The Student Social System Within Sport Education

This paper examines student participation in units of sport education from the perspective of those students’ social agenda. Using a combination of fieldnotes, interview, and videotape data, four major themes emerged: (a) a change in the way students socialized during class (with a particular emphasis on the development of teamwork and cooperation), (b) a change in the opportunities for personal and social development (including leadership skills and cooperation), (c) a change in the nature of competition (where winning became more important and led to greater student effort), and (d) a change in how students viewed their learning within their physical education class. While in regular physical education contexts, the student social system often conflicts with the teacher’s agenda, in this study, data suggested that because students were placed in both instructional and managerial leadership roles, these typically teacher-driven task systems became an integral part of the student social system.