Estudio comparativo entre los entrenadores de élite de natación de Portugal, concepciones y conocimiento pedagógico

Abstract

The study's main purpose was to analyze the pedagogical knowledge, concepts and training content and planning of swimming coaches, with different education levels (academic and technical/federation). Our study enrolled twelve swimming coaches belonging to the Swimming North Association, including cities such as Coimbra, Lisbon, Aveiro, Leiria and Algarve. A structured questionnaire, based on the model of Borges and Navarro (2008) called quantitative data collection, was applied and moreover it was performed a semi-structured interview that allowed to question directly to the coaches about knowledge and beliefs about swimming. Training programs were also analyzed as a basis for comparison with the coach�s testimony. The study was developed based on a mixed methodology. Was adopted the case study method with multiple cases (Yin, 1984). The statistical analysis of the questionnaire was performed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 18.0 for Windows. The software webQDA (version 2.0.0.) was used for the interview�s content analysis, with support for qualitative analysis. Regarding methodology, initially procedures were related to data collection for planning a training season. The results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the concepts and knowledge acquired with practice and experience for the entire sample, being stronger in the group with academic education.