Objective: Policy development is the biggest gap for health-promoting sports clubs. The present study aims to identify Irish sports club's involvement in health promotion (HP) policy development. Design: Mixed methods concurrent survey design, with quantitative data providing insights into priorities, activities and documentation and qualitative…

Developing players who are adept at using both sides of the body (i.e., bilateral skill) is a challenge for coaches in many sports. With players being required to execute a range of skills with hand and foot on both sides of the body, Gaelic football provides an ideal natural laboratory for the study of laterality. Previous quantitative research…

Many researchers and authorities have recognized the important role that sports clubs can play in public health. In spite of attempts to create a theoretical framework in the early 2000s, a thorough understanding of sports clubs as a setting for health promotion (HP) is lacking. Despite calls for more effective, sustainable, and theoretically…

This study investigated perceptions about the effectiveness of a student-led sports event. Participants from a student-led tag rugby league were surveyed about its perceived effectiveness. The sample consisted of 227 participants, most of whom were undergraduates (91%) across a wide variety of academic programs. The effectiveness of the league was…

Objective: The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is part of the cultural fabric of Irish society with a club in almost every community nationwide. The aim of this project was to carry out a pilot evaluation of the GAA Healthy Club Project (HCP), which is a unique effort by a national governing body to include health as part of the core business of…

Background: Motor competence is the ability to perform goal directed human movements in a co-ordinated, accurate and error free manner. The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of coaches' perceptions of children's motor competence with their actual motor competence. Method: This study examined the motor competence of children with…

Participation in sport and exercise has been linked to enhanced academic performance, and though girls' participation in sport is known to decline during adolescence, girls continue to outperform boys academically at school in many Western nations. Drawing on evidence that social identities are linked to a range of health and cognitive benefits,…

This article focuses on the inequalities experienced particularly by girls who attend co-educational secondary schools where specific male sports dominate school life. The research was undertaken in the Republic of Ireland in three schools known for the participation and success of boys' teams in Gaelic football, hurling and rugby. Through a…

Background: Professional development (PD) in a range of occupations has become increasingly digitised. Numerous digital courses are available, with evidence that social media, blogs and apps are increasingly being used for PD. Yet despite clear benefits, there is little robust evidence on the characteristics of digital PD that impact positively on…

Major curriculum changes have recently occurred in Ireland, including redeveloping the primary curriculum and the enactment of the Junior Cycle Framework (DES, 2015). Positive and negative experiences affect the attitudes which contribute to determining the quality of curricular experiences. Framed in the work of Fullan, M. (1991. "The New…

This paper argues that the acquisition of bodily capital is not solely dependent on the individual's innate physical capital, it also depends on how the body is managed. With opportunities to participate in sport differing significantly, social and economic issues play a key role in the acquisition of bodily capital. The quantities and forms of…

Recent studies suggest school communities accept the goods and services of external providers uncritically. Considering the pivotal role played by teachers in curriculum and policy enactment, this paper explores how and why teachers in Ireland advocate for, and engage with, the services and resources of one particular external provider, the Gaelic…

This document, "Annex 1 to the Final Report to DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission" is intended as a companion piece to European Commission report "Preparing Teachers for Diversity: The Role of Initial Teacher Education. Final Report". It contains country fiches which are overviews of available…

In Ireland, primary physical education (PE) is delivered by non-specialist classroom teachers. A growing number of primary schools are committing resources to external providers for partial delivery of the PE curriculum. Some researchers (Evans and Davies [2014; 2015]. "Neoliberal Freedoms, Privatisation and the Future of Physical…

In the years either side of Federation in 1901, Australia's Irish Catholics balanced two often contradictory impulses: their determination to retain their cultural and religious links with Ireland in the face of an often unsympathetic Protestant majority, and the desire to become 'good' Australians in order to make 'a go' of their lives in the new…