Workshop- Making Physical Education more Inclusive Mark George

Breakdown of this workshop… Introduction of speaker What is inclusive teaching? Are all PE lessons inclusive? What are the barriers to preventing inclusive PE lessons? How can we make our PE lessons more inclusive? CCEA’s “Every Sport for Everyone” Have a go yourself Conclusion

A bit about myself… Classroom assistant is Harberton Special school Completed my secondary mathematics PGCE in Liverpool Hope Began subbing in Harberton Special School as a Year 3 teacher Been in Harberton for 5 years and now job share the PE post with another teacher. Currently teaching a year 8 class also I have coached football since the age of 18 and received coaching badges from the IFA including the coaching disabled footballers award and IRFU mini rugby coaching badge I have worked a Professional Associate with CCEA on several occasions making numeracy assessments, special educational needs materials and also developed the website content on Every Sport for Everyone

What is inclusive teaching? Inclusive education is more than a concern about any one group of pupils.  It is about providing opportunities for all children and young people in the community to learn together and where schools nurture learners by providing inclusive systems which are open, participatory and flexible. Inclusive systems work to remove barriers to learning and address issues that relate to all individuals who are vulnerable to exclusion from education. (CCEA, SEN & Inclusion)

But… are all PE lessons inclusive? What do you think? Why is PE so important? What are the barriers to making PE lessons inclusive? (5 min activity) How could these barriers be overcome? Is there much support out there now for providing ideas to promote inclusive PE?

CCEA’s ‘Every sport for Everyone’ Why did CCEA feel this resource was necessary? Video to explain how the resource is used in practice Overview of webpage content http://ccea.org.uk/curriculum/every_sport_everyone Its only the beginning…

Now have a go… Split into groups 5 groups Pick a number between 1-5 1- Soccer 2- Rugby 3- Basketball 4- Tennis 5- Volleyball Create a lesson and include a ‘Make it inclusive section’

Other ideas… What about a child who is completely unengaged? No inclusive strategies will work What other ideas are there? Think about the benefits of PE… Examples include; getting outdoors – a walk, sensory garden etc, Nintendo Wii games, Dance mats on Xbox, jobs One strategy in our school which was trialled this year was ‘Sensory Circuits’

What are sensory circuits? It is a circuit which is designed to stimulate a child who finds it difficult to cope with the school day Behavioural clues such as fidgeting, poor concentration, excessive physical contact or overall lethargy can indicate a child is finding it difficult to connect with the learning process The child will complete a series of specific activities/exercises and will hopefully lead to improvement in alertness and co-ordination in class The sensory circuits are designed across three specific areas- 1 – Alerting – Wakes up the body e.g. spinning, jumping 2- Organising – Demands the brain and body to work together 3- Calming – Increases ability to self-regulate e.g. deep pressure massage

Sensory Circuits in action: VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW-5W8E196I

Thank you for listening  Please feel free to ask any questions