An uphill struggle: an exploration of parents’, carers’, and support workers’ impressions of inclusivity for pupils with learning disabilities in Physical Education

Background Universal access to inclusive Physical Education (PE) is a fundamental right for all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). However, children with learning disabilities have much lower participation levels in PE, experience prejudice from peers, and encounter societal pressures that adversely affect their PE experience. Barriers to inclusivity range from teachers’ expectations of inclusivity and degree of difficulty to attain, inadequate teacher training and professional development, limited school resources and school support, and prejudiced social attitudes. Purpose We explored parents’, carers’, and support workers’ impressions of inclusivity for pupils with learning disabilities in school PE. Our aim was to privilege the voices of this underreported group in an attempt to add to the body of knowledge around both barriers to participation and recommendations for schools. Method Eight parents/carers/support workers with links to Mencap, took part in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were automatically transcribed and manually checked for accuracy. We took an interpretivist approach to accommodate inter-subjectivities and multiple social realities in the generation of co-constructed knowledge. The dataset was analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA). Findings Our analysis resulted in four inter-related themes that demonstrated participants’ lack of faith in the PE environment being inclusive for pupils with learning disabilities. Concerns clustered around the type of school and teachers’ approach, perceived impressions of teacher and peer attitude towards SEND pupils, the macro-cultural context focused on teacher training and curriculum breadth, and finally, recommendations to school governing bodies and educational professionals about how their concerns could be addressed with realistic suggestions for future consideration. These encompassed developing the quality of professional learning, improving knowledge and empathy towards SEND pupils, and inculcating allyship and making inclusivity more viable. Conclusion This paper prompts reflection of the social complexity and lived perceptions of inclusivity from the perspective of parents/careers and support workers of children with intellectual learning difficulties. Attaining inclusive PE for all pupils requires further insight and new application to reduce the risk of continuing to alienate pupils who exist outside the ‘mainstream’ further. This has connotations for lifelong physical activity engagement. By addressing concerns of parents/careers/support workers who routinely care for children with learning disabilities, education in general could benefit from their contributions. Schools, teachers and PE professionals need to improve the quality of inclusive PE provision to ensure that they meet the diverse needs of every child. This could be realised with future research being extended to participants from other organisations, including the perspectives of SEND pupils themselves, and differentiating between primary and secondary education.