Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the inclusion practices used by teachers to facilitate participation of learners with physical disabilities in inclusive physical education lessons, and also find out the impact of working with a multi-media DVD material entitled “Teachers for All” in the teacher’s inclusion practices.
A descriptive case study design was used and involved three teachers as the cases in this study. Two methods, interview and observation were used in data collection. Data was collected using semi-structured interview guide and observation checklist guide. The interviews and the observations were audio and video-recorded respectively.
In addition, the observation involved an intervention program, where a multi-media DVD material entitled “Teachers for All” was used. The material comprises of different subject lessons taught in various inclusive classes. The material entails including learners with various types of disabilities in inclusive classroom settings. These lessons are made into subject sequences. Study utilized the physical education sequence.
The study lasted for 11 weeks and each teacher was interviewed once which took place in the 1st week of the study. However, observation involved each teacher being observed thrice at different scheduled intervals spread across the 11 weeks of the study period.
The school and the teachers were purposively selected. Data was analyzed in terms of categories and sub-categories. From the data analysis, the teacher’s roles in the physical education lessons emerged as major theme. Under this theme, sub-categories such as, guided participation, task analysis, facilitated participation, peer support and organization of the learning environment emerged as pertinent issues.
Findings from this study revealed that teachers used various techniques in facilitating participation of learners with physical disabilities in physical education. There was a clear difference on how the teachers facilitated participation of learners with physical disabilities in physical education lessons before and the intervention program. This finding could highlight the need to examine effective teaching techniques that may foster inclusion in physical education lessons in inclusive classes.