Inclusion of children with disabilities and special educational needs in physical education: an exploratory study of factors associated with Irish teachers’ attitudes, self-efficacy, and school context

Figures & data

Table 1. Participants’ and schools’ characteristics.

Variable
Gender (n = 231)	n (%)
Female	180 (77.9)
Male	51 (22.1)
Academic Qualification (n = 230)
Undergraduate	140 (60.9)
Postgraduate	90 (39.1)
Qualification in teaching SEND (n = 231)
Yes	64 (27.7)
No	167 (72.3)
Type of School (n = 229)
Primary	145 (63.3)
Secondary	73 (31.9)
Special	11 (4.8)
Contact with SEND people in life (n = 229)
Frequent personal contact	64 (27.7)
Infrequent personal contact	87 (37.7)
Just see them around	63 (27.3)
No contact in the past year	17 (7.4)
	Mean (SD)	Median (Range)
Age (n = 160)	39 (9)	38 (23–62)
Number of years teaching (n = 160)	15 (9)	13 (1–38)
Number of years teaching PE (n = 160)	15 (10)	13 (1–38)
Number of years teaching SEND (n = 160)	13 (8)	12 (1–38)
Number of SEND Courses attended (n = 160)	3 (3)	2 (0–15)
Total number of pupils in the school (n = 160)	444 (300)	400 (12–1400)
No. of pupils in PE class (n = 160)	25 (5)	27 (6–35)
No. of SEND children in PE class (n = 160)	7 (7)	5 (0–30)
No. of different type of SEND in PE class (n = 160)	3 (1)	3 (0–6)

Table 2. Effect sizes.

Categorical predictors
Effect of the predictor on attitude	Cohen's d	Lower CI	Upper CI	p value	Interpretation
Gender
Females – Males	0.08	−0.29	0.46	0.66	Unclear
Academic Qualification
Postgraduate – Undergraduate	0.19	−0.17	0.56	0.30	Trivial to moderate
Qualification in teaching SEND
Yes – No	0.38	−0.04	0.80	0.08	Trivial to moderate
Type of School
Primary – Special	−1.32	−2.65	0.00	0.050	Trivial to large
Secondary – Special	−1.41	−2.76	−0.05	0.042	Trivial to large
Secondary – Primary	−0.08	−0.53	0.36	0.71	Unclear
Personal contact with SEND
Frequent Contact – No Contact	−0.12	−0.81	0.56	0.73	Unclear
Infrequent Contact – No Contact	−0.28	−0.94	0.37	0.39	Unclear
See them Around – No Contact	−0.23	−0.91	0.44	0.50	Unclear
Infrequent Contact – Frequent Contact	−0.16	−0.57	0.25	0.43	Unclear
See them Around – Frequent Contact	−0.11	−0.56	0.34	0.63	Unclear
See them around – Infrequent Contact	0.05	−0.33	0.44	0.79	Unclear
Effect of the predictor on School Context
Gender
Females – Males	−0.28	−0.62	0.06	0.11	Trivial to moderate
Academic Qualification
Postgraduate – Undergraduate	−0.31	−0.64	0.02	0.07	Trivial to moderate
Qualification in teaching SEND
Yes – No	−0.01	−0.39	0.38	0.96	Unclear
Type of School
Primary – Special	0.29	−0.91	1.50	0.63	Unclear
Secondary – Special	0.49	−0.74	1.73	0.43	Unclear
Secondary – Primary	0.20	−0.20	0.61	0.33	Unclear
Personal contact with SEND
Frequent Contact – No Contact	0.56	−0.07	1.18	0.08	Trivial to large
Infrequent Contact – No Contact	0.23	−0.37	0.83	0.45	Unclear
See them Around – No Contact	0.71	0.09	1.32	0.025	Trivial to large
Infrequent Contact – Frequent Contact	−0.33	−0.70	0.05	0.08	Trivial to moderate
See them Around – Frequent Contact	0.15	−0.26	0.56	0.48	Unclear
See them around – Infrequent Contact	0.47	0.12	0.83	0.009	Trivial to large
Effect of the predictor on Self-Efficacy
Gender
Females – Males	−0.38	−0.74	−0.03	0.036	Trivial to moderate
Academic Qualification
Postgraduate – Undergraduate	0.02	−0.33	0.37	0.90	Unclear
Qualification in teaching SEND
Yes – No	0.15	−0.26	0.55	0.48	Unclear
Type of School
Primary – Special	−1.17	−2.44	0.10	0.07	Trivial to large
Secondary – Special	−0.46	−1.76	0.84	0.49	Unclear
Secondary – Primary	0.71	0.28	1.13	0.001	Small to large
Personal contact with SEND
Frequent Contact – No Contact	0.57	−0.09	1.22	0.09	Trivial to large
Infrequent Contact – No Contact	0.37	−0.26	1.00	0.25	Unclear
See them Around – No Contact	0.35	−0.30	1.00	0.29	Unclear
Infrequent Contact – Frequent Contact	−0.19	−0.59	0.20	0.33	Unclear
See them Around – Frequent Contact	−0.22	−0.65	0.21	0.32	Unclear
See them around – Infrequent Contact	−0.02	−0.39	0.35	0.90	Unclear
Continuous Predictors
Effect of the predictor on Attitude	r	Lower CI	Upper CI	p value	Interpretation
Different types of disabilities in PE class	0.35	0.14	0.56	0.001	Small to moderate
Years teaching	0.25	−0.83	1.34	0.64	Unclear
Years teaching PE	−0.31	−1.31	0.70	0.55	Unclear
Total pupil in the school	−0.02	−0.22	0.18	0.85	Unclear
Number of pupil in PE class	0.04	−0.18	0.25	0.74	Unclear
SEND courses attended	0.01	−0.03	0.05	0.67	Trivial
Number of SEND in PE class	−0.05	−0.22	0.13	0.58	Unclear
Years teaching SEND	0.09	−0.21	0.40	0.54	Unclear
Age	−0.25	−0.63	0.14	0.21	Unclear
Effect of the predictor on School Context
Different types of disabilities in PE class	0.13	−0.06	0.32	0.19	Trivial to moderate
Years teaching	0.14	−0.85	1.13	0.77	Unclear
Years teaching PE	−0.05	−0.97	0.87	0.91	Unclear
Total pupil in the school	−0.16	−0.34	0.02	0.07	Trivial to moderate
Number of pupil in PE class	0.10	−0.10	0.29	0.34	Unclear
SEND courses attended	0.02	−0.02	0.06	0.30	Trivial
Number of SEND in PE class	−0.14	−0.30	0.02	0.08	Trivial to small
Years teaching SEND	0.03	−0.25	0.30	0.83	Unclear
Age	0.06	−0.30	0.41	0.75	Unclear
Effect of the predictor on Self-Efficacy
Different types of disabilities in PE class	−0.08	−0.28	0.12	0.45	Unclear
Years teaching	−0.71	−1.76	0.33	0.18	Unclear
Years teaching PE	0.93	−0.04	1.89	0.06	Trivial to large
Total pupil in the school	−0.03	−0.22	0.16	0.79	Unclear
Number of pupil in PE class	0.01	−0.19	0.22	0.89	Unclear
SEND courses attended	0.03	−0.01	0.07	0.13	Trivial
Number of SEND in PE class	0.02	−0.15	0.19	0.80	Unclear
Years teaching SEND	0.10	−0.19	0.39	0.49	Unclear
Age	−0.20	−0.57	0.17	0.29	Unclear