Dual career support program at upper secondary school: a prerequisite for world-class athletes?

Abstract

Session: Utbildning för profession

To help adolescent elite athletes handle the challenges of combining studies with sports career, different forms of Dual Career Support (DCS) at upper secondary school has been developed in many countries. In Sweden, DCS is an important part of the talented development program and has the intention to help adolescent athletes acquire an education and achieve the highest possible level in sports. The effectiveness of these support systems have been debated and one study indicate that athletes who has studied at mainstream upper secondary school (MSS) achieved better results in both sports and studies than their counterpart at DCS (van Rens et al., 2015). A study also showed that a majority of world-class athletes in Sweden have studied at MSS (Nyberg et al., 2023).

The aim of the current study is to explore former athletes experiences of combining studies with elite sports at DCS program and MSS. Twelve former world-class athletes were interviewed where six had taken part in a DCS program and six at MSS. We used individual semi-structured interviews of approximately one hour each and reflexive thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke (2021). The Dual Career Development Environment working model by Henriksen et al. (2020) was used as a theoretical framework.

The preliminary results show that athletes who had taken part in a DCS program were allowed to prioritize sports at the expense of their studies. However, athletes at MSS received various ways of support for their sports venture only if they had completed their academic exams. Athletes’ reasons for studying at MSS include getting a better education, meeting people outside of sports, and not having to train during school-time. If getting an education not have the same priority as a sports career at DCS programs, the transition to the labor market can be difficult for elite athletes.

References

Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2021). One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis? Qualitative Research in Psychology, 18(3), 328-352. DOI: 10.1080/14780887.2020.1769238

Henriksen. K, Storm LK, Kuettel. A, et al. (2020). A holistic ecological approach to sport and study: The case of an athlete friendly university in Denmark. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 47, 101637.

Nyberg. C, Wagnsson. S, Gustafsson. H, et al. (2023). Dual career support among world-class athletes in Sweden: Performance, education, and employment. Frontiers in psychology, 13. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1093562

van Rens. FE, Elling. A., & Reijgersberg. N, (2015). Topsport Talent Schools in the Netherlands: A retrospective analysis of the effect on performance in sport and education. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 50(1), 64-82. DOI:10.1177/1012690212468585