Improving the Practicum Experience in Sport Management: A Case Study

Abstract

Research on cooperative education is widespread; such studies in sport management are just as vital. This study examined student and host agency views on their actual (present behaviour) and optimal performance (desired standard) during practicum and analyzed the performance gap between present (actual) and optimal performance. Themes from journals written by 25 sport management students at an Australian university and 21 host agency evaluation reports, including nine in-depth interviews were analyzed. The data helped identify and compare perceptual differences and similarities between present behaviour and desired standard. The paper concludes with recommendations to improve the practicum experience in sport management.

Keywords:

• Sport management student
• vocational and education benefits
• cooperative education
• best practice
• field experience