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The principles of critical pedagogy proposed by Paolo Freire have been widely cited as presenting the necessary intellectual tools to underpin sport-based programmes that are targeted towards marginalised groups. Yet, despite the widespread advocacy for Freire's educational philosophy, to date there have been few attempts to present theoretical articulations of how these pedagogical principles might be more precisely understood within the context of sport-for-development (SfD). One example, proposed by [Spaaij, R., & Jeanes, R. (2013). Education for social change? A Freirean critique of sport for development and peace. "Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy," 18(4), 442-457. https://doi.org/10.1080/17408989.2012.690378], offers a framework for 'critical SfD education' and emphasises the necessity for programmes that are co-created, inclusive and directive. However, there are an absence of studies that apply this framework directly to examine SfD programmes. This article seeks to offer some form of corrective in this respect by providing empirical insights which illustrate the utility of the principles outlined by Spaaij and Jeanes within the context of programmes that employ sport as a vehicle for individual development. The article draws upon the qualitative elements of two evaluations of sport-based programmes, both of which were concerned with providing support and vocational training for young people residing in areas of high deprivation in the United Kingdom. Findings reveal how the pedagogical methods employed within both programmes highlighted a co-created, inclusive and directive ethos, to demonstrate the benefits of adopting an educational approach that is community conscious and designed in concert with the themes and conditions of participant lives. Further studies are required to substantiate the suitability of Spaaij and Jeanes's framework within SfD practice, and there is a clear necessity to develop and empirically test further theoretical frameworks that are infused by the tenets of critical pedagogy but are more specific to the realm of SfD.

The utilisation of non-formal educational methods has long been advocated as a means of supporting marginalised young people. For many in this cohort, the adverse social circumstances that confront them can limit their sense of hope and leave them susceptible to educational under-achievement and/or engagement in anti-social behaviour. Research indicates that sport can act as an effective back-drop for the promotion of non-formal educational programmes especially in relation to marginalised youth. However, there is contention over the role that such programmes play in providing a foundation for enhanced aspirational goals and social integration. Drawing upon research conducted on one UK-based sporting intervention, this paper explores how project engagement enabled participants to enhance their sense of hope, especially around education, training and employment. In so doing the paper demonstrates how the pedagogical approach adopted by project staff, drew parallels with critical education, and nurtured an increased sense of hope amongst participants.

In recent years, there has been unprecedented awareness within policy and research of the disadvantageous trajectories that looked-after children and young people (LACYP) often face; particularly in relation to their education, health and wellbeing. Despite the perceived capacity of sport, physical activity and physical education to contribute to young people's positive development, relatively few studies have considered the place of such activities in the lives of LACYP or the impact that being looked-after can have on individuals' engagements with them. Presenting findings from a small-scale, qualitative study of LACYP in England, this paper explores the ways in which physical education and school sport (PESS) might be contextualised against broader life circumstances and experiences of care. Placing the personalised accounts of a group of LACYP alongside those of physical education (PE) teachers and local authority professionals, the paper examines varied perspectives and experiences of PESS and its relevance to LACYP. In particular, it highlights the extent to which the vulnerabilities of LACYP status may impact young peoples' perceptions of health, wellbeing and educational engagement in this field. The paper concludes by suggesting that whilst PESS may be seen to present a number of social, emotional and health benefits for LACYP, when located against a backdrop of broader life-course vulnerability, such benefits may be de-prioritised by those concerned.

This study examined whether thinking style mediated relationships between belief in conspiracy and schizotypy facets. A UK-based sample of 421 respondents completed the Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale (GCBS), Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences Short (O-Life), and measures indexing preferential thinking style (proneness to reality testing deficits and Need for Cognition). Path analysis revealed direct and indirect relationships between Conspiracy Beliefs and schizotypy facets. Unusual Experiences had a direct effect on Conspiracy Beliefs and predicted Reality Testing and Need for Cognition. Preferential thinking style mediated the schizotypy-belief in conspiracy relationship. This pattern of results (higher experiential-based processing and lower Need for Cognition) was consistent with intuitive thinking. Introverted Anhedonia and Impulsive Nonconformity predicted Reality Testing and had indirect effects on Conspiracy Beliefs. Finally, Reality Testing predicted Conspiracy Beliefs, whereas Need for Cognition did not. These results confirm that cognitive processes related to thinking style mediate the schizotypy-conspiracist beliefs relationship.

Sport is often framed as a panacea for social disharmony, especially within the context of marginalised youth populations, and is widely promoted as a mechanism through which a multiplicity of social policy objectives can be achieved. Yet while political rhetoric has long pointed towards sport's transformative abilities, the basis for such claims remains unproven. Theory-based approaches to evaluation have been posited as a useful device to explore the impact of specific initiatives and indicate where best practice may operate. The aim of this paper is to highlight one such theory-based framework that has been devised by practitioners in recent years around the operationalisation and evaluation of sporting interventions in criminal justice settings and which has come to be adopted as the dominant 'theory of change' across sport and criminal justice practitioner settings in the UK, but has, as yet, eluded academic scrutiny. To address this omission, the present discussion offers an in-depth analysis of this framework with the aim of discerning more clearly 'what might work' within sport and criminal justice contexts. In turn, the paper aims to stimulate further academic debate around the instrumental role of sport within criminal justice and the value of such frameworks for both policy and practice.

Community-based interventions have long been seen as mechanisms via which to target marginalised youth in relation to personal development. Research surrounding such interventions has often highlighted the promotion of a range of pro-social behaviours and attributes which, in turn, facilitate an increased sense of social inclusion. This paper seeks to build upon and extend this literature by adopting the concept of social capital to infer how participation in sport and performing arts programmes may enable marginalised youth to access wider support networks. Drawing upon qualitative findings from a small-scale study of one community-based intervention located in the UK, the paper explores broader notions of personal development in relation to educational and employment pathways whilst at the same time developing understandings of the processes through which such programmes might support social inclusion and social mobility. The paper concludes that when marginalised young people are presented with the opportunity to generate positive interpersonal relationships built upon trust, recognition and acceptance, there is clear potential for community-based activity interventions to act as a form of education to enhance employability and incubate social mobility through the accrual of social capital.

Over the past 20 years, a significant amount of research has located sports coaching principally as an educational endeavour. In particular, non-linear educative approaches have attracted much attention yet few studies have explored in any real depth the theoretical underpinnings of such practices. Where conceptual analyses have been conducted, the work of Vygotsky has emerged as a useful framework. The aim of the present study was to investigate the extent to which Vygotskian principles of learning and development might be evident within non-linear sports coaching practices and to examine whether embracing these principles might enhance coaching practice both in youth and adult settings. Drawing on qualitative empirical data, this paper explores how six coaches perceived their everyday practice as non-linear. Resultant findings uncover the nuances of both coach and athlete experience in line with three of Vygotsky's key theoretical assertions, namely: Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), scaffolding and mediation. The paper concludes by suggesting that the application of theoretical ideas has the potential to inform and enhance non-linear pedagogical approaches, yet coaches must remain cognisant of the bespoke nature of the coaching context.

Numerous sport-based interventions exist which target marginalised or 'at-risk' young people with the intention of enabling some form of social change for programme participants. Very often, the objective of such interventions is the acquisition and development of qualities associated with 'good citizenship'. However, critical scholars have noted how sport-based initiatives are frequently used as a form of social control, focusing on the development of personal responsibility. As such, these initiatives accentuate more passive forms of citizenship, as opposed to more active forms of citizenship towards which many educational policies and programmes are aimed. Nevertheless, there is a limited amount literature which explores the connection between sport-based interventions and citizenship development within marginalised or 'at-risk' youth populations. This paper presents findings from a small-scale, qualitative study of one such (football-based) intervention located in a number of inner-city boroughs of London, UK. Placing the accounts of programme participants and staff at the centre of the analysis, the paper: (i) uncovers the practicalities and nuances of football being utilised as a tool for social engagement, and (ii) explores broader notions of personal and behavioural development in relation to the acquisition of citizenship qualities. The paper concludes by suggesting that sporting activity may confer citizenship benefits for young people, but only when integrated into wider programmes of social support and community engagement.

Several judgment and decision-making tasks are assumed to involve memory functions, but significant knowledge gaps on the memory processes underlying these tasks remain. In a study on 568 adults between 25 and 80 years of age, hypotheses were tested on the specific relationships between individual differences in working memory, episodic memory, and semantic memory, respectively, and 6 main components of decision-making competence. In line with the hypotheses, working memory was positively related with the more cognitively demanding tasks (Resistance to Framing, Applying Decision Rules, and Under/Overconfidence), whereas episodic memory was positively associated with a more experience-based judgment task (Recognizing Social Norms). Furthermore, semantic memory was positively related with 2 more knowledge-based decision-making tasks (Consistency in Risk Perception and Resistance to Sunk Costs). Finally, the age-related decline observed in some of the decision-making tasks was (partially or totally) mediated by the age-related decline in working memory or episodic memory. These findings are discussed in relation to the functional roles fulfilled by different memory processes in judgment and decision-making tasks.

This article presents an analysis of gender identity within the context of lifelong learning. Constructed specifically around individual experiences of occupational apprenticeship in English professional football, it draws on a re-reading of data collected in the early 1990s to depict the way in which a group of young men were socialised into their new-found occupational culture and how their identities were shaped by the heavily gendered routines of workplace practice. Framing apprenticeship as a holistic "learning" experience, the article looks at how the legitimate peripheral participation of trainees in an established community of practice facilitated their adaptation to and assimilation of various skills, procedures and institutional norms via informal learning processes. Set against the historical development of apprenticeship in England, the article uses qualitative research findings to determine the extent to which apprenticeship within professional sport might facilitate the reproduction of stereotypical gender norms and values. (Contains 2 notes.)

This article presents an analysis of the way in which a group of students at one UK university mobilised their interest in and commitment to pro/feminist values and ideals through the establishment of a student society geared towards combating anti-sexism. Placing the students at the centre of the discussion, the article describes the various strategies adopted by the group to proselytise their views and how, through the utilisation of a range of resources, they sustained a programme of political activism around issues of gender inequalities. Highlighting the possible connections between pedagogic practice, classroom experience and extra-curricular activity, the article demonstrates the ways in which the teaching and learning process might facilitate student engagement with a broader set of ideas about life both inside and outside of the university setting. Within the context of ongoing change surrounding UK higher education, and the heavily gendered institutional climate which this supports, the article provides evidence to suggest that curricular design and delivery can impact upon student motivations towards a contemporary and, it is argued, transgressive and transformative, reworking of feminist principles and ideals.

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research project carried out in a UK Pupil Referral Unit during the 2000/01 academic year. It describes and analyses the strategies adopted by a small group of Behaviour Support Service teachers in order to achieve their everyday occupational goals. It is argued that despite their commitment to the reintegration of excluded pupils into mainstream schools, the pedagogic practices adopted by these teachers served to contribute to an amplification, rather than a moderation, of pupil disaffection and misbehaviour. Teachers' perceptions and understandings about the nature and aims of lesson content varied whilst concerns and preoccupations about classroom control remained constant. Within the context of ongoing government debates in the UK surrounding "social exclusion" and, more specifically, educational exclusion, these findings call for a widening of the research agenda in these areas to include more detailed investigations of occupational circumstance and practitioner needs within non-traditional school settings. (Contains 18 notes.)

An ethnographic study of British professional football (soccer) Youth Trainees shows how the attitudes and practices regarding education and work of a distinct subculture affect those who sought preparation for postfootball careers through educational development. Within the subculture, college attendance was regarded as unmanly and threatening to group identity. (SK)