Should Social Inclusion Be a Major Goal of Physical Education? (Issues)

Sherrill, Claudine, Palaestra

Inclusion of students with and without disabilities in general physical education, with appropriate supports, is a desirable practice (Block, 2000; Rizzo & Lavay, 2000; Sherrill, 1998, in press). Everyone knows, however, that physical inclusion (students with and without disabilities receiving instruction, with appropriate supports, in a common space) is not the same as social inclusion (students with and without disabilities interacting with each other in meaningful, satisfying, socially connected ways that contribute to active healthy lifestyles for all). While physical inclusion can be mandated by law and supported by administrative and instructional policies, authentic social inclusion can be achieved only by cooperative homeschool-community programming in which inclusion is given high priority both day and night. To give any phenomenon high priority essentially means to make it a primary goal, to break it down into measurable objectives and benchmarks, to frequently assess performance, to count specific inclusion behaviors toward grades, and to reward improvement. Goals ensure accountability!

AAHPERD Position Statement on Inclusion: A Brief Critique

The AAHPERD (1995) Position Statement on Inclusion does an excellent job of describing procedures …

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Publication information: Article title: Should Social Inclusion Be a Major Goal of Physical Education? (Issues). Contributors: Sherrill, Claudine - Author. Magazine title: Palaestra. Volume: 19. Issue: 2 Publication date: Spring 2003. Page number: 56+. © 1999 Challenge Publications Limited. COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group.

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