DIPPE: Disentangling Inclusion in Primary Physical Education

Context/background Inclusion requires teachers to develop methods and ways to fully include young people including those with special educational needs (SEN) in school, but which also benefit everybody. Physical Education (PE) has holistic benefits for all in physical, social and cognitive domains. There are additional benefits for children with SEN including the development of motor skills, the reduction of the risk for secondary medical conditions, the promotion of cognitive development, and the promotion of language and communication. In the interest of the holistic development of young children, generalist primary school teachers teach all subjects of the curriculum in many countries while other countries have specialists PE teachers or both. Literature highlights the challenges teachers experience teaching PE, particularly as non-specialist teachers. The practices adopted by PE teachers are critical to the success of true inclusion policies. As teacher educators we believe from our work that it is challenging for teachers to find information and resources related to inclusion in PE in one specific platform. Objectives To map the current situation with regard to accessing information and resources on inclusion in primary PE; To develop teacher training toolkit/resource to disentangle each of the above mentioned challenges in primary PE; To make the toolkit/resource available in a free open educational platform (web application); To develop a teacher training toolkit for the implementation of this toolkit/resource. Number and profile of participants The consortium consists of the following main partners: University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg (project coordinator) Dublin City University, Ireland The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands University of Trnava, Slovakia University of Edinburgh, Scotland University of Valladolid, Spain Institute of Technology Tralee, Ireland European Physical Education Association (EUPEA), Switzerland Description of activities Through this strategic partnership, the consortium proposes to develop a central platform for a toolkit/resource, made available as a free open educational resource (web application), consisting of inclusive PE strategies The toolkit/resource should assist teachers to easily access information, resources and tools to assist their teaching of PE to include all children in PE lessons, with a focus on children with the following challenges: obesity, physical disabilities, motor differences, cultural differences (migrants, refugees), social and emotional challenges, chronical diseases (diabetes, asthma, …), gender challenges, language challenges. A short description of the results A free open educational resource (web application) for teachers to access information, pedagogical tools and resources to include all children in Primary Physical Education lessons to allow quality learning to support children’s well-being, physical literacy and lifelong physical activity. A teacher training resource/toolkit to facilitate the implementation of the educational resource. Strengthening of primary school teachers in the delivering of inclusive PE. Access for teacher educators in initial, induction and in-service teacher training to new, innovative resources allowing them to disentangle inclusion in primary PE in the training of student teachers. Impact envisaged It is expected that the pedagogical skills and competences of a large number of teachers and student teachers are enhanced through the development of thematic modules on inclusion challenges in primary PE and the free open educational resource. By using these resources, they will be enabled to diversify their pedagogies in related with issues related to inclusion in primary PE. Furthermore, a large pool of teacher educators will benefit from these resources, as well as of the teacher training resource/toolkit. Longer term benefits The project outcomes and results will be available on the project website as a free download. As project coordinator and leader, the UL will ensure that each partner effectively executes the dissemination plan and keeps the information visible on and/or via their respective websites and webpages beyond the project lifetime.