Attitudes of pupils in sport and mainstream classes towards the inclusion of pupils with hearing impairment in physical and sport education

Abstract

The aim of the present research was to investigate and compare the attitudes of pupils in sport and mainstream classes towards the inclusion of deaf and hard of hearing pupil (D/HH) in Physical and Sports Education (PSE) classes. We hypothesized that pupils in mainstream classes will declare significantly more positive attitudes towards the inclusion of a D/HH pupil in PSE lessons compared to pupils in sport classes in all areas of inclusion. The research sample consisted of 152 pupils in mainstream classes and 80 pupils in sports classes of a primary school in Žilina. The research data were collected using the CAIPE-R questionnaire, which was modified for the inclusion of the D/HH pupil. We found that pupils of mainstream classes perceive a D/HH pupil significantly more positively than pupils of sports classes in inclusive PSE lessons in terms of social interactions (U=4157, p=0.00**), in terms of modification of rules of sports games (U=4680, p=0.00**), as well as in terms of overall inclusion (U=3949, p=0.00**).