An Ecosystemic Approach to Legal Risk Management of Sport in South African Public Schools

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jake

An education ecosystem frames how law, education, and sport operate through interdependence rather than isolation. The study analyzes school sport participation as a risk-bearing activity for learners and educator-coaches, where serious harm triggers scrutiny of supervision effectiveness. It also examines the duty of care of match officials and facility management. Using a qualitative approach grounded in phenomenological-interpretivistic inquiry, it determines the nature of risk-management strategies within South African public schools.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Conceptual framework

Risk management

Organized school sport

Research focus and question

An Ecosystemic Approach to Legal Risk Management of Sport in South African Public Schools Coenraad Jurgens & Johannes Petrus Rossouw Coenraad Jurgens, Dr., North-West University, South Africa Johannes Petrus Rossouw, Prof. Dr., North-West University, South Africa Abstract In an education ecosystem, like other ecosystems, individual members or subsystems do not exist or operate in isolation. Attempts to isolate one or to declare one element as stagnant or untouched demonstrate a rigid approach to the matter. The nature of ecosystems is characterized by movement, interdependence, and interaction: one element thrives or deteriorates because another one does. In this paper, the law, education, and sport, all part of a school as an ecosystem, were discussed. Sport participation implies that both learners and educator-coaches run risks. In cases of harm to learners, such as a serious injury, the effectiveness of the educator-coach’s supervision will be scrutinized. This paper also dwells on the duty of care of match officials and the management of facilities. A qualitative research approach was adopted. The data generation and analysis, as part of the empirical inquiry to determine the nature of risk management strategies in school sport, was based on a phenomenological-interpretivistic paradigm. Keywords: legal risk management, school sport, law of delict, injuries, liability Introduction Assessing the nature of an ecosystem, whether in nature, general social life, or education, terms such as dynamic, interaction, and mutual influence stand out. The prominence of these and other related terms points to the gist of an ecosystem, in which elements and organisms coexist in dynamic interaction. Focusing on education, a large variety of actors and subsystems play a role in an ecosystemic way. Within this ecosystem, learners and teachers, for instance, have a reciprocal influence on each other. Parents and school principals rub shoulders; schools and the Department of Education cooperate towards a common goal. It should be noted, however, that the interconnectedness within such an ecosystem does not always lead to desirable outcomes. In schools, this interrelatedness extends to the entire systemic interaction associated with the school. The implementation of legal principles has an influence on school management and governance. The academic endeavors of learners interact with their physical activities and sport participation. All these are part of the dynamic nature of the education ecosystem in a school. During research on education matters, the gist of an ecosystem should be taken into consideration: no element of interest exists in isolation. Yet, to do an investigation that attempts to cover and involve all identifiable actors and actions in a complex system is a pointless exercise. During and after a formal academic inquiry, valid and valuable conclusions can only be reached by means of a strong focus on a specific phenomenon that includes only a limited number of elements. While acknowledging a variety of contextual influences, this paper has a declared focus on risk management associated with sport participation within the extensive public education ecosystem. The focus of this paper is aligned with the work of Rossouw (2008, p. x), where three major fields related to the education ecosystem are denoted: education, law, and sport. The main focus is the area where the three fields, all elements of the education ecosystem, overlap: the legal risk implications for educator-coaches involved in school sport. Rossouw (2008, p. 11) asked the following questions that are also important for this paper: Is school sport to such an extent regulated by the law that we must take note thereof? Should the educator-coach have legal knowledge as well, or is his or her technical knowledge of the sport code, knowledge of the specific rules, and the effective management of sport participation enough? In this paper, it is argu

FAQs

What problem does the paper address regarding school sport?

It addresses how sport participation in schools creates legal risks for educator-coaches and the wider school ecosystem, especially when serious injuries occur.

How is risk management defined in the sport context in this paper?

Risk management is described as reducing the risk of injury and death while also reducing the potential for lawsuits based on delictual liability.

What research approach and paradigm does the paper use?

The paper adopts a qualitative research approach with data generation and analysis based on a phenomenological-interpretivistic paradigm.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jake