European Journal of Adapted Physical Activity 5, 82-98 (2012) | DOI: 10.5507/euj.2012.010

ATTITUDES OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION STUDENTS (LAST UNIVERSITY YEAR) AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHERS TOWARD TEACHING CHILDREN WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES IN GENERAL PHYSICAL EDUCATION CLASSES IN BULGARIA

Anna Petkova, Martin Kudláček, Elena Nikolova
1 Faculty of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Sciences, Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium
2 Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic
3 Teacher`s Faculty, National Sports Academy "Vassil Levski", Sofia, Bulgaria

Attitudes of teachers is an important determinant of behavior in educational settings (Avramidis & Norwich, 2002), and on going discussion suggests it is possible to predict behavior from intentions (Ajzen, 2005). The purpose of this study was to describe the attitudes and predictors of intention toward inclusion of students with physical disabilities in general physical education classes of Bulgarian physical education teachers (PET) and last year university students (LYUS). The ATIPDPE-BG instrument was used to measure attitudes of LYUS from the National Sports Academy "Vassil Levski", Sofia, Bulgaria and Bulgarian PET. Participants were in total 110 (55 females and 55 males), 50 LYUS and 60 PET. An average age of LYUS is 22.65 years, and PET is 35.6 years. The software package SPSS 13.0 was used to analyse results via one-way ANOVA and multiple regression analysis. Overall positive attitudes were displayed for the students in contrast to teachers, though no significant differences between males and females were found (F = 0.11, p = 0.74). Attitudes were found to be the strongest predictor of intentions, accounting for 43% of variance (r2 = 0.44).

Keywords: attitudes, inclusion, physical educators, physical education, students with disabilities and special education needs, physical disability

Published: July 31, 2012  Show citation

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Petkova, A., Kudláček, M., & Nikolova, E. (2012). ATTITUDES OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION STUDENTS (LAST UNIVERSITY YEAR) AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHERS TOWARD TEACHING CHILDREN WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES IN GENERAL PHYSICAL EDUCATION CLASSES IN BULGARIA. European Journal of Adapted Physical Activity, 5(2), 82-98. doi: 10.5507/euj.2012.010
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