Educating students with severe disabilities through an inclusive pedagogy in physical education

The purpose of this research was to examine the pedagogical practices that encourage students with severe disabilities’ participation in an elementary physical education program through the lens of ableism. Focus group interviews were conducted with elementary students and semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight educators in the school. Field notes were conducted and documents, including the lesson plan and journal entries were collected. Findings reveal the teacher’s intentional instructional practices fostered students’ engagement with peers and classroom activities. The results of this research augment the literature describing teachers’ orientations and pedagogical innovation that serve the needs of students with disabilities within general physical education settings.