Physical Education teachers' self-perceived needs for support in dealing with student heterogeneity in Germany

Abstract

One goal of the project "Schulsport2020", funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, is to support physical education teachers and teacher trainees in dealing with the heterogeneity of students and promoting inclusion in physical education. The support needs of physical education teachers in this re-spect were systematically surveyed in an interview study with physical education teachers from various types of schools in the German state North Rhine-Westphalia and supplemented by data from a questionnaire survey. The results show resource requirements, especially concerning staffing (e.g. additional teach-ers), but also time, finances and material. Furthermore, there is a strong emphasis expressed for the need for knowledge on special education in general as well as on the emotional-social and physical domains in particular. Physical Education teachers also mentioned knowledge needs on the topics of differentiated learning, grading and refugee background of students.