Inclusive+Sport+Participation

Including all children together in school sports, particularly when including students with a disability or learning difficulty within a mainstream classroom, can be a great advantage to not only the students themselves, but also the teachers, parents and entire community.

By encouraging students with special needs to interact with others within school sports teaches these students valuable social skills, skills awareness, hand-eye coordination, teamwork, while also encouraging physical activity and an interactive and healthy lifestyle.

I believe that the inclusion of students with special needs should be undertaken in all mainstream schools wherever possible, although it should be important for the teacher to ensure that the sport is played fairly, inclusively, and in a fun and non-competitive atmosphere. I believe involving all students with school sports at a primary school age (6 - 12 years) would best positively promote these values, although it could definitely still be used effectively in later years.

RESOURCES:

http://www.playbytherules.net.au/resources.html (first accessed on the 12th of July)

http://www.newcastle.edu.au/Resources/Divisions/Academic/Equity%20and%20Diversity/Documents/CDIP/Community_ParticipationinSport.pdf (first accessed on the 12th of July)