The role of sport in promoting inclusivity amongst students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood campus.

Abstract

Inclusive Education in Education White Paper Six (Department of Education, 2001) acknowledges that South Africa’s education system has numerous challenges which have been termed barriers to learning and development. This policy seeks to reduce the impact of these barriers and to develop quality education, based on principles of human rights and social justice for all learners. Students have a right to free access to sport. The aim of this study was to understand the role of sport in promoting inclusivity amongst students in the university, specifically at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Edgewood Campus. It also sought to explore, whether and how does sport promote inclusivity amongst students. According to Burnett and Hollander (1999), sport promotes or helps to strengthen socialization in communities. The university community is not an exception, and here also students’ social interaction can be maintained or developed through sport. This study therefore uses social inclusion as a conceptual framework and follows a qualitative research design to understand students’ experiences. Originally six students were purposively selected to participate in the focus group interview and to undertake collage work as a means of generating data, however one student did not attend. A thematic approach of analyzing data was employed and findings highlighted students’ experiences about sport at university, namely that sport promotes students’ social interaction, diversity and unity. The findings also indicated availability or lack of resources, lack of time somehow promotes exclusion, however, students’ social events do promote socialising amongst students.