Including pupils with special educational needs in mainstream secondary physical education: the perspectives of special educational needs coordinators and learning support assistants in North-West England

Abstract

The Code of Practice (DfE, 1994) established the role of SENCO to assist the inclusion of pupils with SEN in mainstream schools. Nearly a decade later, SEN generally and the work of LSAs in particular, gained more political and academic attention after the government of Britain announced that schools of the future would include many more trained staff to support learning to higher standards (Morris, 2001). SENCOs and LSAs, thus, should form an integral part of the culture of all departments, including PE. The thesis uses Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony to explore how the educational ideologies and experiences of SENCOs and LSAs influence the extent to which they shape the (inclusive) culture of PE. A web survey and follow up interviews with SENCOs and LSAs were used to explore the inclusion of pupils with SEN in mainstream secondary school PE in North-West England. All quantitative data were analysed using Survey Monkey whilst qualitative data were subjected to thematic analysis using NVIVO. The research discovered that the role of SENCO and LSA are diverse and depended largely on the SEN needs of the school. For both, access to, or influence over, positions of authority were limited, thus making it more difficult for them to shape the inclusive culture of PE. The majority of SENCOs and LSAs have not received PE-specific training, which casts doubt over their ability to contribute to the development of an inclusive culture in PE. The findings also highlight the hegemonic status of English, maths and science when it comes to SEN resource distribution, which most SENCOs and LSAs support and often reinforce. PE was found to be especially disadvantaged in this hierarchy of subject priority, the implication again being that this further limits the ways and extent to which an inclusive PE culture can develop.