Principles of nonlinear pedagogy in sport practice

Background: There are deeply relevant questions concerning how to integrate and organise various nonlinear pedagogical strategies and methods in order to structure training in the professional development of Physical Education (PE) teachers and sport coaches. To promote the emergence and development of innovative and adaptive performance behaviours in sport, nonlinear pedagogy advocates the methodology of constraints manipulation to facilitate learning. Sport pedagogues have to manage and apply different constraint manipulations at varying times in practice contexts, that is, while planning before/following a learning session (i.e., designing the micro-structure of practice) and in interactions during the session. In nonlinear pedagogy, the design of practice micro-structure is predicated on the continuous, intertwined relationships between decision-making, action, perception and cognition in sport performance and learning contexts. Purpose: Here, we present an analysis of the activities that pedagogues engage in to facilitate learning and performance in sport (i.e., the micro-structure of practice) during practical interventions in sport and exercise contexts, based on use of a Constraints-led approach by PE teachers and coaches. Method: Based on data from illustrative studies on performance analysis and constraints manipulation, we exemplify some of the main principles and assumptions of nonlinear pedagogy. This synthesis, framed in a nonlinear pedagogy, aims to reveal how adopting a constraint led approach can straightforwardly enhance learning designs of sport practitioners. Conclusions: This article shares insights from a nonlinear pedagogy that can frame the micro-structure of practice during interventions, compared to utilisation of traditional pedagogical practices. It is proposed that PE teachers and coaches are designers of learning environments and that both learning and performance improvement are seen as emerging from the interaction of key constraints (related to task, learner and environment).