Learner-centred pedagogies : implementing inquiry-based and collaborative strategies in a football nursery

Abstract

Learner-centred pedagogies are constantly being promoted with present day educators, as the benefits that arise from using such pedagogies with learners are numerous. Malta’s National Curriculum Framework encourages the use of learner centred pedagogies in the classroom; however, the case is not the same when it comes to the promotion of such pedagogies in the local football sporting context. This study inquires whether learner-centred pedagogies have positive effects on player learning, whether it is challenging to use such methods with players of different ability and how to maximise learning when simultaneously using inquiry-based (IBL) and collaborative learning (CL) strategies. In this study, session plans were specifically created in order to help with such an inquiry. Observations and journal entries were used to gather data from one football nursery through an action research approach applied by the practitioner-researcher. The data revolved around analysing the reactions and behaviours of twelve players towards the implementation of IBL and CL techniques, as well as the practitioner-researcher’s ongoing reflective analysis and decision-making processes. The results indicate that learner-centred pedagogies did have positive effects on player learning and were not always challenging to use with players of different abilities. Moreover, this study also proposes multiple ways of simultaneously using IBL and CL to maximise individual learning.