Inclusion 2024 aims to increase and improve opportunities for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to engage and participate in physical education and school sport.
FREE CPD FOR PRACTITIONERS – INCLUSION LIVE WEEK – 23 JANUARY TO 27 JANUARY
Roshni Mistry is Programme Officer for Inclusion for Children’s Charity the Youth Sport Trust and lead for Inclusion Live. Here she blogs about why Inclusion Live week is so important for children and young people with SEND.
Imagine attending school every day and instead of taking part in your PE lesson you were asked to go to the library, or to complete extra subject work whilst your peers were being physically active?
Now imagine being given this instruction by your PE teacher as they simply didn’t know how to get you involved in their lessons or didn’t know the best way to ask you how they can adapt their activity to include you.
This can be (and, sadly, has been a very real, lived experience in 2022 for some), the reality that young people with SEND can face in schools, which can be damaging to their physical, social and mental health and overall wellbeing. With recent data from Sport England highlighting that children and young people with SEND are less likely to report positive attitudes around enjoyment, confidence, competence and understanding than their peers, it is vital that freely available inclusive practice CPD around PE and school sport is shared far and wide.
Powered by Inclusion 2024, the Youth Sport Trust is co-ordinating a week full of great inclusive practice, tangible advice and guidance which is free for all schools and those working with children and young people with SEND to access.
Inclusion Live is here to break down some of the barriers that stop practitioners getting ALL their young people involved in being physically active.
Why is Inclusion Live needed?
We know there can be challenges when trying to get all young people engaged in school sport and physical activity, and often a fear of ‘getting it wrong’ for children with SEND can be the main barrier. Inclusion Live is here to help address those challenges. You can hear directly from expert practitioners on how they include young people in PE; and from young people themselves on their feelings of being both included and excluded.
The aim of the week is to provide live virtual CPD content to train and upskill as many practitioners as possible to develop greater knowledge, competence and confidence to provide meaningful and inclusive opportunities for young people with SEND.
What is Inclusion Live about?
From the 23-27 January 2023 there will be a series of live (and recorded) sessions led by teachers, young people and experts from across the sector including:
- Show and Tell photography – alternative ways young people can be inspired by the magic of sport via the power of photography
- Whitfield Aspen School – a truly inclusive Dover based school that brings together mainstream and special school pupils in inclusive and inspiring learning environments
- Youth Panel – back by popular demand from last year, we will be hosting a panel of young people in education who will talk about their experience of school sport and physical activity and share their journey through sport.
Last year’s first Inclusion Live week saw c. 300 educators join live throughout the week. Each session included British Sign Language interpreters and live captions to ensure accessibility for all. Those who attended said they liked hearing from experts on how to create an inclusive environment in their schools and lessons, and were inspired by hearing directly from young people. Educators also reported that they have embedded the practical advice they received.
You can get involved by:
- Watching the sessions from last year so you can get a flavour on what to expect this year: https://www.youthsporttrust.org/resources/inclusion/inclusion-2024-resources
- Registering onto the event this year, if you register and attend at least one of the sessions you will get access to the whole week of recordings and further free to access content
- Sharing the inclusion live week on your socials to ensure as many people as possible know it’s happening.
CALL TO ACTION
Register onto the week and find out more about the sessions by following this link: https://youthsporttrust.force.com/YST_EventRedirectUpdate?id=a4O3z000000ir4Y
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