title: ‘It’s not about disability, I want to win as many medals as possible’: The social construction of disability in high-performance coaching

authors: Townsend, Robert C.

abstract: This article draws on the theoretical concepts of Pierre Bourdieu to provide a critical analysis of the social construction of disability in high-performance sport coaching. Data were generated using a qualitative cross-case comparative methodology, comprising 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in high-performance disability sport, and interviews with coaches and athletes from a cross-section of Paralympic sports. We discuss how in both cases ‘disability’ was assimilated into the ‘performance logic’ of the sporting field as a means of maximising symbolic capital. Furthermore, coaches were socialised into a prevailing legitimate culture in elite disability sport that was reflective of ableist, performance-focused and normative ideologies about disability. In this article we unpack the assumptions that underpin coaching in disability sport, and by extension use sport as a lens to problematise the construction of disability in specific social formations across coaching cultures. In so doing, we raise critical questions about the interrelation of disability and sport.

text: ‘It’s not about disability, I want to win as many medals as possible’: The social construction of disability in high-performance coaching This article draws on the theoretical concepts of Pierre Bourdieu to provide a critical analysis of the social construction of disability in high-performance sport coaching. Data were generated using a qualitative cross-case comparative methodology, comprising 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in high-performance disability sport, and interviews with coaches and athletes from a cross-section of Paralympic sports. We discuss how in both cases ‘disability’ was assimilated into the ‘performance logic’ of the sporting field as a means of maximising symbolic capital. Furthermore, coaches were socialised into a prevailing legitimate culture in elite disability sport that was reflective of ableist, performance-focused and normative ideologies about disability. In this article we unpack the assumptions that underpin coaching in disability sport, and by extension use sport as a lens to problematise the construction of disability in specific social formations across coaching cultures. In so doing, we raise critical questions about the interrelation of disability and sport.

year: 2018

title: Degradation as a result of UV radiation of bloodmeal-based thermoplastics

authors: Verbeek, Casparus Johan R.

subjects: bloodmeal

abstract: Polymers are known for their susceptibility to degradation as a result of ultra-violet (UV) radiation. In this study, the UV stability of bloodmeal-based thermoplastics (BMT) was evaluated over a period of 12 weeks. Formulations with and without plasticiser were tested and moisture was excluded during accelerated weathering to isolate the effect of UV because of the material’s known sensitivity to moisture. It was found that embrittlement due to loss of water overshadowed the effect of UV degradation. Embrittlement caused the material’s toughness to be reduced by an order of magnitude after only two weeks of exposure, for either plasticised or unplasticised samples. An initial increase in tensile strength was observed after two weeks followed by a steady decline in strength. The elastic modulus reached a plateau after about two weeks of exposure. FTIR did not confirm any chemical changes after 12 weeks exposure and TGA suggested that low molecular mass species were quickly lost during the course of the test. The absence of chemical changes does not suggest resistance to environmental degradation, although the dark pigmentation of bloodmeal may have contributed to the lack of UV degradation. Embrittlement remains a greater concern and requires further attention.

text: Degradation as a result of UV radiation of bloodmeal-based thermoplastics Polymers are known for their susceptibility to degradation as a result of ultra-violet (UV) radiation. In this study, the UV stability of bloodmeal-based thermoplastics (BMT) was evaluated over a period of 12 weeks. Formulations with and without plasticiser were tested and moisture was excluded during accelerated weathering to isolate the effect of UV because of the material’s known sensitivity to moisture. It was found that embrittlement due to loss of water overshadowed the effect of UV degradation. Embrittlement caused the material’s toughness to be reduced by an order of magnitude after only two weeks of exposure, for either plasticised or unplasticised samples. An initial increase in tensile strength was observed after two weeks followed by a steady decline in strength. The elastic modulus reached a plateau after about two weeks of exposure. FTIR did not confirm any chemical changes after 12 weeks exposure and TGA suggested that low molecular mass species were quickly lost during the course of the test. The absence of chemical changes does not suggest resistance to environmental degradation, although the dark pigmentation of bloodmeal may have contributed to the lack of UV degradation. Embrittlement remains a greater concern and requires further attention.

year: 2011

title: Incidental teacher<->student moments in an Aotearoa New Zealand secondary school: Entangled encounters with key competencies

authors: Graham, Judith Ann

subjects: key competencies

abstract: This study focuses on the performance of Key Competencies of the New Zealand curriculum in incidental teacher<->student moments. It makes visible a significant and often taken-for-granted portion of teachers’ daily work. Situated in one Aotearoa New Zealand secondary school, the research material of this study was generated in two cycles of conversations with teachers. In these conversations the teachers spoke about ordinary, unplanned moments with students. As the school is composed of more than 50% Māori students, I spoke first with individual Māori teachers at the school, inquiring into their knowledge of key competencies, and how that pedagogical knowledge related to knowledge and practice from whakaaro Māori. In the second cycle of generating research material, a collaborative group of Māori and Pākehā teachers engaged in a recursive process of inquiring together into stories participants told of everyday encounters with students. In this inquiry the names of key competency categories were put in the background as the group focused their inquiry on the teacher’s values, knowledges and beliefs that were contributing to action in the moment.
My analysis of the research material is situated in the field of posthuman philosophy and relational<->materialist theorising. Drawing on the work of Deleuze and Guattari, Massumi, Barad and Bennett, I applied Barad’s methodology of diffractive analysis and paid attention to multiple material and discursive forces and intensities at play in each story. In this analysis, diverse forces such as colonised histories, educational discourse, human and more-than-human materialities, whakaaro Māori, hope and belief, were evidenced intra-acting together. I noticed how these forces invited the mobilisation and performance of key competency actions in the service of becoming and relating with the world.
This study shifts thinking with key competencies from the reductionist territory of the individual human and re-territorialises them as dynamic performances of becoming. It contributes to a re-thinking of subjectivity and potentiality in the place of schooling in Aotearoa New Zealand. As the multi-dimensional entangled complexity of day-to-day pedagogical encounters is disclosed, teacher<->student intra-actions become known as ripe opportunities for performances of actions that come under the umbrella of key competencies. The study opens new ways of thinking about how key competency learning is produced in secondary schools, and how the placetimemattering of the school shapes that learning.
I explore diffractive patterns as key competencies entangle with posthumanism and with whakaaro Māori in everyday teacher<->student encounters. I present a way of thinking with key competencies that aligns closely with whakaaro Māori and posthumanism, and offers a creative and ethical orientation to life and learning. I think with the teacher<->student relational moment as a significant site of learning, and how knowledge of affect and relational-practices of knowing and recognition might contribute to teachers’ professional adaptive expertise.

text: Incidental teacher<->student moments in an Aotearoa New Zealand secondary school: Entangled encounters with key competencies This study focuses on the performance of Key Competencies of the New Zealand curriculum in incidental teacher<->student moments. It makes visible a significant and often taken-for-granted portion of teachers’ daily work. Situated in one Aotearoa New Zealand secondary school, the research material of this study was generated in two cycles of conversations with teachers. In these conversations the teachers spoke about ordinary, unplanned moments with students. As the school is composed of more than 50% Māori students, I spoke first with individual Māori teachers at the school, inquiring into their knowledge of key competencies, and how that pedagogical knowledge related to knowledge and practice from whakaaro Māori. In the second cycle of generating research material, a collaborative group of Māori and Pākehā teachers engaged in a recursive process of inquiring together into stories participants told of everyday encounters with students. In this inquiry the names of key competency categories were put in the background as the group focused their inquiry on the teacher’s values, knowledges and beliefs that were contributing to action in the moment.
My analysis of the research material is situated in the field of posthuman philosophy and relational<->materialist theorising. Drawing on the work of Deleuze and Guattari, Massumi, Barad and Bennett, I applied Barad’s methodology of diffractive analysis and paid attention to multiple material and discursive forces and intensities at play in each story. In this analysis, diverse forces such as colonised histories, educational discourse, human and more-than-human materialities, whakaaro Māori, hope and belief, were evidenced intra-acting together. I noticed how these forces invited the mobilisation and performance of key competency actions in the service of becoming and relating with the world.
This study shifts thinking with key competencies from the reductionist territory of the individual human and re-territorialises them as dynamic performances of becoming. It contributes to a re-thinking of subjectivity and potentiality in the place of schooling in Aotearoa New Zealand. As the multi-dimensional entangled complexity of day-to-day pedagogical encounters is disclosed, teacher<->student intra-actions become known as ripe opportunities for performances of actions that come under the umbrella of key competencies. The study opens new ways of thinking about how key competency learning is produced in secondary schools, and how the placetimemattering of the school shapes that learning.
I explore diffractive patterns as key competencies entangle with posthumanism and with whakaaro Māori in everyday teacher<->student encounters. I present a way of thinking with key competencies that aligns closely with whakaaro Māori and posthumanism, and offers a creative and ethical orientation to life and learning. I think with the teacher<->student relational moment as a significant site of learning, and how knowledge of affect and relational-practices of knowing and recognition might contribute to teachers’ professional adaptive expertise.

year: 2019