Module SPRT2231: SPORTS POLICY AND SPORTS DEVELOPMENT

Department: Applied Social Sciences (Sport)

SPRT2231: SPORTS POLICY AND SPORTS DEVELOPMENT

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To provide students with an understanding of the political and social context within which sports policy-making occurs;
• To provide students with an understanding of social problems within sport, as well as social problems more broadly, and the ways in which sport policies are developed as a result and in response.
• To enable students to gain a clear and critical understanding of sports development amidst the challenges posed by various policy problems;
• To introduce students to some of the theoretical and conceptual tools through which to analyse and evaluate policy problems and sports policy;
• To provide students with an understanding of the political, social, theoretical and methodological issues and challenges related to policy development and implementation.

Content

• Many aspects of sport command policy attention. Issues directly relevant to playing sport such as violence, racism, homophobia and drug use have all been subjected to the 'policy lens' in recent times. In addition, broader social and structural concerns such as urban and economic regeneration, terrorism, crime prevention, disability, health and well-being and social exclusion are increasingly occupying central places on the policy agenda for sport in the UK and elsewhere. With such breadth of policy concerns, sports policy is one of the most rapidly changing policy areas we have. It is also one of the most contested, and is subject to pressures from government, commerce, media and the community. With this as brief background, this module will examine the practical implications of delivering the ever-changing sports agendas of successive governments. While the main focus of the module is on policy problems and sports policy in the UK, examples from other policy contexts will also be examined. The practical issues in current sports development will form the central part of this module.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of this module students will be able to:
• Demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the different approaches to sport policy taken by government in the UK since the mid 1970s;
• Demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of issues of politics and practice in the development of sports policy;
• Explore, analyse and reflect critically on the organizing and positioning of sport in response to policy problems including: economic regeneration, social deprivation and inequality, crime, child protection, gender equity, and health and well-being.

• By the end of this module students will be able to:
• Examine the construction of policy problems, within sport and more broadly, and evaluate sport development and sport policies in response to these problems;
• Critically appraise policy documents drawing on a number of theoretical and analytical frameworks;
• Interpret policy-based research.

• By the end of this module students will be able to:
• Apply social science theories and perspectives to sport and sports development;
• Employ social research methodologies to analyse and evaluate sports policy;
• Explain key issues that impact on the delivery of sports policy;
• Demonstrate written communications skills.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Teaching and learning will be centred onlectures and seminars and will allow opportunities for students to reflect and critically analyse government policy;
• Assessment will be centred upon two (2,000 and 2,500 word) assignments that will require students to research and report on a specific aspect of sport policy or sports development .

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Non-compulsory 1,000 word assignment.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University