Summary of entries in education and lifelong learning

The reviews in this section illustrate the potential of sport (including sports event volunteering) to contribute, directly and indirectly, to improved cognitive and educational performance and provide valuable developmental experiences. They also illustrate the need for innovative approaches to delivery to maximise these benefits and the need for more rigorous research.

Current research into the nature of the relationship between participation in physical activity/sport and educational performance has produced mixed, inconsistent and often non-comparable results (Etnier et al; Sallis et al; Shephard; Marsh and Kleitman). For example, some cross-sectional studies illustrate a positive correlation between participation in sport and physical activity and academic success (eg maths, reading, acuity, reaction times). However, critics point to a general failure to solve the issue of direction of cause – whether intelligence leads to success in sport, whether involvement in sport enhances academic performance, or whether a third factor (eg personality traits) explains both (Shephard; Etnier et al; Marsh and Kleitman). Longitudinal studies also generally support the suggestion that academic performance is enhanced, or at least maintained, by increased habitual physical activity. However, critics suggest that these studies are not definitive because some do not use randomised allocation of pupils to experimental and control groups (to control for pre-existing differences), others tend to use (subjective) teacher-assigned grades to assess academic achievement, rather than standardised and comparable tests and some programmes include parallel interventions making it difficult to isolate specific effects (Sallis et al; Shephard).

More generically, Etnier et al illustrate that both acute exercise and chronic training programmes have small, but beneficial, positive impacts on cognitive performance. However, they conclude that as experimental rigour decreased, effect size increased. Further, generalisation is limited because the nature and type of exercise, the type of participants, the nature of the cognitive tests and the methodological quality of the study influenced effect size.

Sallis et al sought to address some of these perceived methodological deficiencies in a two-year longitudinal study of the effect of PE on academic achievement. They used random allocation to one control and two treatment groups, with pre-and post standardised tests. They conclude that increased time spent on a health-related PE programme did not lead to improved educational performance, although lower levels of decline among groups with classroom teachers trained to teach PE may indicate their improved ability to teach more academic subjects. More generally, the physical and emotional benefits of regular sports/physical education participation can be obtained without a negative impact on academic achievement. This conclusion is supported by Shepard’s review and Lindner (using the methodologically less rigorous approach of self-rated measures of sports participation and academic performance).

The longitudinal, large scale, study by Marsh and Kleitman sought to address some of the methodological limitations associated with cross sectional studies. The authors claim that their data confirms that sport contributes to an identification/commitment to school and school values which in turn has widespread positive influence on academic performance (which are a central part of school values).

The study by Sharp et al does not address the direct impact of sport on learning. Rather, it illustrates that the salience of sport for young people can be used to over-come stigma and attract young people to out-of-school compensatory educational programmes which achieve substantial improvements in literacy, numeracy and ICT – that sport, in partnership with specialist development programmes, can make a contribution to improved educational performance. This emphasis on partnership is also central to many of the contributions in the Crime Reduction and Community Safety section.

The work of Danish and Allen illustrates that if sport is to achieve some of the desired life-skills, a more focussed and analytical approach is required. They suggest that specially designed sports-based programmes can be delivered to develop a range of transferable skills (eg goal-setting; communication; handling success and failure) and enhance self-perception and social competence. However, in order to achieve these outcomes, there is a need for specially trained sports psychologists who concentrate on process and task, rather than the more traditional approach of performance and outcome behaviours.

The article by Petitpas et al illustrates some of these general issues via an analysis of the Play it Smart programme in the USA. This broad based community programme uses specially trained academic-coaches’ to establish academic, counselling and coaching relationships with football players in inner city areas. The evaluation of the pilot indicates a degree of academic success.

More generally, Hansen et al’s research explores issues relating to the nature of the learning and developmental experiences associated with sport, compared to other organised youth activities. The learning experiences are related mostly to personal development (self-knowledge, emotional regulation/control and physical skills), although sport also recorded the highest rates of negative peer interaction and inappropriate adult behaviour. As with other authors in this section, they emphasise the need for research into process - how specific, controllable experiences of youth activity are related to positive developmental change.

Most research in this area relates to the effects of sports participation in sport. However, Kemp, in a study of 200 volunteers at the Lillehammer Winter Olympics and the Sydney Olympics, illustrates that the majority of volunteers had positive learning and work-relevant experiences. She suggests that there is a need a greater undertanding of the human resource management issues relating to sports events.

The researchers included in this section outline a number of studies that need to be undertaken to clarify the nature of the relationship between sport, physical activity and educational performance.

• Longitudinal studies using randomised control groups with before-and-after standardised testing, undertaken with a range of socio-economic and ethnic groups.
• Studies to examine potential underlying mechanisms (eg changes in cognitive or psychomotor functions; increased self-esteem/cerebral blood-flow; nutrient intake).
• Studies to examine the differing effects of different types and amounts of activity on brain structure and function.
• Examination of whether the improvement of the ability of primary classroom teachers to teach PE might lead to better student academic performance.