Children’s perceptions of parental involvement in sport at public township schools in Tshwane, South Africa

Within the sport domain, parents play an important role in youth sports. Previous research has shown that children are more likely to participate in sport if they receive parental support. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate children’s perceptions of parental involvement in sport at primary and secondary public township schools in Tshwane, South Africa. A total of 773 school children aged 12-18 years volunteered to participate in the study. Data were collected using validated structured questionnaires. Overall, the results showed that the primary school pupils perceived that they received more parental support for participating in sport than the secondary school students. In terms of gender, boys viewed parental support more positively than girls. The results of the study provide implications for school sport policy reconfiguration and planning parental education programmes in schools.Keywords: Parents, children, perception, sport