Preparing future physical education teachers for inclusive education in secondary education institutions

Abstract

The relevance of the topic is due to the growth of public demand for inclusive education, the presence of an appropriate legislative basis and dynamic changes in the education system. The purpose of the study was to develop, scientifically substantiate and experimentally confirm the effectiveness of the author’s model of training future physical education specialists to work in conditions of inclusion. To achieve the goal of the study, a set of theoretical methods was used: analysis and synthesis of professional literature, in particular, correctional and special pedagogy, physical education methodology, higher education pedagogy, etc.; logical and systemic analysis; comparison; classification; and modelling. The empirical methods included: pedagogical observation, questionnaires, and pedagogical experiment. The experiment confirmed the effectiveness of the author’s model of training future physical education teachers for inclusive education in the synergistic unity of three blocks: conceptual-target, operational-content and controlresult and pedagogical conditions: the formation of positive motivation for professional activity and psychological and pedagogical support for students; development and implementation of specially oriented training content, which requires the integration into the educational process of professionally oriented disciplines, in particular “Special Pedagogy in Physical Education” and “Inclusive Physical Education of Schoolchildren”; development of practical skills through production pedagogical practice. The implementation of the model yielded the following quantitative results: in the experimental group, a significant increase in students with high (+12.5%) and sufficient (+25.7%) levels of readiness was observed, while the number of applicants with average (-6.6%) and low (-32%) levels significantly decreased. This significantly exceeds the indicators of the control group, where the increase in high and sufficient levels was only 4.3% and 16.6%, respectively, and the decrease in average and low levels was 2.2% and 23.1%. The developed educational and methodological materials and scientific principles can be used by scientific and pedagogical workers of higher education institutions to prepare future physical education teachers for work in inclusion conditions.