Learner-centred pedagogy for swim coaching: a complex learning theory-informed approach

Abstract

While constructivist theories of learning have been widely drawn on to understand and explain learning in games when using game-based approaches their use to inform pedagogy beyond games is limited. In particular, there has been little interest in applying constructivist perspectives on learning to sports in which technique is of prime importance. This article contributes to redressing this oversight in the sport pedagogy literature by drawing on complex learning theory to propose a learner-centred, inquiry-based approach to coaching swimming grounded in two specific examples of theory in action.

Keywords:

• sport technique
• constructivism
• swimming
• complex learning theory

Note on contributor

Richard Light is a professorial research fellow in Human Movement at Federation University (formally University of Ballarat) prior to which he held the 75th Carnegie Anniversary Chair in Sport Pedagogy at Leeds Metropolitan University. He was a foundation member of the International TGfU Task force from 2002 to 2009, convened the 2006 Asia Pacific Conference on Teaching Sport and Physical Education for Understanding in Sydney and symposia on TGfU at the Association Internationale des Ecoles Superieures d'Education Physique (AIESEP) World Congress in Finland (2006) and Japan (2008). He is author of Game Sense: Pedagogy for Performance, Participation and Enjoyment published in 2013 by Routledge.