TY - JOUR
T1 - Cooperation between schools and elite sports. How are schools affected from engaging in athletic talent development?
AU - Nielsen, Jens Christian
AU - Skrubbeltrang, Lotte Stausgaard
AU - Olesen, Jesper Stilling
AU - Karen, David
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - In this article, we show how collaboration between Danish municipal primary and lower secondary schools (folkeskoler) and elite sports clubs to establish SportsClasses enables schools to set parameters that align student-athletes’ attitudes and behavior towards school and academic performance. Using neo-institutional theory, we show how two separate institutional domains–education and sport–come to agree on common purposes and practices for an endeavor that takes place on the ‘home field’ of education. We apply the theoretical concepts of ‘contractualisation’ and ‘accountability’ to understand what these learning agreements or implicit social contracts involve, how they are made, and how they are enforced. These concepts capture the empirical governance mechanisms that produce the integration of athletes into school norms and practices as well as how these norms and practises are re-configured as an effect of the cooperation. The article is based on an ethnographic study of the admissions process for SportsClasses. We discuss the benefits and risks for the publicly funded school system in entering into such social learning contracts.
AB - In this article, we show how collaboration between Danish municipal primary and lower secondary schools (folkeskoler) and elite sports clubs to establish SportsClasses enables schools to set parameters that align student-athletes’ attitudes and behavior towards school and academic performance. Using neo-institutional theory, we show how two separate institutional domains–education and sport–come to agree on common purposes and practices for an endeavor that takes place on the ‘home field’ of education. We apply the theoretical concepts of ‘contractualisation’ and ‘accountability’ to understand what these learning agreements or implicit social contracts involve, how they are made, and how they are enforced. These concepts capture the empirical governance mechanisms that produce the integration of athletes into school norms and practices as well as how these norms and practises are re-configured as an effect of the cooperation. The article is based on an ethnographic study of the admissions process for SportsClasses. We discuss the benefits and risks for the publicly funded school system in entering into such social learning contracts.
KW - Talent development
KW - accountability
KW - contractualisation
KW - elite sports
KW - lower secondary school
KW - neo-institutional theory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096135167&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09620214.2020.1847167
DO - 10.1080/09620214.2020.1847167
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0962-0214
VL - 31
SP - 325
EP - 346
JO - International Studies in Sociology of Education
JF - International Studies in Sociology of Education
IS - 3
ER -