Inclusion is positioned at the forefront of global educational reform. The study reported focused on a national Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme for Inclusive Physical Education (IPE) in England. The research was designed to critically explore how CPD providers (i.e. tutors) variously conceptualised and practiced inclusion in…

Using data from the Disentangling Inclusion in Primary Physical Education (DIPPE) Erasmus+ project, this study aimed at investigating teachers' practices related to inclusion of children with additional needs (AN) in primary physical education (PE) and identifying supports that could enhance these practices. Responses from 1170 primary teachers…

Whilst attendance at short, day-long courses or workshops features prominently in teachers' continuing professional development (CPD) profiles, research remains equivocal about their lasting impact. The present study addresses questions about the impact of short-course CPD in the context of a national CPD programme aimed at developing teachers'…

Background: It is well-established that traditional approaches to initial teacher education do not adequately prepare physical education (PE) teachers for teaching pupils with disabilities. Consequently, pupils with disabilities participate less frequently and in fewer PE activities than their age peers. School-based placements, which form a…

Educational "inclusion" has led to a debate about the appropriateness of special and mainstream schools. This paper adds to this debate by drawing on the concept of cultural hegemony to analyse the nature, purpose and value of special school physical education (PE). Eighteen individual interviews explored the perceptions of PE teachers,…

In an attempt to better prepare prospective PE teachers for teaching pupils with disabilities, our research takes up the call of Sparkes, A., Martos-Garcia, D., & Maher, A. (2019). Me, Imperfect Osteogenesis and my classmates in physical education lessons: A case study of embodied pedagogy in action. "Sport, Education and Society,"…

Physical education (PE) research has largely been preoccupied with mainstream (regular) schools. This article reports on part of a larger research project that centralises special school PE. In particular, Gramsci's conceptualisations of hegemony, power and ideology are utilised to help shed light on the key factors that shape the culture of…

Britain's 1981 Education Act stimulated a partial migration of pupils from special to mainstream schools. The onus has since been on teachers to meet the needs and capitalise on the capabilities of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in mainstream school settings. The research analysed learning support assistant (LSA) and…

This article, by Anthony Maher of the University of Central Lancashire, explores, from the perspective of SENCos and learning support assistants (LSAs) in north-west England, the perceived adequacy of Statements of special educational needs as they relate to physical education (PE). The findings, generated via online surveys, suggest that most…

This paper examines teachers' perceptions of their working relationships with learning support assistants (LSAs) when seeking to incorporate young disabled people and pupils with special educational needs (SEN) within mainstream physical education (PE), an area that has been a largely neglected aspect of research in inclusive education. The…