Improving Self-Efficacy Towards Inclusion in In-Service Physical Education Teachers: A Comparison between Insular and Peninsular Regions in Spain

Abstract

Physical education teachers play a significant role in educating students with special education needs, but they often feel frustrated and unprepared to achieve a successful inclusion process. The lack of inadequate training has proven to have an unfavorable effect on educators’ perceived competence, confidence, and attitudes when working in inclusive settings with children with disabilities. This study evaluates the effect of a training program implemented with in-service physical educators from two different regions in Spain, insular and peninsular, in order to improve their self-efficacy in including students with disabilities in physical education. A pre- vs. post-test intervention was conducted with two groups of 142 in-service physical educators with similar age and teaching experience. The intervention improved their perceived self-efficacy in including students with physical, visual, and intellectual disabilities in physical education (p < 0.01, effect sizes = large). The physical educators teaching in the insular region improved their self-efficacy to a higher extent. This study demonstrates the invariant effect of the training program in both regions, but the self-efficacy scores of the physical educators might be constrained by the contents regarding inclusion in their pre-service training, the education policies of the region where the teaching takes place or the geographical characteristics of their workplace.

Self-Efficacy of Pre-Service Physical Education Teachers Toward Inclusion in Saudi Arabia

“…A possible explanation for why participants reported the highest level of self-efficacy toward the inclusion of students with intellectual disabilities might be because they may be aware or had watched the Saudi national team for athletes with intellectual disabilities win the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS) World Football Championship four times (2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018). Indeed, Reina et al [2] concluded that watching para-sports and having positive interactions with para-athletes are necessary to improve teachers' self-efficacy towards inclusive education in PE classes and foster sustainable development in education.…”

“…The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG-4) aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all [1]. It is focused on providing high-quality education and ensuring that all students (including those with disabilities) are provided with highly motivated, well-supported, and well-qualified teachers [2]. Qualified and well-prepared teachers are vital in implementing a successful inclusive education [3].…”

“…Hence, in recent years, the role of teachers' level of self-efficacy towards teaching inclusive classes has received increased attention across several disciplines. Indeed, the literature has mainly identified poor levels of self-efficacy among teachers in inclusive contexts [2,11,12]. This has led to a large amount of research investigating the factors that affect PE teachers' understanding of inclusion [13] and the factors that affect their level of self-efficacy towards inclusion [11].…”

Actitudes del profesorado de Educación Física hacia la inclusión de alumnos con discapacidad (Physical Education teachers’ attitudes towards the inclusion of students with disabilities)

“…En este sentido, los docentes juegan un papel decisivo para hacer realidad la educación inclusiva (Jerlinder, Danermark & Gill, 2010). Así las cosas, se observa que, en los últimos años, una parte vital para implementar una inclusión exitosa son las actitudes y la autoeficacia del docente (Reina, Ferriz & Roldán, 2019, Reina, Santana, Montesdeoca & Roldán, 2019. Comprender las perspectivas de los docentes sobre la inclusión es crucial en la investigación educativa (Abdi, 2017), más aún quizás el factor más importante para una inclusión exitosa en EF es la actitud y la competencia percibida de los docentes de EF (Block et al, 2016) porque las actitudes son un determinante importante del comportamiento de los docentes (Cyran, Kudlacek, Block, Malinowska-Lipien & Zyznawska, 2017).…”

The Relationship Between Playing Sports and Self-Efficacy in People With Disabilities

“…Selfefficacy is a very important factor for the decision of persons with disabilities to engage in sports (Dixon-Ibarra & Driver, 2013), and on the other hand, it is assumed that participation in sports will increase the self-efficacy of persons with disabilities (Moss et al, 2017). Also, the self-efficacy of teachers in working with students with disabilities is extremely important (Block, Taliaferro, Harris & Krause, 2010) and increases with participation in specialized programs (Tindall, Culhane, & Foley, 2016;Reina, Santana, Montesdeoca, & Roldan, 2019;Foley, Santarossa, Tindall, & Lieberman, 2020).…”