Further Education (FE) Sports Lecturer Professionalism: ‘Freedom to Play’, or ‘Do as I Say?’

Abstract

This chapter discusses what the working practices and professionalism of sports lecturers can tell us about the challenges of professionalism in further education (FE). This chapter draws on Jake's doctoral research in which he interviewed five sports lecturers working in FE colleges in England, about their identities and practices. In this chapter, Jake talks about his own experiences as a sports lecturer in FE and how his increasing disillusionment with his role led him to undertake doctoral research in this field. We explore constructions of professionalism within FE, and we show that through a process Jake identified and labelled as ‘competitive mediation’, the sports lecturers he interviewed used their experiences as elite sports people to navigate the highly performative environments in which they were working. The positives and negatives of using this strategy for them, their learners and wider society are explored in this chapter. We suggest that although Jake's research focused specifically on sports lecturers in FE settings, his insights can be applied more widely, we reflect on the importance of considering the impact our own diverse lived experiences may have on our sense of professionalism as researchers and practitioners.

Citation

Bacon, J. and Podpadec, T. (2024), "Further Education (FE) Sports Lecturer Professionalism: ‘Freedom to Play’, or ‘Do as I Say?’", Waller, R., Andrews, J. and Clark, T. (Ed.) Critical Perspectives on Educational Policies and Professional Identities, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 65-83. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83753-332-920241005