, the research literature on collaboration is somewhat limited by a lack of definitional clarity and is also characterised by the diversity of theoretical approaches that have been utilised. Research on collaboration in sport also remains in its infancy. To begin to address this limitation, case studies of collaboration between agencies involved in sport and physical activity for young people in two urban local authority areas are presented. The case studies provide evidence of the importance of such collaborations where there are a variety of sporting agencies that operate in changing local contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability is a concept that has become ubiquitous in sports development policy and practice. Despite this ubiquity, there remains a lack of clarity in practical understandings of the concept of sustainability. Moreover, research on sport and sustainability is limited and lacks theoretical underpinning. This article addresses these problems by proposing frameworks that can be used to examine and understand sustainability in sports development. In particular, two frameworks are developed through synthesising sustainability concepts presented in the literature on health programmes and adapting them to sports development through consideration of recent policies and programmes. The first framework addresses definitional issues by identifying four forms of sustainability that may be addressed by sports development programmes, namely individual, community, organisational and institutional sustainability. The second framework allows classification of processes that affect sustainability according to dimensions that concern the level of control held by agencies responsible for sports development sustainability and the level of integration between processes to achieve desired sports development outcomes and processes to achieve sustainability. Presentation of a case study of sustainability in the New Opportunities for PE and Sport Activities programme in Scotland enables discussion of the applicability of the frameworks to sports development as well as identification of implications that are derived from application of the frameworks. On the basis of this analysis, conclusions are drawn concerning the relationships between different forms of sustainability and the effectiveness of sports development programmes and the types of processes that affect different forms of sustainability. The implications for future research on sports development sustainability are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines local partnerships involved in the New Opportunities for PE and Sport programme, a national programme funding improvements in PE and sport facilities in the United Kingdom. Policy network frameworks, developed by Marsh & Rhodes (1992) and Marsh & Smith (2000), were used to analyse the form of partnerships and their associated policy processes. In doing so, the paper attempts to both demonstrate the utility of the concept of policy networks in analysing partnerships and further understanding of the effect of partnerships on policy development. Empirically, three types of partnership were identified in the ten local authority cases that comprised this study. Each type of partnership enacted a specific type of policy process and the resultant policy outcomes reflected these different processes. The resulting analysis examines the relationships between policy and factors internal and external to the partnerships examined. In turn, suggestions are made for future development of the policy network concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]