EQUITY AND SPECIAL EDUCATION: THE CASE OF THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED AND THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTING ACTIVITIES

Abstract

The study tried to establish the extent to which the policy of equity applied when it came to Physical Education and sporting activities for the visually impaired learners at secondary school. Further to this, the study wanted to find out how teachers, head teachers, education officials and the visually impaired learners themselves perceived Physical Education and sporting activities in light of visual impairment. The study also tried to find out how much knowledge head teachers, teachers and the visually impaired learners had about the policy of equity and other related issues. This was after literature had indicated that these learners were not involved in Physical Education and sporting activities. The study employed a qualitative approach. It was a multiple site case study of 3 secondary schools. On top of these, officials from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology headquarters and Montfort Education Centre for the Blind were also involved. Forty participants were sampled comprising head teachers, teachers, visually impaired learners and officials from the two institutions. Qualitative data was collected using interviews and Focus Group Discussions. In the final analysis, the study established that Physical Education was not taught because there were no trained teachers while sporting activities were done, but the visually impaired learners were not involved. Head teachers and teachers felt being blind, these learners could not participate in such activities. Other reasons included lack of resources, and lack of training for teachers. However, the general feeling was that the visually impaired learners needed physical activities even more since most of the time they were idle. On the feasibility of these activities for the visually impaired learners, teachers and head teachers felt that they were conditionally feasible saying they could participate only if there were special resources and trained teachers. In view of this, they felt these activities were unaffordable. On the contrary, the officials and the learners themselves felt these activities were feasible and affordable saying some of them needed neither special materials nor special training. The study also established that head teachers, teachers, and the learners were not aware of the policy of equity and other related issues but rather knew them from a non-policy point of view. This was discovered to be a result of lack of proper channels for policy communication and lack of mechanisms for monitoring policy implementation.