Scaffolding student–coaches’ instructional leadership toward student-centred peer interactions

Abstract

This study was the first in sport education to provide a yearlong, in-depth examination of the scaffolding processes used by a teacher during student participation in four consecutive seasons. Given the peer teaching format of the learning activities and curriculum ownership allocated to students, a focus was placed on the preparation of the students in the role of team coaches to conduct instruction in student-centred interactions (active engagement of teammates in problem-solving, discovery, and the construction of knowledge). Twenty-six seventh grade students participated in four consecutive seasons of sport education (basketball, handball, soccer, and volleyball). The research involved four action-research iterative cycles of planning, acting, monitoring, and reflecting. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews with teams and exclusively with the student–coaches, lesson observations, and a field diary kept by the first author, who assumed the role of practitioner–researcher. Findings showed the scaffolding of the student–coaches’ instructional leadership was a non-linear process contingently adjusted in reference to aspects such as student–coaches’ progress in the mastery of instructional processes, the complexity of the domain-specific content, and the nature of the sports. As the student–coaches developed knowledge of content and instruction, they became increasingly self-assisted in the conduct of the learning activities. The ability to use simplified questioning to scaffold teammates’ prior learning experiences, to prompt teammates’ analysis and active discovery of solutions to game problems, and independent adjustment of instruction to the particular context were the key achievements. Specific training is necessary if student–coaches are to engage teammates actively in learning interactions.