Best Practice Teaching & Learning in Sport Pedagogy
- Stuart Forsyth
- 19 hours ago
- 6 min read
Introduction
Recently, I set myself a challenge to write a summary of what I consider to be best practice in teaching and learning in sport pedagogy. Now retired, I have finally found time to write about a topic that has always been important to me.
My professional background is in physical education. The first half of my career was in teaching before I had the opportunity to move into physical education teacher education and physical activity for health research. I coached teams and individual athletes in competitive sport. I also taught part-time in the snow-sports’ industry. I have been a member of The British Association of Snowsport Instructors for 26 years. I became a member of the PSIE in May, 2025.
The validation behind this short piece of writing is drawn from my physical education, under-graduate, initial teacher education pathway, subsequent professional development, academic post-graduate studies, personal experiences and the many challenges I faced in a forty-years’ career journey as a Teacher, Teacher-Educator, Researcher, Coach and Instructor.
My intention, is not to stand on a pedestal dictating absolute truths but to write a coherent and, at the same time, thought-provoking synopsis.
Stuart Forsyth
Teaching & Learning in Sport Pedagogy
1. Theory Frames Understanding
Individual learners are at the centre of knowledge creation and the process of learning (Piaget). The value of learner social interaction and cultural experiences may also be significant (Vygotsky).
2. Learning in Sport
Learning in sport is commonly demonstrated by evidence of improved personal performance within technical, tactical, physical, psychological, environmental and equipment contexts. Across sports, the process of learning is managed by teachers, trainers, coaches and instructors (TTCIs) by way of cyclical models of analysis. These offer a repeatable framework for TTCIs to analyse collected information and subsequently shape their teaching in ways that support learners on their journey towards achieving specific personal performance outcomes.
3. Teaching Sport v Teaching People
Good TTCIs possess high levels of technical knowledge and personal performance. Both are essential for their ability to accurately evaluate learner performance. However, good TTCIs offer more than insightful technical knowledge and being able to perform to a high level because they recognise that an additional set of skills is required for effective teaching.
Good TTCIs strategically plan and organise their teaching, prioritising learner safety and enjoyment. Good TTCIs do not focus on personal gratification; instead they are reflective practitioners. Good TTCIs are skilled observers and communicators. They possess an empathy for all learners, irrespective of ability level, while at the same time, knowledgeably recognising individual learning preferences. Good TTCIs make learners the central point of the learning process and create task-orientated environments where learner motivation is facilitated through an emphasis on individual learner progress and effort.
4. Reproductive Teaching v Productive Teaching
When TTCIs employ a reproductive teaching style, learners reproduce a performance that has been provided by the TTCI. The process of learning is convergent and is led by the TTCI’s existing knowledge. For some learners, copying is an important stage in their learning journey, but it does not in itself demonstrate achievement of improved personal performance.
In contrast, when TTCIs employ a productive teaching style, learners produce a performance autonomously. The process of learning is divergent and it is the learners themselves who are architects of knowledge creation.
Using a productive teaching style develops learners’ performance, not solely through repetition and correction, but by way of the TTCI creating problem-solving situations. Learners then begin to engage in discovering their own solutions to each situation and learn by adapting to a never-ending stream of problems psychologically, physically, technically, environmentally and tactically.
5. Disguised Learning
Within the domain of sport pedagogy, disguised learning shares a close relationship with differential learning. In the latter, learners tend to be aware of the justification for practices. In spite of this, TTCIs intentionally allocate different conditions. Consequently, repetition is avoided. Learning through variation is more effective because learners have to create multiple solutions in order to perform successfully.
In disguised learning, development of the desired personal performance occurs in parallel with learners’ engagement in problem-solving activities. Good TTCIs make solving problems purposeful, achievable and enjoyable with the result that learners are not conscious of the true developmental purpose of the activity. The nature of disguised learning means it can be used to improve learner performance across all ability levels and within all performance contexts. There is also the potential for quicker learning and consequently less boredom and loss of interest from learners as they accelerate to stage three motor skill acquisition. In trying to find solutions to the problem set by the TTCI, less thought is given to consciously controlling movements. Instead, learners have to focus on perceptual cues, decision-making and the consequent adapting of their movements.
6. Performance-Related Practice
Disappointingly, some TTCIs have a narrow and flippant view of what they need to do to make learning happen. This may be as a result of incongruous self-importance, or drawn from personal learning experiences of superficial teaching, or indeed, be due to an inappropriately brief amount of time developing their teaching skillset. These TTCIs focus on telling and then showing learners how to perform the desired improvement in personal performance. They fail to recognise that although learners may have success repeating disconnected practices, too big a gap exists to take any improvement into full performance. Confronted and exposed by unsuccessful outcomes, these TTCIs assign blame to learners and distance themselves from the failure.
Alternatively, good TTCIs design and use performance-related practice in the learning space between practising and performing. Performance-related practice is a key stage for developing learning because of its proximity to the desired personal performance outcome. TTCIs essentially create activities that look and feel like a simulated version of full performance for learners. The activities are disguised as tasks/problems for learners to solve. There is no single, correct answer. Productive teaching allows for multiple solutions to the problem where learners construct their own knowledge. Evaluating the success of different solutions is a significant stage in the learning process. It is always led by the learner. TTCIs should not make value judgements. Instead, good TTCIs use open questions to support learners through their personal knowledge creation process, for example: What is good about the performance? What would you change in the performance if you could? and How can you improve the performance?
7. Examples of Productive Teaching blending Disguised Learning with Performance-Related Practice
SPORT | PROBLEM |
Soccer/Rugby/Hockey/Basketball | How can four attackers create scoring opportunities against two defenders? |
Athletics | In your relay team, what is your most efficient way to pass the baton between incoming and outgoing runners? |
Golf | How can you hit your target area using a low ball flight? |
Skiing | On a long, wide piste, can you turn at the same time as your partner but still overtake him/her? |
8. “Who dares to teach must never cease to learn”. John Cotton Dana (1856 – 1929).
Good TTCIs appreciate the value of post-qualification, professional development. They recognise the need to seek continual, personal improvement across all performance contexts as well as constantly working to further augment their pedagogical knowledge. Good TTCIs possess a passion for scholarship due to their desire to be the best version of themselves every day.
9. Take-Aways
Teach people, not sport; adapt teaching to suit individual learners.
Use productive teaching styles; create environments where learners are able to build their own knowledge.
Make learning safe yet fun; maintaining a focus on learner progress, effort and achievement via appropriate use of disguised learning through performance-related practices.
Demonstrate a level of professionalism commensurate with a commitment to continual personal development post-qualification.
Additional Reading
The following chapters and research papers significantly influenced my professional practice at different points in my career.
Britton, J. (1989). Vygotsky’s contribution to pedagogical theory. In P. Murphy & B. Moon (Eds.), Developments in Learning and Assessment (pp. 210-214). Sevenoaks: Hodder & Stoughton Education.
Duda, J. L. & Hall, H.K. (2001). Achievement goal theory in sport: recent extensions and future directions. In Singer, R. N., Hausenblas, H. A. & Janelle, C. M. (Eds.), Handbook of Research in Sports Psychology (2nd ed., pp 417-433). New York: Wiley.
Parker, M. & Curtner-Smith, M. D. (2012). Preservice teachers’ use of reproduction and production teaching styles within multi-activity and sport education units. European Physical Education Review, 18(1), 127-143.
Schöllhorn, W., Rizzi, N., Slapšinskaitė-Dackevičienė, A. & Leite, N. (2022). Always pay attention to which model of motor learning you are using. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(711). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19020711
Von Glasersfeld, E. (1989). Learning as a constructive activity. In P. Murphy & B. Moon (Eds.), Developments in Learning and Assessment (pp. 5-18). Sevenoaks: Hodder & Stoughton Educational.
About the Author
Stuart Forsyth is a retired Senior Lecturer from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. As a Teacher-Educator, Stuart was also affiliated to the University’s Physical Activity for Health Research Group. His research activities investigated high school students’ motivation for physical education.
Stuart was a member of the Scottish Executive Ministerial Review Group for Physical Education and is a former Chair of the Scottish Qualifications Authority Physical Education Panel. Before taking up his post at the University of Strathclyde, Stuart was Head of Physical Education at a large, secondary comprehensive school in Stranraer, Scotland.
Stuart combined his physical education career with coaching junior soccer players and junior golfers. He also spent many winter weeks teaching people to ski in the Aosta Valley, Italy and Yllas Ski Resort, Finland. A member of the British Association of Snowsports Instructors since 1999, Stuart joined PSIE in May, 2025.
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