School-family cognitive discrepancies in the cultivation of children’s interest in sports: an exploratory study based on grounded theory

Editorial reading guide · Collaboration

Do families and teachers mean the same thing when they say a child is interested in sport?

Parent and teacher interviews reveal how adults frame children's sporting interests. The question is how those expectations align when they plan activities.

Who was studied?

Twelve physical education teachers and twelve parents interviewed about children's interest in sport.

Age / stage: School-age children

Read with three questions

1. Were children's own preferences obtained directly?
2. How did the researchers move from individual accounts to their interpretation?
3. Where do children, families and educators each have a voice in the evidence?

Keep the limits in view

The accounts document experiences in the circumstances studied. They cannot establish how common an experience is in the wider population or measure an intervention effect.