Competence towards physical education inclusion: self-perception of Galician future teachers of primary school education

Abstract

Quality Physical Education needs to adopt methodologies that allow the equal participation of all students, especially of those who have some type of disability. According to this it is necessary that teachers are trained regarding inclusion. The objective of this research was to study the perceived self-efficacy of the future teachers of Physical Education from three public Universities of Galicia (Spain) at the end of their studies. We have in this sample 112 students: 43 from University of Coruña, 36 from University of Santiago de Compostela and 33 from University of Vigo; 42,9% were women and 57,1% men between 19 to 35 years old (M 21.43 SD=2.75). The Scale of Self-Efficacy in Teachers of Physical Education for Students with Disabilities (EA-PEF-AD) was used to collect data. We observed a significant main effect of gender on the perception of self-efficacy in Intellectual disability (ID) [F (1,106) = 4.060, p=.048, η2=.033], in Physical Disability (FD) [F (1,106) = 6.796, p=.010, η2=.060] and in Visual Disability (VD) [F (1,106) = 4.255, p=.042, η2=.039]. Disability training is an effective mean to improve perception of self-efficacy and disposition towards the inclusion of future Physical Education teachers, although this is lower in the female gender.