RC Grant Findings: Teacher Perceptions of Problem Situations in Inclusive Physical Education

Background/Purpose The purpose of the study was to elicit instructional, managerial, and student social interaction problem situations (PS) that occur when teaching students with emotional impairments in general physical education (GPE).

Method Participants were a national sample of 43 teachers (29 females and 14 males), aged 25 to 59 years (M = 43.4, SD = 10.00). All teachers were licensed to teach GPE (88%) or adapted physical education (APE) (64%) in their respective states and were currently teaching preschool through twelfth-grade GPE (54%) or APE (72%). Teachers reported a mean of 10.7 years (SD = 9.2, range = 0-35) of experience teaching GPE and a mean of 8.9 years (SD = 9.8, range = 0-30) of experience teaching APE. All teachers reported prior experience teaching a student with an emotional impairment in GPE. Data were collected online using a demographic questionnaire and a PS questionnaire specific to teaching a student with an emotional impairment (presented in a written vignette) in three types of GPE activities - cooperative, competitive, and individualistic (terms defined in the questionnaire). Response rate was 42%.. Content validity was established with a panel of eight content experts, with all comments addressed before administration. Test-retest reliability was assessed on a sample of 33 teachers. Intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from .81 to 1.00.

Analysis/Results Using qualitative techniques of data analysis, ten categories of PS were found in the study. Seven categories were related to behaviors of the student with an emotional impairment: (a) disengagement (from activity or group), (b) inattention, (c) poor performance (psychomotor or cognitive), (d) impairment in social interaction, (e) emotional response to situations, (f) preoccupation with objects and interests, (g) inflexible adherence to routines. Three categories were related to the effects on instruction and management and lack of support in GPE. More PS were reported for cooperative activities (n = 104), followed by competitive (n = 70) and individualistic activities (n = 54). The three most frequent PS during cooperative activities were inattention (41%), disengagement (39%), and poor performance (30%). For competitive activities, the PS were disengagement (50%), inattention (34%), and poor performance (20%). PS in individualistic activities were most often poor performance (39%), inattention (33%) and disengagement (22%).

Conclusions These data will be used to develop an instrument assessing instructional, managerial and student social PS that occur when including students with emotional impairments in GPE which can be used to develop appropriate interventions for such problems.