This article uses a purposive sample of 43 Secondary school (pupils aged 11-18) teachers to explore perceptions of including children with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities in mainstream secondary Physical Education. Findings suggest that teachers' conceptions of inclusion are based primarily around the level of participation children with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities could achieve and that this could be affected by the activity area, level of support and training opportunities available to them. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this research for teachers' professional development and school organization and specific implications for the future practice of PE teachers and Teacher trainers are suggested.
As the development of movement skills are so crucial to a child's involvement in lifelong physical activity and sport, the purpose of this study was to assess the motor proficiency of children aged 4-7 years (range= 4.3-7.2 years), while considering gender and socioeconomic status. 369 children (176 females, 193 males, aged = 5.96±0.57 years) were assessed for Fine Motor Precision, Fine Motor Integration, Manual Dexterity, Bilateral Co-ordination, Balance, Speed and Agility, Upper-Limb Co-ordination and Strength. The average standard score for all participants was 44.4 ± 8.9, classifying the participants towards the lower end of the average score. Multivariate analysis of covariance identified significant effects for gender (p<0.001) and socioeconomic status (p<0.001). Females outperformed males for fine motor skills and boys outperformed girls for catch and dribble gross motor skills. High socioeconomic status significantly outperformed middle and / or low socioeconomic status for total, fine and gross motor proficiency. Current motor proficiency of primary children aged 4-7 years in the UK is just below average with differences evident between gender and socioeconomic status. Teachers and sport coaches working with primary aged children should concentrate on the development of movement skills, while considering differences between genders and socioeconomic status.
Traditional conceptions of talent generally emphasise the construction of threshold values and the development of relatively unitary abilities, and this approach still dominates talent development programmes for elite sport. Most researchers in the areas of talent development and high ability now favour domain-specific, multidimensional conceptions of ability that stress the development of behavioural potential and its interaction with personal and environmental characteristics. This paper presents a model of talent in physical education, drawing together findings from a wide range of literature on the realisation and inhibition of abilities, international studies of effective school-based identification and provision strategies, and a conception of the subject as an integration and realisation of different forms of ability. In presenting this model, the authors aim to redress the imbalance within the current debate from an almost total concern with out-ofschool clubs and the preparation for adult elite sport, in favour of a more equitable and inclusive approach, premised upon the unique importance of mainstream, curricular physical education within any talent development scheme.3
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