Exploring Life Orientation Teachers’ Perceptions Regarding Teaching of Recreation and Physical Well-being

Abstract

Since 1994, there have been many new policy formulation in Education such as National Curriculum Statement (NCS) (2002), White Paper Six (2001) and the Constitution of South Africa (1996). All these above policies are important in the teaching of recreation and physical well-being because they focus on addressing the imbalances of the past. The introduction of Life Orientation (LO) in schools is guided by Learning Outcomes which focus on personal, social, career and recreation and physical well-being. LO also focuses on the learners in their totality and the self in relation to society. Based on the preceding discussion, the research therefore focuses on the Life Orientation teachers’ perceptions regarding teaching of recreation and physical well-being in South African disadvantaged high schools. The aim of this study is therefore to explore Life Orientation teachers’ perceptions regarding teaching of recreation and physical well-being in South African disadvantaged high schools. The research adopted a qualitative design and data was collected through focus group interviews. All LO teachers at that particular disadvantaged high school were used as participants. The findings revealed that recreation and physical well-being as a Learning Outcome of LO was not seriously taught. Address for correspondence: Mabatho Sedibe Department of Educational Psychology, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524. Auckland-park. Johannesburg. 2006. South Africa Fax: 011 559 2262, E-mail: mabathos@uj.ac.za INTRODUCTION Studies conducted by Rooth (2005) and Prinsloo (2007) focused on the investigation and implementation of LO in South African schools. Little has been written about Life Orientation teachers’ perceptions regarding teaching of recreation and physical well-being in South African disadvantaged high schools, yet it is a problem because there are insufficient Learner Teacher Support Materials (LTSMs) and sports equipment in the teaching of recreation and physical well-being. Recreation and physical well-being from South African context in this study refers to Physical Education where some form of exercises such as running and playing games are done in order to keep learners fit and healthy for everyday life. These exercises are important because they contribute to the improvement of muscular strength, health and physical fitness. Disadvantaged schools on the other hand in this study refer to poor under-resourced schools. The other problem is that some schools focus more on the teaching of old Physical Education at the expense of recreation and physical well-being as a learning outcome of LO. This poses a problem to some of the LO teachers, that is the reason why as a researcher has opted to explore Life Orientation teachers’ perceptions on teaching recreation and physical well-being. The Context of the Inquiry Permission to conduct the research was obtained from the principal and School Management Teams (SMTs) of the school. Focus group interviews were conducted, consisting of one group of ten LO teachers. The teachers were diverse because they came from different provinces such as Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and North-West. One teacher was a newly appointee coming from overseas.