Leigh Sperka
Biographic Data
| ID | 768606 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Leigh Sperka |
| GIVEN NAMES | Leigh |
| FAMILY NAME | Sperka |
| SIGNATURE | SPERKA L |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Queensland |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9946-7548 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 52 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
A Broader Understanding of Motivational Climate in Physical Education
A coordinator’s learning journey in implementing a Full-Service Community School in Australia
Background: Full-Service Community Schools seek to integrate health, well-being, and academic services in schools by partnering with local community services. Establishing and maintaining community partnerships represents a significant operational challenge for schools. However, limited literature exists that explores the process of establishing a Full-Service Community School with community partners. Objectives: This paper explores the process o…
Activating students in feedback and assessment processes in physical education
Outsourcing in HPE
Engaging young people with disabilities in research about their experiences of physical education and sport
Young people with disabilities (PWD) have increasingly become part of complex and important conversations surrounding their experiences and engagement in physical education (PE) and sport. Despite more young voices being heard, scant attention has been given to why we are listening, who we are listening to, and how we are listening. In this scoping review, we focus on the methodologies and methods used when researching the perspectives young PWD …
Vistas of the field
In this paper, we use the field of Health and Physical Education (H/PE) to explain the limitations, nuances, and inconsistencies of three global, digitally available, and regularly updated systems: library holdings, metrics, and altmetrics. We understand these systems through the analogy of seeing different vistas of a landscape when driving a car: looking in the rear-view mirror (i.e. library holdings as past indicators of quality) and out the s…
(Re)defining outsourcing in education
In this paper, I (re)define outsourcing in a way that reflects the nature of the practice in education. While business and management definitions of outsourcing have been generative to this point, they are relatively broad and place wide boundaries on the practice. Moreover, they do not acknowledge the interpretation and enactment of outsourcing in contexts where economic models were never supposed to dominate. To create a bespoke and ‘stipulativ…
Selecting, understanding and applying theory as a neophyte researcher
This paper is an account of my experience of grappling with the role of theory in qualitative research, the selection of particular theories and theorists, the generative application of theory, and the broader impacts my theoretical choices had on my research. I offer strategies for negotiating theoretical tensions including: developing a personal conceptualisation of theory; exploring and playing with theoretical options at the start of research…
And if you can’t hear us
The enactment of neoliberal ideologies in education, in particular the extension of free-market logics, has the potential to reposition students and affect if and how their voices are elicited and responded to. There is, however, a dearth of research that seeks to understand how students are experiencing neoliberal influences on their education. Given the various and far-reaching effects of neoliberalisation on education, one specific neoliberal …
Network ethnography applied
The progressively global, neoliberal, privatised, and digital education environment poses new methodological challenges for educational researchers, prompting a need to innovate. It has been suggested, however, that better commentary and reflection on methodological innovation in education is required. This paper considers the benefits and challenges associated with the use of network ethnography, one methodological approach that has emerged to a…
The outsourcing of health and physical education
The outsourcing, or external provision, of Health and Physical Education (HPE) has only relatively recently become the focus of research. This critical scoping review of empirical work on outsourcing in HPE seeks to examine the extent, nature, and range of research that has been undertaken and provide a context for future scholarly inquiry. Literature was sourced from two educational databases, a manual search of five HPE journals, and searches o…
The outsourcing of health and physical education
The outsourcing, or external provision, of Health and Physical Education (HPE) has only relatively recently become the focus of research. This critical scoping review of empirical work on outsourcing in HPE seeks to examine the extent, nature, and range of research that has been undertaken and provide a context for future scholarly inquiry. Literature was sourced from two educational databases, a manual search of five HPE journals, and searches o…
And if you can’t hear us
The enactment of neoliberal ideologies in education, in particular the extension of free-market logics, has the potential to reposition students and affect if and how their voices are elicited and responded to. There is, however, a dearth of research that seeks to understand how students are experiencing neoliberal influences on their education. Given the various and far-reaching effects of neoliberalisation on education, one specific neoliberal …
Network ethnography applied
The progressively global, neoliberal, privatised, and digital education environment poses new methodological challenges for educational researchers, prompting a need to innovate. It has been suggested, however, that better commentary and reflection on methodological innovation in education is required. This paper considers the benefits and challenges associated with the use of network ethnography, one methodological approach that has emerged to a…
(Re)defining outsourcing in education
In this paper, I (re)define outsourcing in a way that reflects the nature of the practice in education. While business and management definitions of outsourcing have been generative to this point, they are relatively broad and place wide boundaries on the practice. Moreover, they do not acknowledge the interpretation and enactment of outsourcing in contexts where economic models were never supposed to dominate. To create a bespoke and ‘stipulativ…
Network ethnography applied
The progressively global, neoliberal, privatised, and digital education environment poses new methodological challenges for educational researchers, prompting a need to innovate. It has been suggested, however, that better commentary and reflection on methodological innovation in education is required. This paper considers the benefits and challenges associated with the use of network ethnography, one methodological approach that has emerged to a…
The outsourcing of health and physical education
The outsourcing, or external provision, of Health and Physical Education (HPE) has only relatively recently become the focus of research. This critical scoping review of empirical work on outsourcing in HPE seeks to examine the extent, nature, and range of research that has been undertaken and provide a context for future scholarly inquiry. Literature was sourced from two educational databases, a manual search of five HPE journals, and searches o…
Selecting, understanding and applying theory as a neophyte researcher
This paper is an account of my experience of grappling with the role of theory in qualitative research, the selection of particular theories and theorists, the generative application of theory, and the broader impacts my theoretical choices had on my research. I offer strategies for negotiating theoretical tensions including: developing a personal conceptualisation of theory; exploring and playing with theoretical options at the start of research…
And if you can’t hear us
The enactment of neoliberal ideologies in education, in particular the extension of free-market logics, has the potential to reposition students and affect if and how their voices are elicited and responded to. There is, however, a dearth of research that seeks to understand how students are experiencing neoliberal influences on their education. Given the various and far-reaching effects of neoliberalisation on education, one specific neoliberal …
(Re)defining outsourcing in education
In this paper, I (re)define outsourcing in a way that reflects the nature of the practice in education. While business and management definitions of outsourcing have been generative to this point, they are relatively broad and place wide boundaries on the practice. Moreover, they do not acknowledge the interpretation and enactment of outsourcing in contexts where economic models were never supposed to dominate. To create a bespoke and ‘stipulativ…
Vistas of the field
In this paper, we use the field of Health and Physical Education (H/PE) to explain the limitations, nuances, and inconsistencies of three global, digitally available, and regularly updated systems: library holdings, metrics, and altmetrics. We understand these systems through the analogy of seeing different vistas of a landscape when driving a car: looking in the rear-view mirror (i.e. library holdings as past indicators of quality) and out the s…
Engaging young people with disabilities in research about their experiences of physical education and sport
Young people with disabilities (PWD) have increasingly become part of complex and important conversations surrounding their experiences and engagement in physical education (PE) and sport. Despite more young voices being heard, scant attention has been given to why we are listening, who we are listening to, and how we are listening. In this scoping review, we focus on the methodologies and methods used when researching the perspectives young PWD …
A coordinator’s learning journey in implementing a Full-Service Community School in Australia
Background: Full-Service Community Schools seek to integrate health, well-being, and academic services in schools by partnering with local community services. Establishing and maintaining community partnerships represents a significant operational challenge for schools. However, limited literature exists that explores the process of establishing a Full-Service Community School with community partners. Objectives: This paper explores the process o…
Activating students in feedback and assessment processes in physical education
Outsourcing in HPE
A Broader Understanding of Motivational Climate in Physical Education
Sociology (10 works) · Pedagogy (8 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Business (6 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Physical Education and Pedagogy (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Outsourcing (5 works) · Physical education (5 works) · Social science (5 works)