Inclusive Health and Physical Education (H&PE) programming that affirms and celebrates a variety of abilities is crucial if every student is to experience feelings of belonging within H&PE and enjoy the lifelong benefits of healthy, active living.
Without intentional planning and consideration from educators and school staff, H&PE learning environments can be sites of discrimination, exclusion or other harm for students with disabilities. For example, prioritizing the celebration of elite performance and skill mastery over finding joy in a range of movements creates a specific narrative about the types of bodies that are likely to excel in H&PE. This can contribute to significant participation barriers and prevent feelings of belonging, both for students with disabilities and for non-disabled students who may not enjoy or be motivated by feelings of competition.
H&PE programming that fails to be accessible or assumes that students with disabilities are uninterested in physical activity, excludes these students from full and complete participation and limits their opportunities to develop crucial health, social, and physical literacy skills alongside their non-disabled peers. Segregating students with disabilities when it is not in their best interest deprives all students the benefits of integrated learning environments, which can foster a positive sense of self-worth, an increased sense of belonging, and enhanced communication skills. Students with disabilities report lower levels of overall physical activity and active play than their non-disabled peers (Canadian Disability Participation Project, 2022), which can contribute to lifelong discrepancies in movement. Every student has a right to H&PE programming that supports them in meeting foundational curricular goals of developing the knowledge and skills required for lifelong healthy, active living.
Read Ophea’s position statement on re-imagining disability in H&PE (PDF).
Stop, Start, Consider!: Doing Disability-Centred Physical Education (PE) and Sport posters aim to support educators in reflecting on and adopting practices that can create affirming Physical Education (PE) environments for students with disabilities and non-disabled peers alike.
Adopting inclusive practices that affirm a wider range of abilities, interests, and experiences fosters students’ feelings of belonging (Hernández & Darling-Hammond, 2022), which improves learning outcomes and is associated with positive mental health and well-being outcomes (Darling-Hammond & Cook-Harvey, 2018; Farrington, et al., 2012).
For additional information, strategies, and planning supports for inclusive H&PE learning environments, explore Ophea’s Disability-Centred Movement: Supporting Inclusive Physical Education resource.
Download accessible posters (PDF).
The Stop, Start, Consider!: Student-Centred Practices in H&PE poster series was made possible with funding support from the Government of Ontario through the Francophone Community Grants Program. The views expressed in this support tool are the views of Ophea and do not necessarily reflect those of the Province.
References
Canadian Disability Participation Project. (2022). Canadian Physical Activity Report Card for Children & Adolescents with Disabilities. https://cdpp.ca/resources-and-publications/canadian-physical-activity-report-card-children-adolescents-disabilities
Darling-Hammond, L., & Cook-Harvey, C. M. (2018). Educating the whole child: Improving school climate to support student success. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.
Farrington, C.A., Roderick, M., Allensworth, E., Nagaoka, J., Keyes, T.S., Johnson, D.W., & Beechum, N.O. (2012). Teaching adolescents to become learners. The role of noncognitive factors in shaping school performance: A critical literature review. Chicago: University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research.
Hernández, L. E., & Darling-Hammond, L., (2022). Creating identity-safe schools and classrooms. Learning Policy Institute.