Working towards inclusive physical education in a primary school: ‘some days I just don’t get it right’

© 2018 Association for Physical Education Background: In Aotearoa New Zealand, as it is internationally, there is a desire to ensure physical education is inclusive of all students regardless of their abilities. Yet, medical discourses associated with disability continue to position students who are perceived as not having the capacity to participate fully in traditional physical education programmes as the teacher’s ‘helper’, ‘helped’, or ‘helpless’. As a result, these students may have negative experiences of physical education and this can impact on future involvement in movement-related activities within school and community settings. Methodology: Drawing on the data from a larger critical participatory action research project, we explore how one primary school teacher, Joel, attempted to work more inclusively within physical education. Specifically, we draw from personal journaling, student work and records of dialogical conversations to shed light on Joel’s experiences. Conclusion: Joel’s experience demonstrates that there is not one singular solution to inclusion within physical education and it is a combination of actions that support this process. In Joel’s case, this included becoming a reflexive practitioner, getting to know his students, being receptive as opposed to respective to difference in positive ways rather than seeing this as limiting, working imaginatively to reconsider what constitutes learning in physical education, and sharing ownership for curriculum design and learning with his students. Working in this way illustrates how a multi-layered approach can make a difference to how all the students in a class experience inclusion, including students positioned as disabled

Developing an Anchor system to enhance postural control

This article uses an anchor metaphor to explain the dynamic interplay between the human body's active uses of nonrigid tools to mediate information about its adjacent environment to enhance postural control. The author used an anchor system (ropes attached to varying weights resting on the floor) to test blindfolded adults who performed a restricted-balance task (30 s one-foot standing). Participants were tested while holding the anchors under a variety of weight conditions (125 g, 250 g, 500 g, and I kg) and again during a baseline condition (no anchors). When compared with the baseline condition, there was a significant reduction in the amount of body sway across the anchor conditions. The author found that mechanical support provided by the anchor system was secondary to its haptic exploratory function and that an individual can use the anchoring strategy with a dual purpose: for resting and for reorientation after intrinsic disruptions

TEMPORAL COUPLING BETWEEN EXTERNAL AUDITORY INFORMATION AND THE PHASES OF WALKING

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an imposed external auditory constraint upon the temporal organization of walking. Ten subjects were videotaped walking normally (N) and with instructions to couple naturally, at mid-swing, or at toe-off to a metronome beat. Based upon an analysis of variance and post hoc Scheffe tests most temporal variables were not significantly different among conditions. The duration of swing phase was significantly different between natural coupling and toe-off. The deviation from the metronome beat was significantly different between the natural coupling and both mid-swing and toe-off. Subjects generally were not successful in achieving coupling during the latter conditions. Thigh and shank phase portraits were used to describe the system's organization to the external constraint