Sainsbury's Inclusive PE Training Q&A
Sainsbury's Active Kids for All Inclusive PE Training is an exciting opportunity for teachers and support staff to participate in free training and resources to learn to provide a high-quality PE curriculum for all young people.
Young disabled and non-disabled pupils benefit enormously from inclusive PE lessons, which can have a positive impact of a child’s social skills as well as fitness.
Lucie Bouron, a 20-year-old table tennis player, discusses with the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) her own experiences of mainstream physical education, how she wishes it had been better and how she hopes future pupils will benefit from positive changes.
Now you have left school, what sport or other physical activity do you enjoy?
I am a competitive athlete, part of the ParalympicsGB table tennis team and currently working towards Tokyo qualification.
I only took up the sport professionally three years ago. I didn’t access sport when I was at school, but I was fortunate enough to have a parents who sought out opportunities for me.
I first tried table tennis at a weekend event at Stoke Mandeville, alongside trying athletics and basketball. From there I chose my specialism, and took it further.
Were you an active child in primary school?
I’ve been disabled from birth – I have cerebral palsy and a form of brittle bones. As I got older from the age of eight I had to start using the wheelchair. Now I am a full-time wheelchair user, whereas when I was little I could walk a bit.
When I was young, even though I knew I was disabled I was still relatively active. I would play with other children, but as soon as I started using a wheelchair I had to change schools as my old school was not accessible. After that, I became a lot less active as fewer opportunities were made available.
What about PE provision at your new primary school?
My primary school had an SEN [special educational needs] department, but I still was not included within my class when it came to national curriculum PE. They provided special needs pupils with a session of physio a week, then for the rest of PE we were simply encouraged to complete schoolwork.
When you moved to secondary school in 2006 did the situation improve?
My secondary school was mainstream, and again it had an SEN department. But considering it was an Ofsted “excellent” rated sports college, the provision for me when it came to PE was terrible.
I experienced exactly the same exclusion that I had in primary school. I was not able to join in during lessons, and was told I had to do extra work or homework. I’d be told to go to the library.
Was that unfortunate experience something which continued throughout secondary education?
It didn’t change until I reached GCSE year. Outside of school I was already competing in sport at quite a high level, and was physically fit.
Once I reached the year of my exams my mother took the reins, informing the school that I needed to be part of the teaching of the national curriculum. I got an A in two different GCSE PEs, and I started to be included in fitness sessions in the school gym, but they still were not very good at adapting team sports like basketball and rounders.
I took A-level PE, and started to insist that I join in. I’d provide my teachers with suggestions as to how they could adapt their lessons, based on things I had learned from the Youth Sports Trust (YST).
We know many PE teachers do not benefit from having inclusive training opportunities…
I know that Sainsbury's Active Kids for All Inclusive PE Training provides training for teachers so they can acquire the knowledge to make their lessons more inclusive.
PE helps so much with confidence and the feeling of being involved and included.
I understand that a PE teacher isn’t just teaching a lesson for a disabled pupil but for an entire class. But I think Sainsbury's Active Kids for All Inclusive PE Training helps teachers to realise that it is not hard to change a lesson plan, that it is not hard to adapt to be inclusive. It is quite easy, once you have the knowledge.
And you are then providing that environment for the young disabled person to carry on as normal. When that youngster is not included they are being pushed away.
Had you been able to enjoy inclusive PE at school, what difference might it have made?
Being included in PE would have made my school life easier. When I was young it would have helped me make friends much easier and quicker. But I didn’t get to know people as well as I might have done.
PE is one of those lessons that is so social. It is the place where can you make friends quickly, because you are all being active and can chat between yourselves. I think PE is one of the most important lessons, and for me not to be able to be included set me back a bit.
You think inclusive PE can make that much of a difference?
From sessions I have run, when non-disabled pupils are working with and learning alongside non-disabled people it gives them so much more confidence. They feel involved and normal, where if they are excluded from lessons they feel pushed out or that there is something different about them.
And in my opinion the non-disabled pupils are aided too, because their perception of disabled people is altered and will impact upon them throughout their adult lives. So they are able to be more understanding, and in their adult lives they can be more inclusive.
Lucie Bouron is a member of the Youth Sport Trust (YST) Youth Board supporting a number of projects. YST is the EFDS delivery partner in England for Sainsbury's Active Kids for All Inclusive PE Training. To have a chance of benefiting from Sainsbury's Active Kids for All Inclusive PE Training and to receive your free place on a workshop, or to find out about hosting your own workshop, please visit the programme webpage or contact EFDS via email ak4a@efds.co.uk or call 01509 227751.
