Individualized education plan applied to physical education as a support for inclusion in Brazilian schools

ABSTRACT

To-date, the Brazilian education system does not foresee using the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for students with disabilities (SWDs) enrolled in general schools. Given the current lack-of national guidelines in this sense, this research sought to analyse the collaborative construction process and-the applicability of the IEP in the physical education (PE) context. Specifically, it aimed to elucidate the consequences of the optional (non-mandatory) implementation of the IEP in PE classes. Based on a qualitative and descriptive approach, collaborative research was established involving a partnership among researchers and physical education teachers (PETs), to support the inclusion of SWDs in PE classes. The study was conducted in two public schools in a district of São-Paulo, Brazil. The content analysis resulted in five categories: previous knowledge about the IEP-PE by the PETs; insufficiency in PETs’ initial training; changes in the perception and attitudes of PETs towards SWDs; the influence of IEP-PE on teaching program and pedagogical practices; and difficulties in constructing and applying the IEP-PE. In conclusion, the IEP-PE consists of-a pedagogical tool to help PETs identify the limitations and potentialities of SWDs. It-also supports adjustments in the curriculum and implementation of adaptations in PE classes, favoring the inclusion of SWDs in-this context.

KEYWORDS:

• Individualized education plan
• physical education
• inclusion
• students with disabilities

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Brazilian Federal Foundation for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education – CAPES, under Process Number 88887.465602/2019-00, and Process Number 23038.005155/2017-67.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The World Conference on Education for All was held in Jomtien, Thailand, promoted by the World Bank, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) – (Mendes 2006).

2 The Salamanca Declaration consists of a document produced from the “World Conference on Special Educational Needs: access and quality”, promoted in 1994 by the Government of Spain in conjunction with UNESCO (Brasil 1997).

3 Samalot-Rivera et al. (2017) described the content validation process of the IEP-PE and presented the respective version of the inventory in Spanish.

4 The process of construction and content validation of the Portuguese version of the IEP-PE, as well as the full inventory, both in Portuguese (Munster et al. 2014b) and English (Munster et al. 2014a), is available in the Brazilian Journal of Adapted Motor Activity.

5 According to Alexandre and Coluci (2011), the Content Validity Index (CVI) measures the proportion or percentage of referees who are in agreement on certain aspects of the instruments and items, allowing for analysis of each item individually, and the instrument as a whole. The analysis was based on an equation that considered the following criteria: clarity of language, theoretical pertinence, and viability of application.

6 Although the authors prefer to use first person terminology, the transcription preserved the original words and expressions used by the PETs.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by CAPES: [Grant Number 23038.005155/2017-67,88887.465602/2019-00].