Moving elite athletes forward: examining the status of secondary school elite athlete programmes and available post-school options

The purpose of this study focused specifically on examining the status of and the promotion of two elite athlete programmes (EAPs), the students/elite athlete selection process and available post-school options. The research was guided by Michel Foucault's work in understanding the relationship between power and knowledge. Participants, setting and research design: Two EAPs, a state school with a sport academy option (School A) and a private correspondence school designed specifically for elite athletes (School B), were purposefully selected for the study. Twenty key informant elite athletes and five teachers/coaches became central to the ongoing qualitative data collection for this study. Data collection: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants and teachers/coaches. During the class visits, field notes were recorded using a digital recorder focusing upon key informants' reactions to the course content, their learning experiences and the social interactions between key informants and teachers/coaches. Documents were also collected to contextualise the two EAPs. Data analysis: First, I analysed the data following the method of constant comparison using NVivo, a software package that assists researchers in the analysis of qualitative data. This involved coding the data to identify key themes. After the data were clustered into key themes, I examined the discourses within the themes that positioned both teachers/coaches and elite athletes in particular power relationships using Foucauldian theory.