Developing a programme theory for sport and employability programmes for NEETs

This article reports on a European Union (EU) funded study of ‘sport-for-employability’ programmes for NEETs (not in employment, education or training) and seeks to address identified limitations of current research. Reviews of research on sport for change identify two broad limitations. Firstly, there is an absence of detailed analysis of the role that sport can play in the development of job skills training and employability. Secondly, and more generally, there is a lack of analysis of the particular conditions, processes and mechanisms under which successful implementation and delivery take place, or fail to take place, as well as those conditions which are more generalisable. The researchers sought to address such issues via ten in-depth case studies of sport-for-employability programmes in eight different EU Member States, with the aim of constructing a generalisable programme theory for such programmes. It is hoped that the findings will provide the basis for improved provision and future critical research.