Part A: Course Overview
Course Title: Sport, Equity and Social Change
Credit Points: 12.00
Course Coordinator: Damian Grenfell
Course Coordinator Phone: Please email
Course Coordinator Email: damian.grenfell@rmit.edu.au
Course Coordinator Location: 037.05.032A
Course Coordinator Availability: Please email for an appointment
Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities
None
Course Description
In this course, you will approach sport as one possible ‘everyday’ way to examine themes of equity and social change in terms of gender, class, race and ability and how it sits in relation to power and forms of social contestation.
Around the world sport is a central dimension to social life, threading relations between people across generations via the casual play at local parks, organised competitions at ovals, all the way through to the mega-events and massive stadiums of the global sport industry. Sport is at once a measure of how we understand our own embodiment while also being an everyday barometer of social and cultural priorities, identity and social participation.
By examining the consequences for equity at each point, you will learn about sport in the most local contexts through to the expansions of sports globally, and via a range of different sports and playing contexts. In doing so, you will understand how the questions of equity shift and are informed by the impacts of colonialism, state agendas and market forces from the local to the global. This is not a course specifically for only sport lovers. Rather, the course critically engages with sport as a way to understand social equity and can be of interest to anyone who works in community organisations, across different levels of government and in the philanthropic and not-for-profit sectors and broader civil society.
Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development
Program Learning Outcomes
This course contributes to the following BP332P25 Bachelor of International Studies program learning outcomes:
PLO1: Contribute to global justice and equity with empathy, critical thinking and resilience.
PLO3: Problem solve collaboratively and adaptively using linguistic, intercultural and digital skills.
PLO5: Engage with industry and community networks to advance local and global goals and equity.
Course Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Evaluate different forms of social equity, challenges to equity, and the changing dimensions of equity as it relates to government, industry and community expectations
- Critically describe how equity is a central dimension to the experience of sports in both community and professional contexts and be introduced to debates on equity through the prism of sport.
- Articulate how social change occurs at community level, in industry and through economic and government changes.
- Examine embodiment, health and social inclusion through the ways sport is structured in schools, communities, through industry, and as a profession.
- Develop a comprehension of how cultural, and economic factors influence the ways sports are participated in, experienced and promoted in local and global contexts.
Overview of Learning Activities
The course will be taught from Melbourne, one of the most important ‘sporting cities’ in the world. As such it is expected that approximately half of the classes for this course will be taught in a classroom on campus. You will regularly meet at different places around Melbourne to learn on site. Moving from local basketball courts, meeting local sporting club committees through to visiting stadiums, media organisations, sport administration bodies and museums, you will be taught on site and in live contexts as relevant to course learnings.
Overview of Learning Resources
RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through our online systems.
There are services and resources available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the RMIT student website.
Overview of Assessment
You will be assessed on how well you meet the course’s learning outcomes and on your development against the program learning outcomes.
Assessment Tasks
Assessment Task 1: Ongoing reflective journal, 30% CLO1, CLO2
Assessment Task 2: Case study 25% CLO1, CLO2, CLO3
Assessment Task 3: Professional communication artefact 45% CLO3, CLO4, CLO5
Feedback will be given on all assessment tasks.
If you have a long term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.
Your course assessment conforms to RMIT assessment principles, regulations, policies, procedures and instructions.