Inclusive Physical Education

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Inclusive Physical Education at IT Tralee

Lecturer:Pat Flanagan

Brennan Services (St John of Gods) have been part of the APA Programme  since it started in 1997. They has been critical to the success of the programme as each year they bring in excess of forty adults to  participate in a range of sport, swimming and fitness programmes.  Their four Sport and Recreation Coordinators facilitate and  advise the students in their delivery of the APA activities.

This year sixteen adults are participating in a badminton programme  which is delivered by five Health and Leisure Degree students under the supervision of Pat Flanagan. The sessions are planned, delivered and evaluated by the fourth year students and are tailored to the needs  and ability levels of each individual in the group. As this was a  new activity for the majority of the adults they experienced  varying degrees of success in learning the skills of the game.  This indicated a need to group the participants into advanced,  development and beginner groups with a separate lesson plan  developed for every group. With the assistance of five social care students we provide one to one coaching for all the participants who require this level of support. This has resulted in the participants improving their skill level over a short period of time.

One of the main reasons for the success of the overall APA programme is the provision of a tutorial/planning hour for each practical group. The Health and Leisure/PE students review the previous lesson and are assisted in planning their next class with the assistance of the APA tutor. This process greatly increases the students confidence and competence in their ability to deliver the practical sessions. Students also get immediate feedback following each practical session from the tutor and in some cases the staff of the disability services. Our badminton group are delighted to also benefit from the involvement of Badminton Ireland in their tuition. Wayne Doyle (Development Officer Badminton Ireland) supports our programme by advising the students during their planning tutorial and also assisting them in their practicals. We hope that links with governing bodies of sport will continue to expand and assist us in the delivery of our APA Programme

Lecturer: Ursula Barrett

Fourth year PE studies students are delivering weekly sessions to girls in St Itas and St Josephs School in Tralee. This is the third year that ITT students have been conducting PE classes in the school and the first that the school takes part in the APA in the outdoors module with a morning of orienteering in Ballyseedy Woods . The focus over the past 2 months has been on basketball skill development as the 2 senior girls teams participate in a national basketball tournament on the 26^th November. After that the focus will move to dance. The partnership with a local second level school offers our PE students with valuable experience of delivering a PE programme which caters for different abilities.

CARA Swim group: Progress continues for the CARA group with the aid of fourth year health and leisure students assisted by second year social care students. These swimming sessions use the Halliwick method of swim teaching and always finish off with a highly competitive game of water polo. Many thanks to the Brandon Hotel for their continued support for this session.

Disability Studies for second year social care students involves 3 hours of lectures and 1 hour practical each week. After a number of weeks of experiencing disability and inclusive games for themselves the students are completing 4 weeks assisting in the delivery of practical sessions to outside groups from the National Learning Network, Brennan Services and the VEC’s Braille and IT group. Students assist the tutor and/or health and leisure students to deliver these sessions thus getting a gentle introduction to adapting sessions to meet the individual needs of participants.

A minor award in Early Childhood Studies for Special Populations being delivered in the evening at IT Tralee includes a module on Special Education (PE and Dance). This award is being delivered for the first time this academic year and adds to the suite of APA /APE modules being delivered in the college.