Sport and character: reflections on character development using sport within Wales

Aims
Articulate a philosophical basis for social justice oriented character education in sport
Understand coaches perceptions and competence with using sport for social justice oriented character development in Wales
Understand the approach to coach education for social justice character development in Welsh sport coaching pathways (explicit and implicit)
Develop recommendations for practice that synthesise findings from the above three aims

Purpose
The main purpose of the proposed research will be to articulate, refine and/or develop a framework that can be used by grassroots sports coaches in Wales to support character development in their athletes.

Potential impact outside of academia
Social justice is a highly topical issue not only in sport but in society as a whole. It is becoming increasingly important to answer the question of how we can make the world a better place for all of its inhabitants and this is a question each country has to answer. Character education has a role to play in this as people's attitudes and behaviours can be directly shaped through it. The hope is that the recommendations that come out of this study can directly shape character education policies in the area of sport and this will have direct correlation with infusing social justice concerns into society as a whole. Character is shaped over the long-term and the full benefits of such policy may only be seen decades later but that does not negate from their value.

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Character has many dimensions, one of which is the civic dimension. Someone with a good civic character is thought to act as a productive member of society and able to advance group concerns. There has been recent interest in how sport can be a useful avenue through which one can develop this civic character, specifically, citizens concerned with social justice (Bredemeier and Shields, 2019). Furthermore, there has been recent scholarship that argued that character education in the UK neglects this collective domain and rather focuses on character at the individual level (Jerome & Kisby, 2020).

The current project will build upon these ideas by systematically examining the role that sport can play in building civic character among youths in the Welsh context by asking:
1) How do we define good civic character?
2) How can sport help in civic character development?
3) What role does the coach play in this?
4) What are coaches' perceptions and competencies in regards to using sport for civic character development?
5) what recommendations relevant to the Welsh context can be given in regards to using sport for civic character development?

The success of the project will rest upon balancing theoretical and applied approaches to research, a balance not easy to find in work related to the philosophy of sport (Elcombe, 2018). The hope is that the recommendations that come out of this study can begin to answer calls for character education research focused on producing "lasting, coherent or cohesive change" (Conroy, 2020).

References

1) Bredemeier, B. L. & Shields D. L. (2019). Social justice, character education and sport: A position statement. Quest, 71(2), 202-214, DOI:10.1080.00336297.2019.1608270

2) Conroy, J. C. (2020). Chaos or coherence? Future directions for moral education. Journal of Moral Education, 50(1), 1-12, DOI: 10.1080/03057240.2020.1830578.