Andy Pitchford is the Head of the Centre for Teaching and Education at the University of Westminster in London. His research is in the fields of education, pedagogy and community sport. In the early 2000s, Andy was part of a team of researchers who investigated safeguarding in sport, and particularly in football, and this led to a series of publications including a book - Child Welfare in Football - that was published by Routledge in 2007. More recently, Andy has worked with colleagues on another Routledge text, 'The Handbook of Authentic Learning', which reflects more recent interest in pedagogies that give students power and agency.

In this conversation Andy shares some of the insights from a new paper that he has written that is currently in review called 'Playing Uphill and Into the Wind: Counter Cultural Coaching in Youth Football.'

The conversation explores the experiences of coaches that have tried to work in a child centred way and how challenging it has been for them to overcome a culture that has become dominated by notions of performance and toxic hyper competitiveness.