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Physical Education: A qualitative study of Grade 10 learners' perceptions

Modern sedentary lifestyles, an increase in the
consumption of nutrient dense foods and
declining levels of participation in physical
activity progressing from childhood to
adulthood have been implicated in the
occurrence of many hypokinetic diseases
including obesity and coronary artery disease
(CAD). Despite this quality health and physical
education (PE) programmes are not employed
as a proactive preventative measure to address
this issue. The purpose of this study was
therefore to investigate, using qualitative
methods, the perceptions of grade 10 learners
with regard to PE at schools and make
recommendations thereon. Informal focus
group interviews were conducted with 68
Grade 10 learners (n = 39 males and 29
females) from different high schools in
Gauteng, South Africa. The interviews were
conducted outside the formal classroom
situation and PE lesson to access information
regarding the perceptions of learners with
regard to physical education (PE). Several
underlying themes which included value,
enjoyment, support, preferred PE activities and
obstacles to involvement in physical activity
emerged from the study. The descriptive
information demonstrated that future physical
education educators should be adequately
prepared to guide their learners in the process
of becoming physically active and healthy for a
lifetime by focusing on lifetime activities and
health-enhancing behaviors linked to health
concepts and skills such as healthy eating,
safety and stress management with less
emphasis on athletic skills.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:tut/oai:encore.tut.ac.za:d1001026
Date02 June 2007
CreatorsSurujlal, J, Shaw, BS, Shaw, I
PublisherAfrican Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance (AJPHERD)
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
FormatPdf
RightsAfrican Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance (AJPHERD)

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