Transitional experiences of post-16 sports education: Jack’s story

Abstract

This paper explores the layered transitional experiences of a semi-professional athlete named Jack (a pseudonym) between the fields of professional sport and further and higher education. Our analysis is framed by the quadripartite framework of structuration and focuses on Jack’s ‘in-situ’ practices at his college and university in order to illustrate how these can operate to reproduce, transform, and challenge the habitual discourses and rituals that circulate within these institutions by generating forms of corporeal empowerment for young athletes who have valued conjunctural knowledge. The findings highlight the fragility of the transition process and raise questions regarding how the experiences of young people are shaped by the relationships between employment and post-16 education. Jack’s experiences have implications for both policy and practice within further education and higher education.

Keywords:

• case study
• further education
• higher education
• student experience
• strong structuration theory
• transition

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the three reviewers that have provided constructive feedback in shaping this article. Thanks must also go to Jack, for his enthusiasm and the insights he provided during the course of this study.