Playing Games Pedagogy In The 21St Century

Abstract

The more hours parents spend playing electronic games a week and the more years they have played, the less inclined they are to take part in the social activities of their children’s school such as parents’ evenings and sports meetings. Such gaming parents are also less inclined to help their children with their school work and be interested in their child’s school. The study collected data from 248 quantitative respondents centred in Welkom, Free State, on the interplay between the playing of electronic games by parents of learners, school education and educators. Further, and crucially, the more respondents game, the less inclined they are to challenge what happens at schools. The findings give rise to a hegemonic recommendation that political leadership of schools, school leadership and educators should confront the problems of time and interest constraints created by gaming parents and address the issues, because ignoring the problems can impact negatively on education and educators. Chapter one sets out the Introduction to the study. Chapter two discusses relevant literature. Chapter three discuss the research methodology used. Chapter four present the data. Chapter five discusses the data and offers recommendations. Gaming parents are withdrawing from their children’s schooling. Gaming parents have rendered themselves impuissant with regards to education and are abandoning their obligations under the Constitution to care for children. By not having the time for nor interest in schooling, gaming parents thus give education officials free reign to do as they like.