Browsing by Author "Haapaniemi, Amanda"

The aim of my master’s thesis was to study special education classroom teachers’ views on physical education. I think my thesis is important because it is known that children and youth’s level of physical activity has reduced. I wanted to find out what physical activities special education classroom teachers use in their teaching and how they support the development of a physical lifestyle for their students. Additionally, I wanted to find out if physical education for special needs students is similar to physical education for general education students. The thesis is a qualitative study which was done using a phenomenographic research method. I used categorization and content analysis as the method for analysing the research material. The study was conducted with a survey (n=19) with open questions. The theoretical framework used in the study consists of the study of physical activity relationships and the self-determination theory. In addition, the thesis’ theory part also goes over the effect instruction, environment and motivation have on a person’s physical activity and physical activity relationship. The study yielded empirical data on how special education classroom teachers’ idea of physical education is formed. I divided the different dimensions of physical education to the following categories: teachers’ personal starting points, objectives, experiences, methods and didactics as physical educators. The teachers’ methods of promoting children’s physical activity were diverse, including functional teaching, developing recess activities, teaching outside and adding sessions of physical activity for example as break exercises or as rewards. Related to exercise situations with special needs students the answers highlighted the importance of clarity, time, instruction, structure, routines, safety and planning. All in all, promoting children’s physical activity was seen as an important objective.