Grade R teachers’ experiences of implementing physical education

Abstract

The Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement for Life Skills, Grades R-3 (CAPS) guides reception year (Grade R) teachers in planning and implementing physical education lessons, as part of the Life Skills Programme for Foundation Phase (Department of Basic Education (DBE), 2011). However, limited research has been conducted regarding the experiences of Grade R teachers in South Africa when they implement physical education as part of the daily programme for Grade R. The aim of this study was to investigate the experiences and knowledge of Grade R teachers on the implementation of the physical education curriculum. A qualitative, interactive interpretative research was conducted in which seven Grade R teachers from a diversity of schools in the Cape Winelands Education District, South Africa, participated in an unstructured open-ended focus group interview. This resulted in the categorisation of themes into an interview framework by utilising the Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA) method of Northcutt and McCoy (2004). The interview framework guided the semi-structured individual interview questions and classroom observations of four Grade R teachers during physical education lessons. Results indicated that the Grade R teachers shared similar needs and challenges in the teaching of physical education. The challenges included on-going quality pre- and in-service training, support from Life Skills Foundation Phase Subject Advisors, interpretation of the CAPS document, assistance in planning for physical education in the daily Grade R programme, as well as lack of time and inadequacy of available space. Policy recommendations to address the challenges are proffere