“You’ve just got to dress it up as something different”: The changing role of Local Government Sport Development
This thesis analyses how the role and remit of local government sport development has changed since the emergence of sport development as a service area under the Conservative administration of the 1980’s. The research is distinctive as it focuses explicitly on sport development services in local authorities, an under-researched area of public policy. The methodology utilised desktop research to identify changes to structural arrangements for sport development services across 75 local authorities in the North of England. This informed the development of a Typology of Local Government Sport Development which identified the different structural models used to these services. The implications of each model on sport development policy and practice are considered, acknowledging tensions in service delivery, and identifying key drivers of provision. In addition, six local authority case studies were undertaken representing different structural arrangements and delivery models.
Analysis is underpinned by a theoretical framework which combines insights from discipline areas including political science, policy studies and organisational theory. The framework predominantly draws upon theories of new institutionalism to demonstrate that local government sport development policy and practice is shaped by a combination of macro institutional pressures and agentic influences within each authority. Sport development provision is identified as ‘decentred’ due to increasing agentification of services. Public health is identified as a key driver of provision, with sport development services being strategically ‘repositioned’ to reflect this. Shifts in national sport policy combined with ongoing impacts from austerity measures has led to the ‘invisibility’ of sport development in many authorities with services marginalised into other departments or renamed to better reflect synergies with the health agenda. Changing resource dependencies and asymmetrical power relations are acknowledged within the organisation field, affecting the position of local authorities in the wider sporting landscape.
The thesis encourages readers to re-think sport development – it challenges traditional notions of local government sport development and highlights the changing professionalism of sport development practitioners.
History
Qualification name
- PhD
Supervisor
Hylton, Kevin ; Watson, BeccyAwarding Institution
Leeds Beckett UniversityCompletion Date
2024-01-31Qualification level
- Doctoral
Language
- eng