Learning from Parkour: A Belgian Case Study

Parkour is the focus of this paper, because of its characteristics and the growing interest in the “fun culture” (Loret, 1995). Traditionally, parkour is not something that young people practise. When they do try, they discover opportunities to explore the environment and the limits of their body in a natural and positive way. This paper shows how parkour underlines fundamental factors that contribute to the development of a positive attitude towards movement in children, adolescents, and young adults. Such factors include: personal challenges, positive atmosphere, and social support. These enhance a positive perception of competence, leading to intrinsic motivation and voluntary participation.
The DT methodology used is underpinned by the socio-ecological approach. It centred on understanding the teacher’s views on being ‘in the zone’ or ‘flow’ and, building on this, the parkour practitioner’s understanding of this experience. Thematic analysis was applied to the interview data.
There were seven key threshold concepts for parkour: Agree to try a movement and perceive it as a possible challenge; Learn to control his/her movement to guarantee is/her safety (maintaining a low level of excitement, imagining the movement to be realized, identifying the possible risks); Demonstrate supportive behaviours to his/her classmates; Be able to show persistence; Show autonomy and creativity to find way to overcome barriers; Listen his/her body; and, Develop a goal orientation for task mastery.
Success in parkour can be explained by characteristics specific to the fun culture, environmental influences but also by a series of task-oriented pedagogical principles. A possible next step is to find ways in which these threshold concepts could now be nurtured within Physical Education more broadly.