Conference Agenda

Recent years have seen growing research and practice focused on facilitating student voice in physical education (PE), particularly among students who may be disengaged, underserved, or marginalized (Fisette, 2013; Howley et al., 2021; Oliver, 2010). Evidence shows that listening to students’ needs can enhance curriculum relevance and provide more meaningful learning experiences (El-Sherif, 2014), while also fostering inclusion and engagement (Cardiff et al., 2023). Student voice has also been found to particularly support marginalised groups, including disengaged girls (Enright & O’Sullivan, 2010) and students with SEND (Allen et al., 2022).

Although various tools such as questionnaires and reflective journals have supported students in sharing their experiences, few studies have examined how student voice is enacted in practice from a pedagogical perspective (Iannucci & Parker, 2022). As noted by Howley and O’Sullivan (2021), the operationalization of student voice remains limited, partly due to a lack of guidance for everyday teaching (Cardiff et al., 2023). This highlights the need for a systematic review to understand which pedagogical approaches have been used, their impacts, and areas for improvement.

The systematic review presented through this poster drew on literature from 1990–2023 and adopted Mitra’s (2007) student voice framework, conceptualizing pedagogical approaches as strategies that create opportunities for students to express opinions and engage in decision-making. Additionally, the analysis was informed by the whole-child theory, emphasizing students’ holistic development (Slade & Griffith, 2013).

Given that previous reviews examined student voice in primary PE (Iannucci & Parker, 2022) and higher education (Sun et al., 2022), this review focused specifically on secondary PE (ages 11–18), addressing a significant gap within the literature. In doing so, it sought to address the following questions:

1. What pedagogical approaches have been utilized to facilitate student voice within the context of secondary PE?

2. What were the impacts of these approaches on students and teachers?

3. What were the challenges involved in implementing these pedagogical approaches?

The sports movement provides opportunities for youth to learn motor skills, play sports, and be physically active in a social context, but participation rates have declined, fewer girls than boys participate, and many stop in their teenage years (CIF 2023). Gymnastics and equestrian sports are among the top 10 largest youth sports, and a majority of the athletes are girls. The policy document of the Swedish Sport Confederation states its intentions to make sports inclusive and sustainable. Still, little is known about how the actual sport training takes place and what teenagers experience from an inclusive perspective. Being involved, having a voice, and learning sporting skills be important for young athletes to stay in sport (Thedin Jakobsson 2015; Schubringen et al. 2022). But, as Wangsson (2009) shows, youth who perceive themselves as not physically and socially competent are more likely to quit. Research shows that youth sports coaches have limited knowledge and a poor understanding of pedagogical perspectives on learning (Fahlström et al., 2016; Kilic et al., 2024), as well as of what it means to make oneself heard as a child in sporting practice (Eliasson, 2015). Gymnastics and Equestrian sport are no exception (Redelius 2002, Thorell et al 2016).

This study aims to investigate equestrian sport and gymnastics practice from a pedagogical perspective, focusing on youth. A sociocultural perspective, based on the didactic triangle (Amade-Escot 2006) is used which consists of the athletes, the trainers and the training content. Of interest is the ways pedagogic and didactics issues such as inclusion, learning and making oneself heard are considered and developed in sports practices.

More specifically, the aim is to explore how young athletes experience the training practice. The research questions are:

• What do the athletes perceive the training to be about?

• What is required of them to be able to participate and do what is requested?

• How are they included and involved in their own learning process?

In the long run, the study aims to contribute to a discussion about how young athletes can feel involved, develop their skills, and make their voices heard in their sport. The study focuses on young equestrians and gymnasts. Young people's experiences and voices are rarely explored in sports research. Therefore, to get a broader perspective, the study of what the athletes perceive as important would add critical and valuable knowledge concerning pedagogical and didactic issues in youth sports, especially sports in which many girls participate. By examining the athletes’ descriptions of their experiences of training, the intention is to identify, analyze and discuss, what values and content are intended to be learned, what training is prescribed as valuable and what chances are there of feeling of involvement, inclusion and to make their voice heard.