From interprofessional working to transprofessional possibilities: the new age of sports coaching in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This positional paper is concerned with the professional and occupational interrelationships that coaches are subject to within two areas of UK sports provision. While there are already elements of interprofessional workings within state sponsored elite sports provision, such as the English Institute of Sport, community coaches and sports leaders are now being asked to play an increasing role in sports participation as part of wider social intervention measures. These new occupational positionings are set against a policy backdrop of the on-going professionalization of the UK coaching workforce. Key to the emerging claim to be regarded as a profession is the requirement to be perceived as both partners and equals within the increasingly prevalent discourse surrounding sport, at elite and community levels, as well as the utilization of physical education as a tool of health intervention. We argue that this call for multi-agency working fails to take account of entrenched positioning, the professional siloing of knowledge, and the fear that transgressions across professional boundaries weaken the status and location of groups who may already be subject to notions of professional insecurity. Applying a Bourdieusian lens, this paper proceeds to problematize these emerging relationships and suggest that there needs to be a more considered analysis of their potential impact and possibilities.

Keywords:

• Bourdieu
• UK sports policy
• professionalization
• field
• capital

Notes

1. The term emplotment in this instance is used to mean an occupational position which affords the holder some cultural and/or social value.