Standing on the touchline of chaos: explaining the development of the use of sports coaches in UK primary schools with the aid of complexity theory

Abstract

The growing trend of employing sports coaches in primary schools to deliver both curricular physical education and extracurricular activities is a relatively recent phenomenon in the UK. Though a small number of research papers have sought to document this occurrence, they appear to have fallen some way short of capturing the complexity of the educational landscape. Using an applied theoretical framework from complexity theory, a number of specific insights are highlighted. The paper concludes by suggesting that the UK finds itself at a pivotal point in the pedagogical future of primary physical education.

Keywords:

• physical education
• primary
• complexity
• sport
• coaching