Scheduled for Pedagogy Free Communications II, Friday, April 12, 2002, 8:45 AM - 10:00 AM, San Diego Convention Center: Room 7A


Inclusion Practices of Secondary Physical Education Teachers

Samuel Hodge1, Jonathan O. A. Ammah2, Kevin Casebolt3, Kathryn J. LaMaster4 and Mary O'Sullivan1, (1)The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, (2)Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, (3)East Stroudsburg University, E Stroudsburg, PA, (4)San Diego State University, San Diego, CA

The purpose was to examine general physical education teachers at the secondary level to determine their views and practices with regard to inclusion and their interaction patterns with those students who had mild to severe disabilities in their classes. Participants were nine experienced secondary general physical education teachers from across school districts in California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Research method was descriptive qualitative (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992). To enhance data triangulation both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from a total of 43 live or videotaped lessons using a systematic observation instrument, nonparticipant observer field notes, journaling, stimulated recall sessions, and semistructured interviews. Findings indicate that these teachers expressed mostly favorable views about inclusion and teaching students with mild to severe disabilities. Most of these teachers regularly give feedback and verbally interacted with students with mild to severe disabilities in their classes. However, despite their expressed support for inclusion, several of these teachers felt ill prepared, and/or lacked support or resources to effectively teach those students with severe disabilities in their classes. Further, these general physical education teachers' inclusion practice behaviors varied. That is, they rarely to regularly used adaptive equipment, modified instruction, used supports (e.g., peer partners), or physically interacted with those students who had mild to severe disabilities in their classes. On the whole, our findings suggest that these teachers were receptive and had little difficulty including students with mild disabilities into their classes. In contrast, several of these teachers appeared to have experienced greater difficulty including students with severe disabilities into their classes.
Keyword(s): adapted physical activity, high school issues, professional preparation

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