ASSESSING THE EDUCATIONAL ROLE OF SCHOOL GARDENS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN CHRIS HANI DISTRICT, SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

The role of school gardens varies from place to place depending on the goal(s) pursued by the practitioners. Firstly, researchers have noted that school gardens are used as a strategy for improving food security. During the 1st World War, school gardens served as an important source of food in Europe and North America. Again, to date, school gardens are considered to have great potential of boosting food security in the developing countries experiencing hunger and malnutrition challenges. Secondly, the educational role has also been emphasised. School gardens serve as an outdoor classroom where learners are equipped with a variety of life skills including food production, teamwork, and good nutritional habits. Furthermore, experiential educationists acknowledge the positive impact that school gardens have on enhancing learning. In South Africa, the Department of Basic Education encourages schools to establish school gardens as part of the National School Nutritional Programme launched by the South African government in 1994 to alleviate food insecurity among learners from poor communities. Schools are also encouraged to use school gardens as educational sites. Nonetheless, to date minimal research has been conducted to examine the educational role of school gardens in South Africa. Thus, this paper reports on the outcomes of an empirical exploration of the use of school gardens as educational sites in the Chris Hani District, South Africa. The study adopted a mixed research approach and is underpinned by the experiential learning theory. A purposive sample of six primary schools drawn from the Chris Hani District was used. From the six schools, a total of 54 students, 18 teachers and 6 principals participated in the study. The fifty-four students responded to the survey questionnaire, while interviews were conducted to elicit qualitative data from 6 principals and 18 teachers. Descriptive statistics and the themes developed were used to analyse quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. The results revealed that school gardens were predominantly used as a food security enhancement mechanism. The study recommends the need to incorporate school gardening in the primary school curricula to boost the use of school gardens for educational purposes.\nKEYWORDS: School Garden, educational role, experiential learning, primary schools, Chris Hani District.