Citizenship Skills in Physical Education Class: Teaching and the Discourse Proposed for the Dominican Curriculum

Abstract

Teaching citizenship skills has become an important strategy for reducing social problems, such as violence and fostering positive responses, such as environmental protection and democratic participation, a responsibility that is taught within the school setting as a place for constant social interaction. This study attempts to identify the level of appropriation and implementation of citizenship and essential skills in the school curriculum of the Dominican Republic, thus, establishing a relationship between the Curricular Design for the First Cycle of High School (DC-PS) and what is proposed for Physical Education class. This is a qualitative study with data provided, individually and collectively, by teachers based on semi-structured interviews and discussion groups. The analysis was done through the ATLAS.ti program. An outline was designed which included the following emerging categories: degree of mastery of the implemented activities and student engagement with the community. The project was developed in 2019, in the city of Santo Domingo with an intentional non probabilistic sample of N=55 teachers. The study concluded that Physical Education teachers contribute to developing essential skills through sports and recreational activities as an added value executed in an unplanned manner. Yet, in the face of students experiencing behavioral difficulties, teachers are ready to resolve any issues in the best manner possible using their social and cultural training in contrast to what is stated in the DC-PS. A recommendation is for teaches to create teaching strategies to better organize activities for strengthening essential skills so that teaching criteria may be standardized and, thus implemented at educational institutions as well as involve the family and community.