Breaking down the barriers between academia and hands-on practice

John Sigurdsson (Halberg Foundation) and Michael Woods (Inclusive Sport Design) play a game of wheelchair basketball during the Have A Go Disability Sports Day at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.

Academia and in-classroom practice often appear to occupy two different worlds. This disparity is a frequent source of frustration for teachers and academics, all of whom benefit when the link between these two worlds is smooth and easy to traverse.

How this can be achieved in the field of physical education was a frequent question that arose when University of Otago, Dunedin hosted New Zealand’s first International Symposium of Adapted Physical Activity.

Over four days, 252 academics, practitioners, and those with lived experience from across 23 countries came together to share latest research, best practice stories, ideas and solutions with the aim of advancing outcomes in adapted physical education.

For Michael Woods, founder and director of Inclusive Sport Design in Australia, 2023’s ISAPA symposium was an essential part of his mission.

“I found it to be an excellent and much-needed opportunity to connect and share with an amazing global network,” says Michael, whose business seeks to improve accessibility, diversity and equality in sport.

“There are so many people working to create inclusive and accessible opportunities in adaptive sport physical education, however it does seem the core and common barriers and challenges that have been identified over many years persist.”

A game of boccia being played by participants during the Have A Go Disability Sports Day.

Among these barriers Michael identifies those separating the worlds of academia and hands-on practice in adapted physical education settings.

“By and large there is little connection between practitioners and researchers,” says Michael.

“Often it is difficult for practitioners to access relevant and contemporary research in formats that they can easily interpret then apply in their work.”

The ‘academia bubble’

Andrew Leslie who, along with Michael, was a keynote speaker at ISAPA 2023, agrees. Andrew is CEO of Nuku Ora (formerly Sport Wellington), the regional sports trust serving Greater Wellington.

After a mountain biking accident in 2020 left him with permanent spinal injuries, Andrew was inspired to undertake a postgraduate diploma focused on making the outdoors in Aotearoa more accessible to those with disabilities.

Andrew’s studies have so far revealed a series of disparities between his day job and the research he’s now engaged in.

“I found (academia) is sometimes like its own bubble,” says Andrew, who feels the issue derives partly from how the research is presented and who it’s for.

“A lot of the language that’s used ... there’s a lot of technical jargon that’s required from an academic perspective for it to have academic rigour. But it kind of makes it not very user friendly,” he says.

“Ultimately, it comes down to what the focus of the research is. Is that tailored to what the needs of the practitioners are? Or is it kind of based on an academic? The outcome of their research is sometimes that there needs to be more research in this area so another researcher can pick that up.

Tertiary student Dylan Lloyd at the Have A Go Disability Sports Day.

“There’s so much great stuff being done research-wise, I just don’t see a lot of that day to day in my job.”

Solutions through collaboration

A lot of what makes academic research mystifying for everyday practitioners is entirely necessary. The technical language, methods, and other complex features make sure the results hold up to scrutiny and can be followed through in the most in-depth ways possible.

Though intricate, there still exists the possibility for these results to be made understandable to a broad audience. Jane Stevens from NZ Snow Sports believes the answer lies in collaboration.

Jane was a plenary speaker at ISAPA 2023 and has over 35 years’ experience coaching adapted snow sports at the paralympic level.

She says ordinary practitioners can aid their understanding of the latest research by reaching out to academics and involving them in their practice.

Michael agrees that these kinds of relationships are essential to bridging the gap between research and hands-on practice.

“Practitioners can look to build partnerships with academia at the planning stages of new projects so that research can be built into the programme,” he says.

“This can support the validation of such projects with the potential to unlock additional resources that might support delivery.” 

Katie Owen, disability and inclusion programme manager from Recreation Aotearoa chats to one of ‘the crew’.

Making the time

“It does come down to time and being able to research that sort of thing,” adds Jane, admitting that many teachers might not have the time to build these sorts of connections on top of already busy schedules.

Michael believes the key to managing this kind of time-consuming networking is a ‘many hands make light work’ approach involving collaboration among teachers and providers.

“As a collective, practitioner networks should seek to identify priority issues,” he says, “then, through proactive engagement with research institutions, [they can] influence research agendas.”

Jane says the researchers she’s approached have massively helped her work in the field of adaptive snow sports. She finds events like ISAPA 2023 to be an essential place to meet the next generation of researchers that will help improve outcomes across her myriad projects.

“It’s always good to communicate with your peers,” she says. “From my perspective it’s good to learn and see what’s going on in our [adapted sport] world.

“Do the research and reach out to people,” she adds. “People, I find, are generally good and pretty excited to get involved.”

Tips for teachers

• Discuss research with other teachers.
• Contact academics and ask questions.
• Find ways to collaborate with academics.
• Through collaboration with academics, create a
  two-way exchange of ideas.

Linda Games, strategic lead for Disability Sport England and Brenda O'Donnell CEO, Active Disability Ireland.

Seeing is believing

Paralympics New Zealand has just launched a new education programme available to all primary schools in New Zealand.

Seeing is Believing aims to change perceptions of disability through introducing ākonga to Aotearoa paralympians, para athletes and their mahi.

Auckland’s Scott Point Primary School took part in the pilot of the programme last year. Whānau teacher Caitlin Hall had this to say:

“The Seeing is Believing programme was a fantastic opportunity for our students to learn about para sport and disability in a fun and engaging way. Our students loved meeting paralympians and para athletes and learning about their stories.

“Seeing the students engaging in the different para sports and gaining new perspectives was such a fantastic thing to see. We are excited to see this programme rolled out across New Zealand and encourage all schools to give it a go.”

Paralympics New Zealand encourages schools to register in 2023, explore available resources and prepare to participate next year in time for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

To sign up, visit education.paralympics.org.nz(external link).

To learn more about supporting disabled young people to be physically active, watch SportNZ on YouTube(external link).

Harko Brown, lead education consultant facilitating a Māori Adaptive Games session with ISAPA delegates.