“Che cos’è l’educazione?” Una indagine esplorativa sulle opinioni di un campione di allenatori

Abstract

Is the trainer an educator? Is he/she aware of his/her role? Does he/she know the meaning of the term education? This paper intends to open a new line of research within a wide pedagogical literature which dealt with the educational role of the trainer, through the hermeneutic analysis of two focus groups conducted on a group of trainers living in the Lazio region, aged between 25 and 40. The homogeneous groups, chosen through a reasoned choice sampling, differ only because the components of the first group hold a Motor Science Degree while the others do not. The aim is to verify whether attending teaching courses of Didactic, Pedagogy and Special Pedagogy during the University course produces differences in determining the meaning of education. Such meaning is considered necessary to guide a conscious and intentional educational practice. The results reaffirm the difference between the groups and underline that a real educational activity in the youth sports field requires adequate preparation of the operators.