Sport, Higher Education and Critical Pedagogies

Hanya Pielichaty, Philippa Velija, Catherine Phipps, Nik Dickerson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781032940915
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781040677780
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Higher Education
• Index: Social Sciences

This book explores the use of critical pedagogies for teaching and learning in sport-related degree courses.

Bringing together new research, it provides lecturers and instructors with practical guidance and case studies on planning and managing teaching in a way that facilitates social justice and inclusion. Featuring the work of leading sport researchers sharing scholarship and practice from the UK, North America, Europe and Asia, the book covers teaching and learning across the sport-related curriculum, including the sociology of sport, sport business and management, and sports coaching. It explores important issues and debates in contemporary sport studies and presents new approaches on topics such as gender equity in teaching and practice, a decolonised curriculum, anti-oppression and queer pedagogies, and pedagogy and identity in divided societies.

An essential toolkit for building transformative sport-related courses that will help students to become agents of positive social change, this book is important reading for any lecturer, instructor, course leader, researcher or advanced student working in sport within higher education.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of figures and tables
• List of contributors
• 1 Introducing sport, higher education and critical pedagogies
• 2 The sociology of sport, critical pedagogies and national identity in Northern Ireland
• 3 Contemplative practices and anti-oppression pedagogy in sport-focused higher education
• 4 Experiences as a young action researcher: Developing a contemporary sports coaching curriculum
• 5 Analysing Dutch sport studies in higher education: “I do not know a lot about colonialism”
• 6 The transformative power of SportsCrit™ in sports education: Illuminating the field
• 7 Teaching outdoor and adventure recreation through a queer pedagogical lens
• 8 History as a critical pedagogical methodology: From the present to the past
• 9 Freirean-informed sport coach education: A platform for voice
• 10 Innovative approaches to sports education: A focus on transformative pedagogies
• 11 Self-tracking as a form of pedagogy
• 12 Deportigualízate: A critical intersectional feminist curriculum for challenging gender inequities in sports and physical education
• 13 ‘At the moment, it all seems to be men’: Gender regimes as a framework for analysing and disrupting gender relations on higher education sports courses
• 14 Women student-athletes’ perceptions on life skills and careers through higher-education sport in Japan
• 15 Gender-responsive strategies to reframe belonging in sports science for students with caring responsibilities
• 16 Where are all the women in sports business management? A cross-examination of the sports industry, scholarship and higher education sports business programmes
• 17 A reflection on designing and implementing a sport sociology module from a decolonial perspective: What are the stories we know and what are the stories we tell?
• 18 Problem-based learning for social justice in a socio-cultural sport programme: Supporting shared goals and real-world learning
• 19 Deconstructing disability in physical education Initial Teacher Training
• 20 Addressing issues of free-riding through a viva warning approach to group assessment on a sports studies module: A critical pedagogy perspective
• 21 Putting social theory to work: Developing agents-for-change in sport coaching
• 22 Where next for higher education, sport and critical pedagogies?
• Index