Professor John Sproule
Personal Chair of Physical Education

- Moray House School of Education and Sport, ISPEHS
- University of Edinburgh
Contact details
- Tel: +44 (0)131 651 6135
- Email: john.sproule@ed.ac.uk
- Web: John's profile on Google Scholar
Address
- Street
-
Moray House School of Education and Sport, SL
- City
- University of Edinburgh (Holyrood Campus)
- Post code
- EH8 8AQ
Background
John Sproule is a physical educator with an interest in applied sport, exercise & health sciences. John started his career teaching Physical Education (PE) in UK comprehensive schools. He then worked on a British Council, Loughborough University and Nanyang Technological University project to introduce the specialist teaching of PE in Singapore, before moving to the University of Edinburgh. Examples of consultancies include: international education PE curriculum development & assessment (IBO); coach education; and heat acclimation consultant for elite sportspeople. He is an active researcher who teaches PE, Applied Sports Science & intercalating medical students, and supervises doctoral students.
Qualifications
- BEd (Hons) Physical Education & Human Movement (Scottish School of Physical Education, Jordanhill College of Education)
- MSc Physical Education & Sports Science (Loughborough University; funded by the 'All Saints Educational Trust')
- PhD Exercise Physiology (Loughborough University; sponsored by 'Nike Singapore Ltd' and 'Quaker Oats/Gatorade')
Undergraduate teaching
- MA (Hons) PE practicum supervision
- Edinburgh Medical School SSC5A research project supervision
- Dissertation supervision for Sports Science Medicine (BMedSci Hons Intercalated) SSC5A
- PGDE PE
Postgraduate teaching
- Paediatric factors in sport
- Coaching children
- Environmental Physiology
- Dissertation supervision (UG, PGT, PGR)
- Practicum supervision
John would be very interested in supervising PE teachers who may be considering studying for our MSc by Research whilst continuing to teach full time in schools.
Areas of interest for supervision
I will consider supervising PhD projects in: physical education curriculum; motivation & self-regulation; coach education.
Current PhD students supervised
- Heini Lopponen- Effects of yoga and pranayamic breathing on the well-being of school children.
- John Widdowson- Transferring life experience in the sporting environment.
- Nicholas Lam- Development, validity and reliability of a mental fatigue protocol.
- Sadam Altwassi- Examination of the nature of talent development environment within a Jordanian context. In collaboration With Professor Russell Martindale and Dr George Andronikos (both at Napier University).
- Mathew Hillyer- Understanding the talent development environment in youth football of an emerging nation (Singapore).
- Liron Blajwajs- Mentalization among people with hypermobility.
- Vanessa Vidueira- Impact of chronotype on endurance performance in adolescents.
- Emma Qu Meijun- Promoting life skills in sports coaching.
Past PhD students supervised
- Stewart Ollis- Constructivist Expertise: a critical ecological and micro developmental perspective on developing talent
- Christine Nash- Relative practice as a tool for developing sport coaching expertise
- Shirley Gray- Team invasion games within the Scottish PE curriculum: Rhetoric, reality and implications for practice
- Rosemary Mulholland- Stress in trainee teachers
- Neil Potts- An investigation into the influence of learning strategy on the acquisition of the Olympic weightlifting clean
- Geoff Platt- Strength training as an intervention for children with DCD
- Danielle Bryant- Teacher stress, learned optimism and coping strategies
- Shaun Phillips- The influence of carbohydrate supplementation on endurance capacity, sprint performance, and physiological responses to adolescent team games players to prolonged, high-intensity intermittent exercise
- Mike Jess- Complexity theory and curriculum development
- Anne Martin- Cognitive skills in overweight/obese preschool children
- Julie Moote- Self-regulated learning
- Steve Banks- Contextual interference and learning to kayak
- Edward Hall- The coaching process - ethnography of apex women's rugby union
- Mark Sanderson- Whole body vibration: Stimulus Characteristics and Acute Neuromuscular Responses
- Samir Qasan- The effect of martial arts practice on self-esteem in people with visual impairment
- Ray Bobrownicki- The efficacy of alternative sources of information to promote gross motor function in adolescents: Options available to physical educators
- Andrew Murray- Gait-related variability: a practical recovery marker in team sport athletes
- Wendy Timmons- Dancing with hypermobility: an exploration of the health risk and experience of generalized joint hypermobility within a classical ballet narrative
- Zhao Cam- Unilateral resistance training in an adolescent population.
Research summary
- PE curriculum
- PE pedagogy
- Motivation in PE
- Coach Education
Examples of recent conference:
- 2019 IADMS. The lived experience of hypermobility in the professional dance environment. Montreal, 24-27 October.
- 2019 ECSS. Developing the Jordanian version of the talent development environment questionnaire questionnaire for sport. Prague, 3-6 July.
- 2018 International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA).Physical activity, diet and other behavioural interventions for improving cognition and school achievement in children and adolescents with obesity or overweight. Hong Kong, 3-6 June.
- 2018 International Association for Physical Education in Higher Education (AIESEP). Transformational Teaching: Do student teachers in Scotland have an effect on the pupils they teach? Edinburgh, 25-28 July.
- 2018 European College of Sport Science (ECSS). The influence of external loading on acceleration and electromyography activity during whole body vibration of varying frequencies. Dublin, 4-7 July.
- 2016 What do sport coaches know about recovery? Symposium: Recovery and Performance, 21st-23rdSeptember, Burghausen, Bavaria, Germany.
- 2016 Self-regulated learning in Physical Education. ASEAN Council of Physical Education and Sport (ACPES) Conference, 2nd-5thSeptember, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines.
- 2016 Self-regulated learning in PE and Sport Pedagogy. International Sports Teaching Symposium (ISTS), 2nd-5thAugust, Taipei, Taiwan.
- 2015 Attitudes & practices of recovery in adolescent Asian athletes. ECSS Malmo 20th annual congress of the European College of Sport Science, 24-27th June, Malmo, Sweden.
- 2015 "In class I'm ignored and I think it is to do with my body weight". Experiences of obese adolescent girls at school. 1st Leipzig International Meeting for Interdisciplinary Obesity Research, 6-10th September, Lepzig, Germany.
- 2015 External focus distance and level of expertise in kayak sprinting. NASPSPA, June 4-7th, Portland, Oregon, USA.
- 2013 The effect of karate practice on self-esteem in blind adolescents: a case study. 19th InternationalSymposium of Adapted Physical Activity, 19-23 July Istanbul, Turkey.
- 2013 The microstructure of coaching practice: what "game sense" and "athlete centeredness" actually looks like. Sport Leadership sportif 7-9th November, Calgary, Canada.
- 2012 Investigating the development of self-regulation and motivation in young science students. International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology, Geneva, Switzerland, May 25-26.
John is a member of the Human Performance Science Research Group.
-
Hypermobility prevalence, measurements, and outcomes in childhood, adolescence and emerging adulthood: A systematic review Rheumatology International
In:
Rheumatology international
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-023-05338-x
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
International orienteering experts’ consensus on the definition, development, cause, impact and methods to reduce mental fatigue in orienteering: A Delphi study
In:
Journal of Sports Sciences
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2023.2177027
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
The effect of unilateral and bilateral leg press training on lower body strength and power and athletic performance in adolescent rugby players
In:
Journal of Human Kinetics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5114/jhk/159626
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Changes in mental fatigue, physical fatigue, and mood state during a two-day orienteering competition
(1 page)
In:
Journal of Sports Sciences, vol. 40, pp. 8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2022.2125766
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Meeting abstract (Published) -
Is the health risk and consequence of generalised joint hypermobility understood within a classical ballet narrative? Concerns for dance practitioners
In:
Research In Dance Education
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14647893.2021.1940916
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Doing hybrid management work in elite sport: The case of a head coach in top-level rugby union
In:
Sport Management Review, vol. 24, pp. 271-296
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14413523.2021.1880690
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A concussion education programme for motorsport drivers: A field-based exploratory pilot study
(11 pages)
In:
Brain Injury, vol. 35, pp. 1011-1021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2021.1944669
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Forward thinking: When a distal external focus makes you faster
(8 pages)
In:
Human Movement Science, vol. 74
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2020.102708
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Effects of unilateral and bilateral resistance training on strength, sprinting, jumping, and change of direction performance in adolescent team games players.
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Poster (Published) -
The acute effects of analogy and explicit instruction on movement and performance
(9 pages)
In:
Psychology of Sport and Exercise, vol. 44, pp. 17-25
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2019.04.016
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Variability of within-step acceleration and daily wellness monitoring in Collegiate American Football
(6 pages)
In:
Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, vol. 22, pp. 488-493
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2018.10.013
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The effect of unilateral and bilateral leg press on strength, power, and athletic performance in Scottish adolescent rugby players (Oral Presentation)
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Poster (Published) -
Effect of Skilled Dancers' Focus of Attention on Pirouette Performance
(12 pages)
In:
Journal for Dance Medicine and Science , vol. 22, pp. 148-159
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12678/1089-313X.22.3.148
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Redressing the balance: Commentary on “Examining motor learning in older adults using analogy instruction” by Tse, Wong, and Masters (2017)
In:
Psychology of Sport and Exercise, vol. 38, pp. 211-214
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2018.05.014
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Physical activity, diet and other behavioural interventions for improving cognition and school achievement in children and adolescents with obesity or overweight
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Poster (Published) -
Recovery practices in Division 1 collegiate athletes in North America
In:
Physical Therapy in Sport, vol. 32, pp. 67-73
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ptsp.2018.05.004
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Physical activity, diet and other behavioural interventions for improving cognition and school achievement in children and adolescents with obesity or overweight
(185 pages)
In:
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, vol. 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD009728.pub4
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Physical education in Taiwan: When students begin to take control
(18 pages)
In:
International Sports Studies, vol. 39, pp. 1-18
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
What do sport coaches know about recovery?
(20 pages)
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (Published) -
A pilot study using entropy as a non-invasive assessment of running
(4 pages)
In:
International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, vol. 12, pp. 1119-1122
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2016-0205
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)