Use and application of wearable technology in football further education settings in the UK

The increase in the number of football specific industry related qualifications offered by the post-16 education sector has grown exponentially in recent years. Due to technological advancements and access to enhanced equipment, these courses tend to include wearable technology in their curricular to support student cohorts understanding of specific internal and external-load patterns. Despite these technological and education developments there is a dearth of pedagogic research on the application of various wearable technology in post-16 football education. Using a mixed-methods research design we established the type of technology and how it is being employed across a range of post-16 educational settings. Survey responses suggested Global Positioning System (GPS) vests and heart rate chest strap were the most prominent wearable technology. Qualitative findings suggested there are pedagogic challenges and barriers to using this kind of technology, a lack of understanding, and poor feedback and communication strategies. Having established some preliminary findings a series of 1-1 interviews with identified practitioners working in post-16 educational settings explored these barriers and challenges within contextualised settings in more depth. The results identified a disconnect between coaching performance and coaching education, suggesting a lack of knowledge surrounding the uses and capabilities of wearable technology used in football related FE settings. These findings can help sport, academia and the technology industry to better align and understand in order to meet the educational needs of students seeking to enter a career in sport such as football that use wearable technology.