Witz' (1986) work on occupational closure in the medical profession. W itz explores the mechanisms by which medical men reproduce themselves in the light o f challenges from women in the profession, and it is her analysis o f this struggle for power which w ill be used here to contribute to an understanding o f women's subordination in sports coaching. W itz writes from a socialist feminist perspective, but she draws on the Weberian and neo-Weberian concept o f closure, specifically from the work o f Kreckel (1980) and Parkin (1979). \Vitz gives the previously gender-blind Weberian theory o f closure a gendered dimension, that is she recognises that men mobilise patriarchal power in the pursuit o f strategies to consolidate their advantages over women in the labour market. She identifies four gendered strategies o f occupational closure and employs these in her analysis o f the struggles to create and sustain both horizontal and vertical boundaries in one specific occupation, that o f medicine.
2.6 A Rationale for the Application of Witz' Model of Occupational Closure to Sports Coaching
This section highlights some o f the issues which need to be addressed concerning the application o f Witz' model o f occupational closure to an analysis o f OSS in sports
in light o f the fact that sports coaching is not considered to be a profession.
Subsequent to this discussion, attention is drawn to the potential o f Witz' gendered strategies o f exclusion, demarcation, inclusion and dual closure to further our understanding o f OSS in sports coaching.
Concern over the use o f Witz' model o f occupational closure in the medical profession to inform an analysis o f OSS in sports coaching can be allayed on two counts, first, by reference to Witz' (1992) concluding comments on her work; and, secondly, by closer examination o f the defining characteristics o f a profession in relation to the occupation o f sports coach.
W itz opens the concluding chapter o f her book, Professions and Patriarchy, by stating that her model o f occupational closure has been used to analyse the medical
profession, but that:
. . . further questions about the applicability o f this model to current developments in professionalisation and in other occupations remain open questions which need further investigation. (Witz, op.cit., p i92)
Thus Witz does not see her model o f occupational closure as one limited in its focus to the medical profession nor indeed to occupations classified as professions. On the contrary, she calls for its efficacy to be tested in other areas o f the labour market. Therefore, using Witz' model to analyse OSS in sports coaching is not inconsistent with her ideas, developed as they were, in relation to the medical profession.
Moreover, coaching is defined by the OPCS, in its register o f occupations, as falling within the occupational grouping, “ Associate Professions and Technical Occupations". Also included in this category are nursing, midwifery, and radiography and Witz includes all three in her analysis o f occupational closure in the medical profession.
Furthermore, it is possible to draw a number o f parallels between Larson's (1977) discussion o f the processes involved in the creation o f a profession (as W itz does) and
the current role o f a sports coach in the UK. Larson proposes that for a profession to develop, it has to offer a distinctive commodity. Coaching athletes certainly represents a distinctive commodity for no other occupation would claim to offer an athlete the technical and tactical skills and physiological, nutritional, and psychological
knowledge required from a coach. He also suggests that the commodity offered by the profession has to be standardised. In coaching standardisation is sought through coaching qualifications in the different sports. In conjunction with a standardisation o f service, Larson contends that there must be a uniform cognitive base. It could be argued that coaching is currently moving towards a uniform cognitive base as the National Governing Bodies o f Sport (NGBs) in the UK are relating their coaching qualifications to the appropriate levels o f National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs).
A profession, argues Larson, has to exhibit cognitive exclusiveness. The sports coach draws on knowledge from many spheres (such as exercise science, nutrition and psychology), but the cognitive exclusiveness o f the coach rests with his/her ability to relate this information to a particular sport or to an aspect o f a particular sport. It is this application which means that an exercise scientist, a nutritionist and a
psychologist could not expect to take the place o f sports coach. This last point meets with Larson's notion o f a profession as distinguished by an inaccessibility o f expertise. The knowledge base o f the sports coach is constantly changing, as our understanding o f the factors influencing human performance improves. This progress means that there is an absence o f routinisation o f work as a sports coach and this too, fits with Larson's notion o f a profession.
Where coaching appears to depart from Larson's treatise o f what constitutes a profession is at the level o f state support with regard to education and monopolies o f competence. Larson argues that these are crucial to the success o f a professional project, but until very recently the state has shown little concern or interest in the
doctors have to be registered by the state to practice, coaches can coach without qualifications and without the knowledge o f the NGB o f the sport in question. What little evidence there is on this issue tends to suggest that coaching has not secured state interest or support for a central, state-sponsored register o f sports coaches. After the Lyme Bay canoe tragedy, for example, when four children died in a sea canoe trip led by inexperienced and unqualified instructors, there were calls from the British Canoe Union (BCU) and from Roger Putnam, chair o f the Council for Outdoor Education, Training and Recreation, for the government to make it compulsory for adventure centre instructors to hold full qualifications (Midgley, 1994). Guidelines issued by the Department o f Education and Science merely recommend that instructors leading children have appropriate (BCU) qualifications but these are not essential. A t the time o f writing the government's response to this tragedy was to remind teachers and governors that they had a legal responsibility to check on the safety o f children at their school and to point out that such centres were subject to existing Health and Safety legislation (Midgley, op.cit). A repetition o f this, or a similar event, however, may put pressure on the government to enforce some form o f registration scheme.
The arguments presented above show that even though sports coaching is not classified as a profession, it meets many o f the criteria used to distinguish a profession (as defined by Larson) although it has not secured state support. Moreover, as Witz suggests, her model o f occupational closure need not be seen as restricted to an
analysis o f professional occupations, to the exclusion o f other occupations. It is on the basis o f these arguments that Witz ' model o f occupational closure is presented as one which is appropriate to analyse OSS in sports coaching.
doctors have to be registered by the state to practice, coaches can coach without qualifications and without the knowledge o f the NGB o f the sport in question. What little evidence there is on this issue tends to suggest that coaching has not secured state interest or support for a central, state-sponsored register o f sports coaches. After the Lyme Bay canoe tragedy, for example, when four children died in a sea canoe trip led by inexperienced and unqualified instructors, there were calls from the British Canoe Union (BCU) and from Roger Putnam, chair o f the Council for Outdoor Education, Training and Recreation, for the government to make it compulsory for adventure centre instructors to hold full qualifications (Midgley, 1994). Guidelines issued by the Department o f Education and Science merely recommend that instructors leading children have appropriate (BCU) qualifications but these are not essential. A t the time o f writing the government's response to this tragedy was to remind teachers and governors that they had a legal responsibility to check on the safety o f children at their school and to point out that such centres were subject to existing Health and Safety legislation (Midgley, op.cit). A repetition o f this, or a similar event, however, may put pressure on the government to enforce some form o f registration scheme.
The arguments presented above show that even though sports coaching is not classified as a profession, it meets many o f the criteria used to distinguish a profession (as defined by Larson) although it has not secured state support. Moreover, as W itz suggests, her model o f occupational closure need not be seen as restricted to an
analysis o f professional occupations, to the exclusion o f other occupations. It is on the basis o f these arguments that Witz ' model o f occupational closure is presented as one which is appropriate to analyse OSS in sports coaching.