Pre-service teachers’ perceived preparedness towards sustainability in South African Foundation Phase PE

Résumé

The sustainability of physical education (PE) in the Foundation Phase (Grade R-3) depends on what teachers feel capable of sustaining in their daily teaching practice. This paper examines Foundation Phase (FP) PE-service teachers’ perceptions of their preparedness to teach PE, drawing on qualitative responses to a single open-ended question from a broader questionnaire distributed to selected South African teacher education institutions. The perceived strengths and vulnerabilities of these pre-service teachers reveal a need to work toward sustainable, inclusive PE teacher education. The full questionnaire had 96 respondents, of which 37 provided qualitative responses to the preparedness questions. Thematic analysis revealed four themes for areas in which pre-service teachers felt well prepared and four themes for areas in which they felt they needed more preparation. Analysis revealed clear patterns of confidence and vulnerability that shape the aspects of FP PE teachers perceive to sustain their teaching practice. The limited response rate to this single open-ended question is discussed as an indicator of PE’s marginal status within teacher education in South Africa. This paper argues that teacher education is not merely an individual attribute but a core sustainability condition for PE in the FP.