The influence of a teacher-designed and -implemented disability awareness programme on the attitudes of students toward inclusion

Abstract

This study aimed to examine: (1) the influence of a disability awareness programme, designed and implemented by attendees of the Incluye-T programme and implemented in real educational settings, on the attitudes of their students toward the inclusion of peers with disabilities; (2) the differential effects of the disability awareness activities between classes in which physical impairment, visual impairment, or multi-impairment programmes were implemented; and (3) the influence of personal demographic variables on participants’ attitudes toward the inclusion of peers with disabilities before and after the implementation of the disability awareness physical education (PE) sessions. A sample of 1105 PE students (13.1 ± 2.2 years) from 56 Spanish public educational centres took part. After the training programme on self-efficacy toward inclusion, physical educators designed and implemented awareness interventions at their schools. Physical educators implemented physical-only (23.2%), visual-only (42.9%), and combined activities for both impairments (33.9%). PE students’ attitudes toward inclusion were measured pre- and post-interventions. Those who participated in combined activities revealed significant differences for the four attitude scores (p < 0.001), while those taking part in visual-only activities demonstrated decreased scores for the overall (p = 0.044) and the control beliefs subscale (p = 0.010). PE teachers were capable of influencing their PE students’ attitudes toward inclusion using awareness activities taking into consideration the ecology of the interventions and the PE students’ base level of attitudes before delivering sessions. The type of impairment/disability that was the focus of the awareness activities was an important factor that influenced the effectiveness of the interventions.