Key findings of a national study on school sport and physical education in South African public schools

According to the United Nations, physical education and school sport (PESS), as integrated entity, forms a cornerstone for societal change as capsulated by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the call by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for quality physical education (PE). This perspective is evident in global, regional and national policy frameworks with a call for action to implementation. This set the scene for a national study in South Africa across four school types. Key findings are reported obtained through a concurrent Mixed Method Research (MMR) approach utilising observations of physical resources, interviews with school representatives, including school leadership (n=121) and teachers (n=177); focus group discussions with teachers (n=232) and learners (n=677). Questionnaires were also completed by 153 teachers and 2681 learners. Results show diverse implementation approaches and practices reflective of access to resources, support from school leadership, teacher-coach competence and stakeholder collaboration. The monitoring of policies and implementation support from government, stakeholder involvement and appropriately qualified teacher-coaches are pivotal to the present state of sport and PE at South African public schools and their inclusion in the public school sport system.