Student teachers’ pedagogical knowledge on the inclusion of students with disabilities in practical physical education lessons in Ghana

Abstract

Research has identified pedagogical skills as the main skills that student-teachers need for selfefficacy and on-going development in teaching. Pedagogical skills help teachers to reflect on their ability to attain the desired professional standards for teaching. Any failure of teacher preparation programme to equip student-teachers with pedagogical knowledge effectively questions the validity of the programme. This study evaluated the pedagogical knowledge (instructional and adaptation skill knowledge) of 152 university PE student-teachers for inclusion of students with disabilities in practical physical education (PE) lessons in Ghana. The results indicated that the majority of the student-teachers expressed that they have acquired the prerequisite pedagogical knowledge of instructional and adaptation skills to include SWDs in their practical lessons yet 56(36.8%) were not able to state any adaptation skill learnt. However, a significant difference was found to exist between student-teachers’ pedagogical knowledge from the two universities t(6.010) at df (30) p<0.05. The study revealed that the teacher preparatory programme in the universities does not expose student-teachers to teaching and instructional strategies applicable to inclusive practical settings. In conclusion, a pedagogical knowledge aspect of instructional skills was adequate but that of adaptation skills was inadequate. It is recommended that practical course lecturers in the two departments should equip student-teachers with a well-rounded arsenal of effective teaching and instructional skills applicable in inclusive practical settings. Further studies should compare student-teachers’ perceived pedagogical knowledge and actual pedagogical knowledge for inclusive practical PE teaching.