The Benefits of a Gross Motor Development Program on the Lives of Rural Marginalized Multi-Grade Primary School Learners in the Western Cape

This paper investigates the impact of a Gross Motor Development (GMD) program on the lives of learners in marginalized multi-grade environments in rural areas of the Western Cape. A transformative research paradigm was employed in order to address the research questions posed by this study. A purposive sampling technique was used to collect data from three schools. The researchers investigated the influence of an 18-month gross motor development program upon earners’ lives in three multi-grade schools in the Western Cape of South Africa from the start of 2012 to the middle of 2013. A sample of 50 (N=30 males and N=20 females), grade 4-6 multi-grade learners participated in the study. Their gross motor skills were assessed using Project 4 – Innovative Motor Ability and Development (IMAD+) Test Battery. The test battery consisted of a series of physical exercises designed to assess gross motor proficiency.The data revealed that a total gross motor ability percentage score change occurred in the sample from 32.1 percentage score to a 56.8 percentage score; indicating a significant overall gross motor improvement of 24.7 percentageover an 18 month period. Improved self-esteem, positive attitudinal and motivational changes and increases in class attendance occurred among the learners. This improvement is aligned with research that indicates that development and improvement of motor skills through physical activity are related to positive development of self-esteem among learners. This paper contributes to a growing body of knowledge on education at rural, marginalized schools; suggesting that providing learners with the opportunity to participate in a structured program is likely to improve motivation which can, in turn, contribute toward positive scholastic achievement. Address for correspondence: George Frederick Joubert 18 Crown Street Observatory Cape Town, 7925, South Africa Phone: +27 73 231 08 48 INTRODUCTION Till today no clear dispensation has been presented by the South African Department of Education to address the need for physical education in schools; especially those too poor to afford sporting facilities. At best, gross motor development is mentioned in the National Curriculum and Policy Statement (CAPS) as a guideline for learners’ physical development in South Africa.There is considerable evidence that systematic programs for human movement promote discipline, improve concentration and raise academic performance: not least by familiarising learners from challenging backgrounds with the process of setting and attaining reasonable goals. When despair demoralises home-life in areas of poverty, learners need to be made aware of patterns of achievement as a way of gaining self-confidence and independence of purpose. Although there is often evidence of spontaneous play at schools in areas of financial deprivation, one of the elements that learners in multigrade environments most lack is structured engagement in movement and physical interaction. Therefore the researchers investigated the influence of an 18-month gross motor development programupon learners’ lives in three multigrade schools in the Western Cape of South Africa. Recent literature suggests physical education is essential as a discipline in primary schools. Cleophas (2014) emphasises that learners need to be exposed to physical development programs. Abruzzi et al. (2016) suggest that there is a demonstrable link between physical wellbeing and learning capacity. By contrast, lack of physical development programs can lead to social disfunction as demonstrated by Chetty et al. (2017). Branson et al. (2014) raises important issues in stressing the logistical barriers that face poor communities: transport, nutrition and Anthropologist 32(1-3): 70-80 (2018) DOI: 10.31901/24566802.2018/32.1-3.1952 © Kamla-Raj 2018 GROSS MOTOR DEVELOPMENT IN MULTI GRADE SCHOOLS 71 literacy. Fraefel’s (2014) research assisted in determining effective strategies for constructing a research program that incorporated the many aspects of such recent research. The Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement refers to motor development in the Life Skills syllabus but does not indicate which phase is relevant or whether this statement is simply a general statement in CAPS which provides teachers with learning outcomes through which a learner’s physical and motivational development has to take place within the school context (Department of Education 2012: 12). No clear guidelines are provided as to how this development can take place in a multi-grade environment in CAPS or how gross motor development activities enhance the scholastic achievement of learners. The only physical education components that receive anymention in CAPS do not stipulate learning directions or learning pathways. This obvious lacuna in Curriculation has actuated the need for the present research. The researchers address two specific pedagogical challenges: (i) there are currently no systematically developed multi-grade curricula forthcoming from the South African National Department of Education, and (ii) the same Department has drastically reduced the physical education syllabus to a few exercises in Life Skills. The researchers place particular focus on demonstrating how the implementation of a structured gross motor development program can improve the lives and school performance of a set of learners from multi-grade classes in rural schools in the Western Cape. In South Africa, especially in socio-economically disadvantaged schools, the negative effects of poverty on school success and motivation are evident. One particularly neglected type of education in South Africa is the multi-grade classroom. In poor communities feelings of helplessness may exist: such attitudes militate against the will to succeed. Numerous studies pertaining to the development of motor skills and self-esteem among young learners focus on the improvement of motor skills through physical activity and the relation to self-esteem (Biddle and Asare 2011). Participation in physical education is deemed necessary to nurture positive attitudes and inculcate values that assist learners to be physically fit, mentally alert, emotionally balanced and socially well-adjusted. Objectives The objective is to develop a structured and sustainable gross motor development program specifically designed for the needs of learners from a rural marginalized, multi-grade environment. This project investigatesphysical changes in learners from the implementation of a gross motor development program and investigates the influence of the GMD on motivation, selfesteem and attitude.