Dean Brown | Durham University (original) (raw)

Papers by Dean Brown

United Kingdom (UK) was a relatively ‘late adopter’ (Green & Houlihan, 2005: 63) to the trend of ... more United Kingdom (UK) was a relatively ‘late adopter’ (Green & Houlihan, 2005: 63) to the trend of nations viewing elite sporting success as a ‘resource valuable for its malleability and its capacity to help achieve a wide range of non – sporting objectives’ (Green & Houlihan, 2005: 1). From the 1990s successive UK governments shifted from historically fragmented sports policies (Roche, 1993) to funded, systematic and centralised systems (Bloyce & Smith, 2010). At the helm, elite sport and in its wake grassroots community sport has encouraged mass participation for sporting and non-sporting objectives.
This essay will critically explore the premise that UK Sport should focus solely on achieving elite sporting success in the belief this has a ‘trickle down’ or ‘demonstration effect’ on community grassroots and mass participation sport (Green, 2007: 943). There will be discussions of historical and contemporary rationales of key sport policies and in doing so, map the origins of tensions between elite and grassroots funding particularly following past restructures to UK Sport and the forthcoming 2012 Olympics.
Interwoven throughout the essay will be insights from theoretical policy frameworks such as advocacy coalition framework (ACF), multiple streams framework (MSF) and path dependency theory, in order to illustrate of how UK Sport has emerged and learned from the experience of Eastern Block nations and Australia. Throughout the essay there will be examples of methodological difficulties and empirical evidence behind the claims of sport per se and in particular elite sport’s potential to influence wider social objectives. For these issues are at the heart of the debate surrounding UK Sports policy trajectory i.e. can the wider welfare policy objectives of youth and community sports development coexist successfully or even reach a point of ‘convergence’ with the elite sports objectives of talent development and international sporting success (Houilihan, 2011).
In order to understand why UK Sport looked internationally for policy learning, it is useful to trace the fragmented emergence of sport as a sector of public policy interest. Using a timeline from 1960s there will be a critique of policy themes and rationales such as targeted recreational welfare sport policies, desire for international sporting success, contemporary concerns over physical inactivity and finally the economic lure and political kudos of hosting a mega Olympic event. For it is against a background of pluralism, convoluted political rationales and discourse coalitions (Green, 2006) that the UK has developed a sports policy trajectory that is ‘path dependent’ (Kay, 2005, cited in Houlihan and Green, 2008: 17) on elite sport investment using state and private funding beyond the 2012 Olympics (DCMS, 2010). From this assertion personal judgments will be made over whether this policy trajectory can remain electorally palatable if elite sport is perceived to be ‘disconnected from a vigorous commitment to mass participation’ (Houlihan & Green, 2008: 19).

Pierre Sorlin (1980, cited in Hughson, 2009: 122) suggests historical films are imaginary reconst... more Pierre Sorlin (1980, cited in Hughson, 2009: 122) suggests historical films are imaginary reconstructions of the past, which ‘combine actual events and completely fictitious episodes’. Cinderella Man fits this description; it purports to be an accurate account of boxer James. J .Braddock and yet through film production codes it has the allegorical qualities of a piece of fiction (Rowe, 1998). It is interesting therefore to critically analyse how intentionally and unintentionally the film represents issues such as socio-economic class exploitation, commodification and cultural hegemony within a piece of social history which has parallels with contemporary society.
From the 1930’s onwards the Frankfurt School of critical theory created a class domination theory underpinned by a belief that society was determined by economic elites. Culture industries, such as film were vehicles of social control that created and satisfied false needs to distract mass attention away from socio-economic exploitation (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1977, cited in Roberts, 1999). Contemporary sociological and textual analysis of film has largely been completed within neo - Marxist and cultural studies frameworks (Boyle & Haynes, 2009). Concepts such as reception theory have moved on from the view that audiences’ thoughts can be intravenously injected with dominant ideologies, as suggested by the Frankfurt School’s ‘Effects Model’ (Abercrombie, 1996). Instead it is suggested; audiences react and interpret the meanings of films like Cinderella Man based upon their own social and cultural backgrounds (Hall, 1973).
This essay will use ideas from relevant social theory perspectives to illustrate the polysemic nature of Cinderella Man by examining how it employs a set of “recognisable techniques and codes” (Kennedy & Hills, 2009: 34) that when decoded, offer another level of connotation to the socio- economic class themes that underscore the film. While laudable in highlighting issues of exploitation, Cinderella Man is itself a mass entertainment distraction, and a tool of cultural hegemony in the way it packages, reproduces and resolves the issues on film for its target audience. Interwoven throughout the essay will be semiotic analysis of the signifying systems of language, sound and image that are encoded to “speak to specific sets of audiences” (Sturken & Cartright, 2001).

‘One of the most pessimistic statistics about modern Britain is the lack of improvement in social... more ‘One of the most pessimistic statistics about modern Britain is the lack of improvement in social mobility over recent decades, but one of the most optimistic facts is the way in which higher education can wipe out prior educational advantage’. David Willetts, (www.bis.gov.uk, 2011:6)

We have entered a political era of a coalition government where ‘realpolitik’ is the rhetoric of politicians looking to remain electorally palatable. David Willett’s language again represents the potential of higher education to assist social mobility however the historical realism of the graph suggests otherwise! The purpose of this report will be therefore to explore representations and realisms of social class in HE and ask whether Widening Participation (WP) can ever overcome the hegemony of a two tiered HE system, ideologically entrenched in meritocratic principles and where ‘elitism is built into the very fabric of HE’ (Reay et al., 2005: 163

Equality of educational opportunity since the 1944 Education Act has been “the bedrock of social ... more Equality of educational opportunity since the 1944 Education Act has been “the bedrock of social and political discourse” (TLRP, 2008). Central to this discourse have been the attempts to create a socially representative university sector (Reay et al., 2005). Widening Participation (WP) is a controversial issue for Higher Education (HE) because it generates ideologically different views about what constitutes access and participation. New Labour again exposed these views with explicit intentions to consolidate movement from elite to mass system of HE by WP from 31% to 50% by 2010 (DfES, 2003).
Political rationales for contemporary WP are products of macro - economic and social justice policy objectives. These objectives are framed within requirements for a ‘knowledge economy or a learning society to ensure success in the global market’ (Thomas, 2001: 4). This however is not a new phenomenon. The history of HE is a recurring story of legislative attempts to ‘manage human capital and achieve economic growth’ by changing the social composition of HE (Kettley, 2007: 333).
This essay will explore recurring drivers in key historical HE policies and deconstruct the statistical progress of WP and its repercussions against the backdrop of ideological tensions, in which there are two generally distinctive positions. One view is that a systematic shift is required in HE infrastructure away from a differentiated and stratified system by implementing fully democratic inclusive WP policies across the sector (Sheeran et al., 2007). The other meritocratic view is still an inclusive view of WP for talented students from disadvantaged socio-economic groups but a serious concern that any significant increase in access to HE ‘raises the spectre of lowering standards’ in world class HE institutions (Woodrow et al., 1998: 112).

Why do elite champions prosper in competition over other elite athletes who possess similar level... more Why do elite champions prosper in competition over other elite athletes who possess similar levels of skill and technical ability? Conversely, why do talented elite athletes fail to perform at the highest level and less talented athletes become champions (Gucciardi et al., 2008). History is full of anecdotal evidence from prominent athletes who cite “although sport is played with the body, it is won in the mind” (Moran, 2004: 4).
Despite this contention and evidence to support the importance of sport psychology, mental skills training (MST) until recently, experienced a fairly low media profile. MST is still not without critics, but there is growing recognition that sporting prowess does not guarantee success and that mental toughness is an important attribute at elite level (Gucciardi et al., 2008). Today employing a sports psychologist is a feature in virtually all elite sport; it is however, especially evident in mentally demanding individual sports, such as golf (Moran, 2004).
The personal research interest for selecting a PGA Golf professional to study began with an acknowledgement that at elite level there are minimal differences between competitors in technical ability and physical fitness (Jones, Hanton & Connaughton, 2002). If this is the case, then the argument for MST standing out as the key differentiator between elite performers is strengthened (Gould, Jackson & Finch, 1993).
This study has four parts:
1. Selection of Psychological Framework
2. Profile of Athlete and Needs Analysis.
3. Proposed Mental Skills Training Programme.
4. Conclusion

Notions that adolescents are less active than they were are not a new phenomenon. Concerns are ex... more Notions that adolescents are less active than they were are not a new phenomenon. Concerns are expressed that physical activity (PACT) has become a rare feature of adolescent lifestyles, ‘even though they are the most active group in Western societies’ (Biddle & Mutrie, 2008: 27). Policy interest is high for reasons of increasing obesity and accruing health problems in later life. Adolescent inactivity has been described as a growing epidemic and has created a ‘moral panic’ about an obesity crisis. The Times reported ‘child obesity can be caused by genes, not neglect’ (Henderson, 2009). Furthermore the Institute of Sport and Recreation Management (2000, cited in Collins & Kay, 2003: 65) summarised evidence suggesting the emergence of generations of ‘couch potatoes’. Such headlines however disguise statistical data; ignore situational factors such as environmental and socio – economic issues and can hinder interventions to change adolescent attitudes to PACT. Kirk (2006: 13) argues ‘there is no foundation in evidence to justify the confident and loud assertions of some scientists, politicians and journalists that …adolescent obesity in particular is a growing problem’.
Purpose of this report will be to critically review the adolescent PACT evidence base and provide examples of effective interventions and recommendations to an audience of health-care providers and policy makers. The report will have four chapters:
1. Introduction.
2. Review evidence base.
3. Recommendations to inform future practice.
4. Conclusion.

Drafts by Dean Brown

A commonsense view of educational research would suggest that after 200 years of formalised schoo... more A commonsense view of educational research would suggest that after 200 years of formalised schooling and in recent decades, a meta-analysis approach to evaluating quantitative evidence, academics would have agreed upon effective theoretical models of learning. Instead as Hattie (2009 pp 3) questions, "why does this bounty of research have such little impact", in providing strong evidence of theories that have practical teaching applications in a classroom. One of the arguments is that no one theory has provided strong

Both 'cognitive acceleration and 'prior achievement 'are associated with pupil attainment. How ca... more Both 'cognitive acceleration and 'prior achievement 'are associated with pupil attainment. How can these findings be reconciled? To reach any conclusions regarding the statement above it is necessary to define cognitive acceleration and prior achievement and to then consider the arguments that have been offered to explain the role they both can play in pupil attainment. Cognitive acceleration is a style of learning developed by Shayer & Adey (1994) that can be used as an intervention tool for both gifted and underachieving learners. It uses Piaget's cognitive developmental stage model of learning as a framework for measuring ability and seeks to accelerate pupil's thinking using cognitive stimulation through stages of learning to reach abstract thinking. Prior achievement can be defined as genetic attributes, cultural influences and attainments that each pupil brings with them to their formal educational life. This essay will focus on one research area that demonstrates prior achievement and early positive experiences do positively lead to educational advantage and continued achievement. The essay will then conclude on a positive and optimistic footing by suggesting that there are important interventions that educational establishments can implement such as cognitive acceleration that can influence beyond what pupils bring to their educational life (Hattie, 2009).

Explain how social class is related to sport participation. It is argued that sport is formally o... more Explain how social class is related to sport participation. It is argued that sport is formally open to all, however in 2008 the British Journal of Sports Medicine published a ten year study in which it stated that " there are no signs that the gap in participation between lower and higher socioeconomic strata is narrowing " (Stamatatakis, & Chaudhury, 2008). People in high income, high education and high status occupations participate in more sport. It is statements like this that are at the heart of the discussion over the relationship between social class, inequality and sports participation. This debate is part of a wider concept known as social stratification that includes social divisions based on race, gender and ethnicity. This essay will however focus on social class however much of the arguments and observations are universal in terms of a smaller privileged group of wealthier individuals who can afford to watch and play sport and who use it to positively differentiate themselves from lower class groups. Health professionals, educationalists and politicians attempting to combat the obesity epidemic and reduce expenditure on health provision are constantly encouraging wider sports participation across society. Donnelly, (1999) refers to this approach to sports participation as evidence of an agency theory, and centres on the belief that " individuals are free to act in a manner of their own choosing " and that social factors such as class do not present barriers to participation in sport. The belief that sports participation has indisputable benefits for all levels of society has wide mainstream appeal, and is also supported in traditional functionalist theory. Sport is seen as an important social arrangement that adds to the cohesive social order of society, and provides positive physical and social benefits to its citizens. Mainstream supporters of this popular view; notably the powerful and wealthy decision makers in society, largely ignore any debate on social class within sport insisting that it holds a unique egalitarian status. Sport's credentials, as a social force for good, that can unify people from all social backgrounds has been attacked over the last 30 years by the Marxist conflict and critical theories. It is argued that the institutionalised ideology of meritocracy embedded in sport reinforces wider social inequality under the myth of a social meritocracy. Sport only serves the wealthier social classes and that sport itself is a divisive social tool used to reinforce class differences. Economic status is one of the obvious ways that can determine sports participation and divide social groups by defining monetarily who can afford the costs, the time and the access to transport links to take part in certain sports. High club membership fees and the equipment costs associated with certain sports explain why they are still the exclusive domain of the wealthier classes with the poor socially excluded on economic grounds. It is for these reasons that Collins (2004) argues that " at the core of social exclusion is poverty ". Education is a another differentiator in terms of sports participation, private and independent schools have more available funds to spend on sport than their state counterparts who have to regularly make decisions about where funds are to be spent and frequently sport comes in second place.

Commercialisation Sport in contemporary society has changed from being a pastime to a business as... more Commercialisation Sport in contemporary society has changed from being a pastime to a business as a result of the process of commercialisation. The global ownership of organised sport has resulted in sport itself becoming a site for the commercial interests of powerful corporations and this has resulted in a change to the way that sport is controlled (Coakley, 2008). The focus of this essay will be to examine this phenomenon and discuss how much this can be described as a force for good by looking at the winners and losers. Commercialisation has changed the way that sports are controlled. Sport organisations have become focused on maximising revenue and profit; it is this principle that is the underlying rationale for decision making and strategic development. Revenue streams from sponsorship, advertising, ticket and merchandising sales and especially television rights are the new languages of sport. Stadiums, teams and events are named after corporations and have logo's that no longer represent the origins of the club, e.g. Reebok Stadium and the Emirates Stadium. In the case of English Football, success on the field of play has always been important to the kudos of the club but it is now critical to the success of the business model. Economic factors totally dominate decisions about sports, and corporate interests have the power and control over the meaning, purpose and organisation of sport (Coakley, 2008). " Sport is produced, packaged and sold like any other commodity on the market for mass consumption at enormous profits " , (Hargreaves). Athletes are too evaluated in terms of their market value as well as their physical skills; David Beckham is a global phenomenon whose value to a club like Real Madrid, AC Milan or LA Galaxy in merchandising is now arguably ranked higher and more commercially attractive than his playing ability. Equally exploitative but considerably more ugly has been the recent and ongoing football transfer saga of Carlos Tevez, from the West Ham debacle to the current discussions regarding the player's future. The complexity is increased by the several corporate interests that own the rights to Tevez. Rigauer (1981) suggests that athletes are now classed as mere entertainment commodities used by corporate entities. When sport and individuals are controlled by economic forces in this way, Coakley (2008) argues that sport has moved away from the athletes and supporters, and that it serves corporate interests only. Athlete's skills are used and exploited in the marketplace, sporting arenas' and exchanged for other values, i.e. revenue from spectators of sport and television companies (Rigauer (1981). Athletes are discovered and reared by owners from an early age, and their ability and even personality are expressed in monetary terms, i.e. their market value. In this respect they suffer alienation in the same way as any exploited worker under capitalism. Only the very top athletes' experience huge financial rewards however it is short lived and when an athlete's market value goes down, they as a commodity, discarded and replaced to ensure the corporate interests are maintained. Corporate interests now also determine media coverage of sport; major sporting events such as the Olympics are scheduled around primetime American television so that corporate sponsors can advertise their products, services and brand to a mass audience. Sports are now corporate enterprises and owned by media and entertainment companies, such as Murdoch, and they dictate how and when people watch sport. The IPL cricket tournament was moved for legitimate security reasons to South Africa however the sponsors were very comfortable in doing this, regardless of who they upset. The whole I.P.L business model is based around global television rights and not necessarily designed for the 1% of spectators in India who may watch the live games. Equally exploited commercially are spectators for not only do they experience an inequitable society outside of the sporting stadium, they are also targeted and exploited inside the arena by a new breed of global sports club owners. Nowhere is this more illustrated than in England's Premiership Football clubs where ticket prices have increased year on year and the revenue generated has reached to staggering proportions. Club shirts and merchandising are replaced every year so that devoted fans are mentally coerced into loyally purchasing the new kit and increasing the coffers of the football club. In return for this loyalty and financial outlay they are then subjected to low quality, overpriced fast food and social segregation as club owners look to increase their revenues by installing corporate entertainment boxes.

Some psychologists explain motor skill learning with a model that portrays the performer as a pro... more Some psychologists explain motor skill learning with a model that portrays the performer as a processor of information similar to a computer; this approach is known as the Information Processing system (Welford, 1976). The performer deals with information available from the environment, (input), continues to process it within 3 discrete stages and eventually produces a response, (output), (Schmidt & Wrisberg, 2008). This essay will examine the 3 stages of this model and discuss the potential for errors within the three stages for a team player (goalkeeper). During the first stage the performer's task is to identify incoming information, (input) and this is referred to as the stimulus-identification stage (SI). Performers analyse the content of the environmental information using a variety of sensory systems such as vision, audition, touch, kinesthesis and smell and commit these to their short term (ST) memory. A goalkeeper therefore would assemble the components of this information such as moving objects, (ball, opponent) and speed and direction of moving object. In addition the goalkeeper identifies the relevant information from the irrelevant; this is particularly important where there may be additional sources of stimulus such as the noise of the crowd, or a distracting tactics by close up opponents. Too much attention processing of irrelevant information could lead to misjudgement of the timing of ball contact and could result in handling errors. This is particularly relevant to reaction time. Hick's Law (1952) stated that reaction time was a direct result of how many stimulus responses were prevalent and that the relationship was linear. Using the information from the SI stage, the performer must now decide how to respond to it in the response-selection stage. For example a goalkeeper from corner kick might decide to catch a ball or punch a ball clear, and this could be based on the position of opponents and flight and speed of approaching ball. This stage depicts a translation between sensory inputs and a decision as to what response is required, a selection of available and appropriate movement programmes and an interaction between ST and LT memory systems. When the performer has chosen a response, they then must prepare an action; this is called the response-programming stage. In this stage various processes are thought to occur subconsciously: • Retrieving motor programme from memory. • Prepare muscles for required action. • Orientate the sensory system for the action Following this process the action is executed and an output is produced, however the output a performer produces might not achieve the desired goal of the movement. There are a number of errors and factors that can occur at this stage could affect he output. Skill execution under duress may falter and unanticipated factors such as ball deflections and opponents impeding planned movements.

If we accept the enduring idea in sports psychology that performers have a limited capacity to pr... more If we accept the enduring idea in sports psychology that performers have a limited capacity to process information from the environment, then the aim should be coach performers into how best to process the information that they can accommodate. Schmidt and Wrisberg (2008) target the concept of attention capacity as having the more significant impact on motor performance and information processing. This essay will use the principles of Nideffer's (1981) attentional focus model and apply them to the role of a football goalkeeper to understand what demands are placed on them in open play and what strategies and techniques can be used to assist them in focusing on the most relevant sources of task information. Nideffer's view is that performer's have the capability of controlling two dimensions of attention, the direction of focus and the breadth of the focus. (See diagram below). In respect to a goalkeeper in open, competitive play he attentional focus should be concentrated in the broad and external focus quadrant. Nideffer identified this quadrant as focusing on the complex, rapidly changing environment, which is typical of a game of a football and or any open skill environment. Using this analogy a goalkeeper should assemble the components of environmental information that is within his quadrant of focus such as moving objects, (ball, opponent) and speed and direction of moving object. These are called the task relevant clues and they should focus on these, identify the relevant information from the irrelevant; this is particularly important where there may be additional sources of stimulus such as the noise of the crowd, or a distracting tactics by close up opponents. Too much attention or anxiety processing irrelevant information could lead to misjudgement of the timing of ball contact, wrong position and could result in handling errors. This is particularly relevant to reaction time. Hick's Law (1952) stated that reaction time was a direct result of how many environmental stimuli were prevalent and that the relationship was linear.

A concept that many practitioners consider when preparing to offer instructional assistance is tr... more A concept that many practitioners consider when preparing to offer instructional assistance is transfer of learning. Transfer of learning is the use of past learning when learning something new and the application of that learning to new and similar tasks (Haskell, 2001). This essay will discuss this concept and examine the ways in which this can be a positive or a negative influence on learning. From a general sporting perspective it has been argued that previous learning can contain movement experiences, motor, perceptual and conceptual skill elements that are similar and therefore transferable to a new skill. An example of two sports which have similar skill elements where a transfer of learning could exist are squash and tennis. Tennis and Squash Similarities .1 Movement elements – posture and body position for stroke. .2 Perceptual elements – visual tracking of ball and eye coordination. .3 Conceptual elements – variation of shot selection. A general examination of these sports demonstrates that they have both what Schmidt and Wrisberg (2008) term as 'far and near transfers (generalisations). Far transfer is referred to as general movement comparisons and a near transfer would be such as both sports require the performer to hit a moving ball. The transfer of learning can however be both positive and negative. For while from a positive perspective having played squash can facilitate learning and provide a performer with the rudimentary movement, motor, perceptual and conceptual skills to play tennis. From a negative perspective previous experience of a similar sport can be a detrimental to the execution of a new sport. In the case of squash and tennis, there are many large and subtle differences in which the performer is asked to move and use the equipment. Different body positions and arm actions are required for successful executions of tennis and squash shots. Tennis shots require a long back swing and follow through using a range of upper arm muscles where as squash shots require a concentration on the forearm. To try to transfer an historical learning action or racquet grip from a different sport could result in failure and poor execution of the new skill-1