The Physical Education for All (PEFA) Program has been established in 1998. The focus of the PEFA Program is to enhance physical education for students with special needs by developing both pre-service teacher training programs, and by offering support services, such as in-service teacher training and consultation, to regular physical educators in Finland. The program is supported by the Ministry of Education, the National Board of Education and the University of Jyväskylä. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce and describe the pre-service PEFA programs on the basis of research findings. In Finland, all certified teachers are university graduates with a Master’s degree based on a five year program of education. The classroom teacher training program is offered at 11 universities. Classroom teachers are responsible for teaching PE for 7-12 years old comprehensive school students. Since around 20 % of these students have special needs, the need for adapted PE courses in classroom teacher training is evident. In the year 2003 two new PEFA Teacher Training Programs were established: The Train-the-Students Program that consists of 80 hours PEFA program for classroom student teachers. The program includes both distance learning by using internet (e-learning) and two-day workshop on APE. The Train-the-Professors Program includes one-day workshop for university professors who are teaching and coordinating PE studies in classroom teacher training. The purpose of the program is to familiarize the professors to e-learning material and to support them to start the APE course in their home universities. So far 38 students and 7 professors have participated in these programs. The data were collected by using a questionnaire, including both structured and open questions and by videotaped group discussion. The results of the student data indicated that 80 % of students felt e-learning material appropriate and their competence increased. Though, 60 % of students expressed slight suspicious attitudes towards e-learning in general physical education studies. The professor data demonstrated that the program succeed to develop both professors’ APE knowledge and self-confidence in the area.
References: http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~tehuovin/soveltavaliikunta/ [www//adapted_physical_activity]