Towards quality inclusive physical education: An exploratory survey in Italy

Inclusive education has received a great deal of national and international attention in recent decades, both from the political world and from pedagogical and didactic research. Significant progresses have been made from the school of integration to the school of inclusion, but the road ahead is still winding and not without diffi- culties. With the aim of understanding the state of the art of the quality of Physical Education teaching (UNESCO, 2015), highlighting training needs and perceived strengths and weaknesses, an exploratory survey was conducted with a mixed methods approach. Through the administration of a specially constructed semi-structured questionnaire, an Italian sample of 691 participants in the support teacher course took part in the re- search, 59% of whom are currently employed teachers. Some results show that Physical Edu- cation is an extremely important vehicle for promoting biopsychosocial well-being and for promoting the development of life skills and healthy lifestyles. In addition to the quantitative analysis of the data, the contents of the open answers in the questionnaire were analysed starting from two general theoretical categories generated by the questions themselves, namely: Critical points and Strong points of inclusive teaching in Phys- ical Education in schools. In summary, the quantitative and qualitative data converge on several themes, highlighting teachers’ concerns regarding the lack of consideration of physical education, logistical and structural challenges. They also recognise the importance of Physical Education for the overall well-being and development of all students with and without disabilities, but the operational challenges and lack of collaboration highlight the need for an integrated approach and greater investment in inclusive skills training for teachers all to be able to take into account the heterogeneous needs of students, promoting an effective learning environment that is truly accessible to all, to maximise the educational potential of Physical Education.