مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد آموزش مدیریت ورزش و استخدام دانش آموختگان – تیلور و فرانسیس 2017

Introduction

and theoretical background Enhancing students’ employability has become one of the most desirable outcomes for tertiary education (Kinash et al. 2014) and sport management programmes (Emery, Crabtree, and Kerr 2012). The term employability is used in this paper with a broad reference to students’ work-readiness and is not confined to merely securing a job (Light and Dixon 2007). In this sense, employability also means that students are able to move between different contextual environments (e.g. commercial and non-commercial) of the industry during their careers (Edwards 2014; Feldmann 2016; Jackson 2016). The employability of graduates is desirable for educational institutions, future employers, and students (Emery, Crabtree, and Kerr 2012; Jackson 2016). Similar to managing any organization, the management of sport organizations is a complex process that encompasses careful planning, organizing, and leading and monitoring functions (Maitland, Hills, and Rhind 2015). Management, and by extension sport management, is also about being aware that an organization is comprised of employees, managers, and customers, all with individual identities, who tend to interact socially (Cunliffe 2009, 2016). Sport management has enjoyed an exponential growth and an unprecedented demand for university education (Costa 2005; Shilbury et al. 2017). Course offerings of undergraduate sport management programmes typically offer courses including sport sociology, sport finance, sport marketing, sport facility management, strategic sport management, sport law, and internship (or Work-Integrated Learning – WIL) (Eagleman and McNary 2010; Martin 2013). These courses help students develop sport industry-related skills, knowledge, and attitudes (SKAs). Besides context specific courses, during their degree and through tutorials, workshops, and assessment tasks, students are encouraged to think critically about complex social, cultural, and political aspects of the sport industry. Examples include doping, gender inequality, and uneven distribution of financial resources (Amis and Silk 2005; Frisby 2005; Skinner and Edwards 2005). WIL is used in sport management programmes to enhance the application of SKAs and to provide students with industry experience prior to graduation (Edwards 2014). The term WIL is also used to describe other cooperative education programmes, such as work placements, internships, and apprenticeships (Atkinson, Rizzetti, and Smith 2005). However, several studies (e.g. Emery, Crabtree, and Kerr 2012; Mathner and Martin 2012; Sotiriadou 2011) have highlighted that due to a disconnect between what employers in the sport industry require and what the sport management graduates offer, universities continue to struggle in their efforts to provide students with the necessary SKAs. In an audit of the Australian sport management job market, sport management students reported a lack of guidance (e.g. on how to ‘navigate’ the industry and how to be successful in career development) during their university studies (Emery, Crabtree, and Kerr 2012). Despite the attempts of tertiary sport management education to improve the application of SKAs, current research fails to explain how students’ employability can be assured more effectively (Feldmann 2016). Even when WIL is included during a student’s course, there is insufficient empirical proof of increased student employability at the end of an internship (Feldmann 2016). Student awareness and experience of the organizational context, moving beyond individual reflection, is essential to achieving the optimal application of SKAs (Boyatzis 2008; Feldmann 2016; Howorth, Smith, and Parkinson 2012).