Inclusion Practices in Elementary Physical Education: A Social-cognitive Perspective

Abstract

This study explored inclusion practices in general physical education (GPE) from the experiences and perspectives of elementary physical education teachers. The stories of four teachers (two females, two males) between 27 and 57 years of age were gathered using the phenomenological methods of semi-structured interviews, photographs, school documents, and field notes. Bandura’s social-cognitive theory provided a conceptual framework to interpret the findings of this inquiry. Three themes emerged from the thematic analysis: engaging in learning; adapting strategies to meet students’ needs; and moving beyond the educational goals. The findings suggest that inclusion practices (teacher’s behaviours) in GPE were constructed by the dynamic interactions between teachers’ knowledge of disability and motivation to learn about their students (personal factors) and children’s needs and learning goals (environment).

Keywords:

• children with disabilities
• elementary school
• general physical education
• individualised educational programme
• parent and teacher relationship
• phenomenology
• teacher perception
• teaching experiences
• qualitative research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

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