Student-Athletes in my Classroom: Australian Teachers’ Perspectives of the Problems Faced by Student-Athletes Balancing School and Sport

This paper emerged from a larger project about Australian high performance school age athletes self-identified problems in balancing their academic and sporting lives. Teachers of student-athletes are ideally placed to observe stresses faced by these students, but little is published about teacher perspectives on this topic. A qualitative analysis of interview data from 10 teachers, across 10 Australian secondary schools, revealed critical information about the similarities and differences in their perspectives compared to those of student-athletes and parents. Teachers identified five main areas where student-athletes required dedicated support, and provided examples of solutions to address these. Their practical strategies complement the characteristics of the ‘athlete-friendly’ school and serve as examples of best practice support that other schools could adopt. On analysis, these strategies align with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. Consequently, the focus of this paper relates to the teacher perspectives and how this impacts teacher practice