Adapted physical education as a perspective of inclusion: perception of non-disabled students in school physical education

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the perception of high school students about the
inclusion in Physical Education (PE) classes from the experience of Adapted Physical
Education (APE) content during a supervised curricular internship discipline. Twenty-three nondisabled students from the high school’s first year of a public school in the west of Santa
Catarina state participated. A semi-structured questionnaire and a field diary were used to
collect information, which were analyzed using the content analysis technique. The students'
perceptions about the APE throughout the teaching module resulted in five categories: lack of
knowledge and vague experience on APE; contrast between disorder in the school environment
and the working conditions offered (ex ante); change in the previous view about APE;
predominance of a certain fear of inclusion; acceptance to the insertion and continuity of the
APE in the school (ex post). It was concluded that the students did not present an expanded
conception about inclusion and APE before experiencing the teaching module. The
reformulation of this vision after the module was conditioned to the understanding of APE as
allowing the inclusion in PE classes, as well as in the school as a whole, as long as it has
continuity in the school environment.