Enablers and barriers for male students transferring life skills from the sports hall into the classroom

Abstract

There is a widespread belief that sport can be used as a vehicle to promote positive youth development. In particular, using sport to teach young people various life skills has become popular over the previous decade. However, little research has examined the transfer of life skills into other academic and life domains. The transfer-ability programme (TAP) was a multi-faceted intervention, which sought to deliberately teach 20 underachieving, male students life skills through sport. Previous statistical findings from TAP show the intervention groups’ academic grades significantly improved during the intervention to a level above teaching prediction. This suggests that teaching life skills through sport may reduce male underachievement. The purpose of this paper is to examine the enablers and barriers that may influence life skill transfer from the sports hall into the classroom. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 (12–13 year old) male students from a secondary school in London, UK. Analysis revealed five higher order themes: Support from peers, Pride, Opportunities, Rewards and Transfer experience. These findings are discussed with reference to how teachers and physical educators may teach life skills within their lessons, and how life skill transfer may enhance the school experience for students across the school environment.