Efeito da tutoria por pares na participação de um estudante com deficiência física nas aulas de educação física

Abstract

Including people with disabilities in the school systems has been on the rise for some years, however, such inclusion in general classes does not guarantee that such students will participate effectively in classes. Therefore, this study proposes peer tutoring as a strategy to include students with physical disabilities in elementary school Physical Education (PE) classes. Our objective was to analyze the effects that peer tutors had on the participation of physically handicapped students in PE classes. For this study we used a qualitative approach, and as a scientific method we used descriptive research from a case study. The study was developed in general classes within the state school system from a medium sized city located in the state of São Paulo. The subjects of this study were: a Physical Education teacher who is registered at the general classes in the state school system, a student with physical disabilities, and four peer tutors. For data collection we used the following: semi-structured interview with the teacher and disabled student, survey completed by the disabled student to assess their level of participation in classes, surveys completed by tutors to gauge their level of satisfaction as tutors, as well as systematized observations of PE classes before and after tutor intervention. Data analysis was developed based on the occurrence of analysis categories to observe the level of the disabled student’s participation in classes and tutor intervention. The results pointed out that with peer tutoring, handicapped students participated more and performed more motor skills during classes. Our results show the viability of the Tutor Preparation Program for students in the final grades of elementary school, considering that students with physical disabilities reported higher levels of participation in classes with the help of tutors. Therefore, tutoring as a teaching strategy has proved to be effective overall, in respect to training normal development students to be tutors, using these tutors to help include students with physical disabilities in PE classes, and promoting positive interactions among these students.