Teacher Candidates’ Critical Reflections on Inclusive Physical Education:  Deconstructing and Rebuilding New Paradigms

Wendy Barber; William Walters; Jared Walters

Teacher Candidates’ Critical Reflections on Inclusive Physical Education: Deconstructing and Rebuilding New Paradigms

Authors

Dr. Wendy Barber Ontario Tech University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9982
Dr. William Walters St. Francis Xavier University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5354-8120
Dr. Jared Walters Cape Breton University

Abstract

Inclusive accessible physical education is a critical priority for physical education teacher education (PETE). Despite the UNESCO (2017) guide for inclusion and equity in education, and the WHO (2010;2011) recommendations for physical activity for persons living with disability (PLWD), there exists an implementation gap in PETE pedagogy. One solution to bridge this gap, is to interrogate these concepts in the pre-service teacher education years. This paper discusses the impact of an intentionally designed inclusive PETE course at two Canadian university faculties of education that (i) challenged PST’s to critically reflect on their past experiences of inclusion, (ii) incorporated experiential activities and readings to disrupt these past concepts and (iii) used videography to record PST’s reflections, lessons and new frameworks for designing fully inclusive PE classes. Results indicated that the PETE methodology courses significantly affected PST’s perceptions of inclusion, and broadened their approaches to inclusive PE pedagogy.

Keywords: pre-service teacher education; inclusive physical education; disability; PETE

Author Biographies

Dr. Wendy Barber, Ontario Tech University

Wendy Barber, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ontario Tech University.

Dr. William Walters, St. Francis Xavier University

William Walters, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at St. Francis Xavier University.

Dr. Jared Walters, Cape Breton University

Jared Walters, PhD, is a Research Administration Officer at Cape Breton University.

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PE teacher ed - critical reflection - Barber et al.

Published

2023-03-01

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 2 (2023): PHEnex Journal

Section

Feature Articles / Articles de fond

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