Inclusion in Physical Education: Teacher Attitudes and Student Experiences. A Systematic Review

Abstract

This is a systematic review article of 27 studies on what existing research tells us about the experience (or lack of experience) of inclusion in Physical Education (PE) among disabled students, which localised factors are promoting or hampering inclusion in PE and to what extent attitudes are decisive in these localised processes. Seventeen studies examined teachers’ attitudes and 10 studies examined students’ experiences. The analysis follows the guidelines recommended by Harden and colleagues for ‘view-studies’; systematic reviews based on both qualitative and quantitative studies. The main findings reveal that students with disabilities experience exclusion and a lack of belonging in PE, but in some of the most recent articles we find students with disabilities who ‘love PE’. PE teachers share the normative goal of inclusion but perceive it as impossible to achieve due to a lack of competence and a lack of resources, but mostly due to the presupposition of the constructed ‘normate’ PE student.

Keywords:

• Agency
• children with disabilities
• inclusive education
• inclusive PE
• marginalised pupils
• normate
• physical education
• systematic review

Acknowledgement

There was no research funding for this study, and no restrictions have been imposed on free access to, or publication of, the research data.