Spiritual growth through physical education

Abstract

The main question this dissertation attempts to answer is the following: Can students grow spiritually through Physical Education? The project also addresses how this may occur and seeks to find out if educators are aware of the possibility of spiritual growth by means of Physical Education. The response to the main question has been theoretically developed through a literature review and through research data that was gathered from the field of Physical Education practices. Questionnaires where also sent to physical educators of the lessons observed as well as to experts in the field of Physical Education.Incidental sites encountered during the development of the dissertation where alsorecorded. This study comes to the conclusion that there is a vast potential for spiritual growth to occur through Physical Education. As things now stand, very little is activated from this potential. Physical educators are unaware of the potential and do not specifically aim for spiritual growth as one of their objectives. Educators lack a clear understanding on what the full picture of spiritual growth through Physical Education is all about. What is required is a greater awareness on this point. It is also essential to find the means to make educators realise how this can happen.