The purpose of this study was to examine the impact that two instructional approaches to teaching rugby had on students' learning, enjoyment and affect. Fifty-three boys (aged 12-13) from a large metropolitan private boy's school in eastern Australia participated in either a 20 lesson unit of rugby union taught using a skill-drill-game approach (n…

Drawing on data from a life history study of 11 women, this article explores the ways in which a group of newly qualified female physical education (PE) teachers constructed the "problem" of girls' relatively low participation in PE. It is suggested that, while these women voluntarily expressed a desire to change the gendered nature of PE, during…

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ) adapted to the Greek language. The sample consisted of 586 male and female volleyball players of elite and regional level status. Data were analysed from three time points of a competitive season. For each time point, seven competing…

This study assessed the relationship between children's body image and physical activity and examined any variation in these variables. Two hundred and seventy seven British secondary school children aged 11 to 14 (mean age [plus or minus] SD = 12.5 [plus or minus] 0.8 years) participated in this study. Results indicated no significant…

This article is an attempt to provide an alternative view of sports science and future sport worlds. For reasons to do with fundamental science, involved advocacy and committed service, and in a period of intensified globalization, it is necessary to reconfigure the nature and scope of teaching and research within the subdiscipline of sports…

This article presents the findings of an exploratory survey of the ethnic attitudes and identities of a random sample (n=352) of three-six-year-old children in Northern Ireland. The survey represents one of the first of its kind to explore how young children's awareness of ethnic differences develops in contexts where ethnicity is not marked by…

In a small-scale study we analyse the narratives of three recently-arrived immigrant mothers with young children, making use of child care. Drawing on post-foundational theories and third-wave feminism, the analysis of these narratives enables us to look at how issues of diversity, democracy and citizenship are shaped in micro-events of daily…

Since the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified in 1991, children's right to have a voice, and to have their opinions heard, has led many providers and practitioners in the field of early years to seek ways to involve children's perspectives in the evaluation and development of practice. Those who value democracy understand that…

The present research effort aims to better understand parental choice of the Israeli Palestinian-Jewish bilingual primary schools and its implications in contributing (or not) to fostering multicultural and co-existence educational efforts in conflict-ridden societies. The manuscript offers a short description of the educational initiative under…

The purpose of the research study presented in this article is to look at the ways that a specific group of children think about their families and to develop contextualized methods for listening to children's perspectives about their families. It starts with a brief presentation of the theoretical and pedagogical context where the study has been…

Within this article we will introduce some metaphors as they were developed and used by mothers and fathers we worked with: the traveller, the warrior, the builder of bridges, the discoverer, the trainer/teacher, the in-between-er, the manager...We will position these metaphors as tools parents are using in their confrontation with normalising…

The use of tests is a well-established tradition in the study of children's learning. Most of these tests claim to establish a child's general understanding, independent of situations and well-known contexts. I have studied narratives told by a four-year-old boy who failed to pass a false belief test (a test designed to examine whether a child is…

This paper discusses young Korean immigrant girls' understanding of American popular culture in a small-scale qualitative study in order to disclose young American immigrant girls' perspectives on such culture. In particular, this paper explores how these Korean girls (age five to eight) perceive female body images in American popular culture -…

The article starts by illustrating how children's right to participation comes to the fore in legal documents regulating the field of early childhood education in Norway. Issues regarding the views of children, understanding of democracy and of play, which influence how this right is realised in early childhood practice, are taken as a point of…

It can be argued that globalisation brings change for children and their families in the guise of increased poverty and inequality; for example, for the world's poorest populations and communities. Students undertaking Early Childhood Studies degrees in the United Kingdom are likely to encounter modules with a focus on childhood in a variety of…