Narratives of learning personal and social responsibility: a retrospective exploration of influences of a physical activity-based youth development program
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Abstract
Physical activity-based youth development (PA-PYD) programs can support social and emotional learning (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinge, 2011) and physical literacy (Mandigo, Francis, Lodewyk & Lopez, 2012). One framework that simultaneously supports both physical literacy and social and emotional learning goals is the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) framework (Hellison, 2011). The TPSR framework has been adapted to fit the context of a PA-PYD program at a secondary school in a city in New England. This qualitative study first explored how former participants experienced the Get Ready program. Second, following Meléndez and Martinek (2015), it explored their ideas of personal and social responsibility and how and where the participants learned them. The inquiry was framed by an ecological systems approach (Bronfenbrenner, 1997) and participants revealed key persons in their own development. Third, it examined whether any of the Get Ready program experiences have influenced them beyond their time in the program.
Six participants were chosen based upon their long-term involvement in the school year based program and their work as student coaches during the Get Ready Summer Camp. In-depth retrospective interviews were conducted and the data was placed under thematic narrative analysis, where the focus is on the themes in the stories, from which the researcher created a “realist tale” (Smith, 2017). Results suggest that these findings add to the literature on the value of relationships, observational learning, and coaching style that creates a caring climate for learning. Some of the skills participants claimed they honed in the program were: caring and helping others, fitness knowledge, and public speaking. The study includes recommendations for supporting physical activity programs taking place early in the school day, and discusses the importance of sustaining university-school collaborations. Suggestions for future research include focusing on individual experience, studying the processes behind those experiences, the need for more distal follow-up interviews, and further investigation of ecological systems outside of the program that contribute to participants’ development.