Teachers’ experiences of indigenous games in the early grades

Abstract

parents and community members (Kova č evi ć & Opic 2013). The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has identified indigenous knowledge as an advantage that can be incorporated into the school curriculum in order to educate African children about, for example, ubuntu philosophy and cultural beliefs (Nxumalo & Mncube 2018). They continue to reveal that effectiveness of indigenous methods to teach schoolchildren these important concepts have, however, largely remained unstudied. Mutekwe (2015) argues that this state of affairs is because of a lack of establishment for African IKS in school curricula internationally, and therefore it is clear that the problem is not only in South Africa. Indigenous knowledge systems include the oral tradition, such as proverbs, maxims, poems and songs, indigenous games and sociocultural structures, such as rites of passage, norms, customs and the tutelage of apprentices by those who are specialists in their fields of traditional medicine, agriculture, pottery, art, music and so on. This study’s particular importance is the Background: This research foregrounds inclusive education (IE) values by way of indigenous games. The outline of the South African national curriculum states that its main aim is to teach its children and youth to become members of a refinement that supports the values which are democratic, the human rights, and communal justice. However, the associated instructional methodologies that have long been a societal tool in instilling these values at an early stage of child development have been largely disregarded in achieving this goal. Indigenous games rely on specific values and traits from children’s cultural heritage. Aim: The study aimed to find out how teachers experience the use of indigenous games in teaching mathematics in IE schools. Setting: Six IE schools in the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. Methods: Semistructured interviews and teacher narratives, framed by the philosophy of ubuntu , were employed to generate data. These data were analysed in conventional qualitative methodology fashion. Results: The study showed that teachers believe that indigenous games encourage and endorse spontaneous interaction among learners as they communicate with their classmates and recognise the form of play from their community life. Conclusion: Teachers require specialised IE programmes as well as pedagogical formats to advance indigenous games.