Physical Education and Scholastic Inclusion

Author(s):

Alessandro BortolottiAndrea Ceciliani

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

11. Educational Effectiveness and Quality Assurance

Format:

Paper

Session Information

11 SES 05 B, Physical Education and Teacher's training for its Effectiveness

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-29

08:30-10:00

Room:

HG, HS 47

Chair:

Ineta Luka

Contribution

Our study concerns the Physical Education, and the physical play of children, in primary school. The aim is to examine if, and in case how, physical education can be useful in the social inclusion, especially for immigrate students. In fact, our hypothesis is that the pedagogical attention to "good practice” of play (both pretend and exercise play) by the institution, is an important indicator of “child care”. The study has, on the one hand, the aim of finding pedagogical categories useful for the professional working on the ground, and on the other hand tries to identify issues to explore through further researches.

Method

From the methodological point of view, the approach of study is mixed: the purpose is to build up a Research-Action with the teachers we intend to work with, in class where there are more than the 50% of immigrated students; in the meanwhile, the study is going to observe social inclusion between some different educational settings, testing, with same means, dissimilar contests, as an experimental plan. Focus group with teachers are also planned, to analyze the emerging issues.

Expected Outcomes

We intend to support our “plan of action” towards children and families, making use of games such as "psychomotor", encouraging the body perception, the socialization through cooperative activities, the inclusion of families in the project. With this work of Research-Action based on the play and physical education, we aim to identify the plans of analysis and pedagogical models for inclusion in school, especially for those who are most marginalized, indicating what types of activities are more appropriate for the care of “disadvantage childhood” (foreign children, children with difficulties, with a handicap, and so on…).

References

Bortolotti, A.; Ceciliani, A. (2007). “Giocare con cura”. Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica, 2: 479-525. Causton-Theoharis, J.; Theoharis, G. (2008). Creating Inclusive Schools for All Students. School Administrator. 65: 24-25. Genovese, A. (2003). Per una pedagogia interculturale: dalla stereotipia dei pregiudizi all'impegno dell'incontro. Bologna: Bononia university press. Kowalski, E. M. (1995). The infusion approach to teacher development. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance. 66: 49-55. Quay, J.; Peters, J. (2008). Skills, Strategies, Sport, and Social Responsibility: Reconnecting Physical Education. Journal of Curriculum Studies. 40: 601-626. Rowell, L. (2005). Collaborative Action Research and School Counselors. Professional School Counseling:1, 28. Wright, S. (2007). Graphic-Narrative Play: Young Children's Authoring through Drawing and Telling. International Journal of Education & the Arts. 8: 1-28.

Author Information

Alessandro Bortolotti

University of Bologna

Education

Bologna

104

Andrea Ceciliani

Bologna University

Department of education