Module SPRT3141: SPORTS POLICY IN ACTION

Department: Sociology (Sport)

SPRT3141: SPORTS POLICY IN ACTION

Prerequisites

• • SPRT2231: Sports Development: Policies and Practices or SPRT2301: Sport, Physical Activity and Society

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• Enable students to gain a comprehensive understanding of major trends in policy from both government and civil society in relation to sport and physical activity;
• Enable students to critically evaluate and debate the challenges and issues facing sport in delivering the contemporary domestic policy agenda;
• Enable students to critically evaluate and debate the challenges and issues facing sport in delivering a policy agenda centred upon sustainable international development, peace-building and conflict resolution
• Enable students to understand different models of the policy process in evaluating selected sport and physical activity policies.

Content

• This module will focus on issues relating to the development of public policy and relating to sport and physical activity and the connections between the two;
• This module will also examine the development of policy within international civil society (e.g. the United Nations system) regarding ‘sport for development and peace’
• Students will be made aware of government and non-government policy in relation to sport development from both a national and international perspective. Consideration will be given to policy change over the last twenty to thirty years and the increasing salience of sport to governments especially in relation to increasing participation, improving performance and promoting health as well as mobilizing sport in the service of international development and conflict resolution;
• Close scrutiny will be given to the challenges and barriers facing government policy with a specific focus on comparative sport policy. Particular attention will be given to the variation in sport policy development in the UK, Canada, Australia, Finland and New Zealand;
• Students will be made aware of the importance of theoretical frameworks in analyzing sport policy.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of this module students will be able to:
• Demonstrate an understanding of factors impacting policy development for government and civil society in relation to sport and physical activity and do so from a national and international perspective;
• Critically analyse the challenges and barriers, including political, social and economic, which affect the development and implementation of sport policy;
• Understand and apply different models of the policy process in evaluating selected sport and leisure policies.

• By the end of this module students will be able to:
• Critically and informatively debate the factors and issues affecting the development of sport policy;
• Make effective use of policy concepts, techniques and approaches in analysing sport policy development;
• Research, assess and critically evaluate the development, implementation and effectiveness of a variety of sport policies.
• Formulate applied questions relating to policy & practice in sport; selectively summarise relevant literature and policy documentation; critically appraise available models relating to applied sport policy;
• Apply both theoretical and methodological expertise to the analysis and critique of sport policy in various political and international contexts;

• Use IT and library facilities to conduct efficient literature and policy documentation searches;
• Manage their time appropriately in order to meet the requirements of independent study;
• Apply both theoretical and methodological expertise to analysis
• Demonstrate written communication 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, tasks and group discussions. The lectures will address key principles, research, issues and programmes in sport and physical activity;
• Group discussions will allow opportunities for students to reflect and critically analyse government policy in greater depth;
• Assessment will be conducted through a 3,000 word assignment that will require students to research a relevant aspect of policy relating to the growing salience of sport policy to governments and civil society and the tensions that have emerged within the field of sport policy development. There will also be a two hour examination which will require students to review their study within the module and answer specific questions that reflect the key learning outcomes of the module.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Two non-compulsory multiple choice tests.

■ 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