Where coaches work matters more than who they are, study finds
Swedish researchers analyzing 1,234 sports coaches found that the type of sport and club structure they work in predict their commitment to child protection better than their personal backgrounds. The finding suggests sports organizations should focus reform efforts on systemic structures rather than individual coaching credentials alone.
Originaltitel: Contextualizing children's rights in sports: the impact of background and contextual factors on Swedish coaches' implementation of the UN convention on the rights of the child
This study draws on Bernstein's theory to examine how background and contextual factors shape coaches' self-reported compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). A total of 1,234 coaches completed a questionnaire measuring compliance with five central UNCRC articles and collecting information on coaches' backgrounds and the contexts they work in. Independent samples t -tests and one-way ANOVAs were used to examine group differences, and a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to assess the relative and incremental influence of background and contextual factors on compliance. The group-based analyses showed that both background factors (e.g., coaches' gender, education, and experience) and contextual conditions (e.g., type of sport, type of sports club, and athletes' age and gender) were associated with variation in self-reported compliance. However, the regression analysis demonstrated that contextual factors explained additional variance beyond individual background characteristics, with coaches’ gender, type of sport (team vs. individual), and type of sports club (elite vs. recreational) emerging as the most robust predictors in the final model. Notably, coach education was significant when only background factors were considered, but its effect was no longer significant once contextual factors were included, suggesting that its influence is mediated by coaching environments. The findings underscore the context-specific nature of children's rights implementation in sport and support an understanding of compliance as a pedagogic process shaped by the interaction of formal policy structures (Official Recontextualizing Field) and everyday coaching practices (Pedagogic Recontextualizing Field). The study highlights the importance of attending not only to coach education and policy frameworks, but also to the situated conditions under which children's rights are interpreted and enacted in coaching practice.