Barriers and facilitators of physical education participation for students with disabilities: an exploratory study. Issue 2 (1st February 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Haegele, Justin; Zhu, Xihe; Davis, Summer
• Is Part Of: International journal of inclusive education. Volume 22:Issue 2(2018)
• Page Start: 130
• Page End: 141
• Publication Date: 2018-02-01
• Subjects: Physical activity -- special needs -- education -- adapted physical education -- exercise; Inclusive education -- Periodicals; Mainstreaming in education -- Periodicals; 371.9
• DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2017.1362046
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1360-3116

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers and facilitators to participation in physical education (PE) for students with disabilities (SWD) from the perspectives of in-service physical educators. A convenience sample of 168 physical educators (72% female, 94% Caucasian) from the United States completed a short questionnaire. After data collection was completed, data were compiled into a spreadsheet and the first and third authors independently open-coded the responses. Cohen's κ was computed to determine the inter-rater agreement on the open-coding process of the teacher responses. In total, 741 facilitators and 652 barriers were identified, and the most commonly reported barriers and facilitators centered on either teacher- or program-related responses. Barrier and facilitator categories were positively correlated ( φ = .42 and Cramer's ν = .16, p = .00); however, neither years of teaching experiences ( r barriers = .01, p = .89; r facilitators = .05, p = .45) nor frequency of teaching SWD ( τ barriers = .05, p = .49; τ facilitators = .05, p = .47) was significantly associated with the number of barriers or facilitators reported. Unique to other research in this arena, teachers frequently reported that personal-related variables were also as barriers to PE participation.