Experiences of Students with Special Needs on Sport Education Model

The aim of the study was to examine the experiences of the students with special needs on the sport education model (SEM). In this research, action research method was used (Mertler, 2009). In the scope of the research, a mini-volleyball season was practiced with SEM in a secondary school - 6thgrade - for 16 weeks. The physical education teacher has 6 years of teaching experience and for the first time she has tried SEM at her school. In total, there were 12 participants in the research; 7 of them (3 girls, 4 boys) with special needs who have attended to this lesson and were chosen with purposeful sampling, and the other 5 students who were also the trainers and the captains of the teams. Collecting data includes the teacher’s reflective diary, weekly discussions with the expert, two focus group interviews with the students and volleyball skills observation forms. Skill observation forms were analyzed by descriptive statistics and the other data analyzed by content analysis. The findings of the study were gathered under three themes: (1) the effect of the SEM on the skill levels of the students with special needs; (2) the students’ opinions on the non-player roles; and (3) the relationships of the students with special needs with their teammates. As a result, it has been seen that, the SEM, giving active roles to the students with special needs in the team in accordance with their talents and interests has promoted their active participation in class, motivation and socialization.