Author Identifier
Steven Connelly: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4034-533X
Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
School
School of Education
First Supervisor
Dawn Penney
Second Supervisor
David Aldous
Third Supervisor
John O’Rourke
Abstract
This thesis explores the conditions and possibilities for advancing socially just forms of transgressive inclusion in Health and Physical Education (HPE) for people with disability in Western Australia (WA). The study directs attention to movement-based learning within HPE, hence the subsequent use of (H)PE when describing the research focus of PE within the learning area of HPE. The ‘H’ highlights the WA learning area, represents health-oriented learning that connects movement to broader wellbeing, emotional regulation, and social inclusion. Employing a two-phase research design, the study is grounded in inclusion, social justice and critical disability studies theory. In specifically pursuing interests in transgressive inclusion, the thesis drew upon DeLuca’s (2013) framework to advance the notion of socially just inclusive practice in (H)PE. In Phase 1, the study employed a qualitative participatory research approach to develop and distribute a questionnaire to explore the experiences of people with disability of (H)PE. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of 45 responses revealed deeply entrenched limitations in conventional inclusion, with themes related to ableism, normative understandings of inclusion, teacher understanding of inclusion, structural and interpersonal power imbalances, and the marginalisation of people with disability via curriculum, pedagogy and assessment practices. These findings problematised normative assumptions of inclusion. These refer to socially accepted norms and expectations that shape how movement, bodies, and ability are valued within HPE (Penney et al., 2018), and emphasised the need to shift toward strengths-based, individualised, and socially just approaches to inclusion that value and implement the insights of people with disability.
Phase 1 utilised a questionnaire to gather the insights of people with disability’s experiences of lower secondary (H)PE. Here people with disability were given a platform to share their perspectives, thoughts and insights on their (H)PE experiences. In this phase participants identified both the challenges they had faced in (H)PE and the possibilities for future practice. The challenges and possibilities highlighted by participant in Phase 1 provided an evidence base for implementing a human-centred design (HCD) approach in Phase 2. The HCD approach involved embracing principles of problem and inquiry-based learning (Aldous et al., 2022) through a series of three workshops conducted over a two-month period that facilitated ideation, collaborative reflection, and co-construction of socially just practices of inclusion that centrally positioned the voices of people with disability. Four new stakeholders were recruited purposively through established networks to participate in the workshops.
Inclusion criteria for each stakeholder were established, including: i) a person with disability who had experienced mainstream and special education, and worked as an inclusive soccer coach, ii) a member of the Australian Council of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER), iii) an inclusion consultant, and iv) a paediatric occupational therapist. The rationale for seeking insights from these stakeholders emerged from findings generated in Phase 1 of the study, and were stakeholders that participants identified as central to enhancing inclusion. The participants critiqued the current provision of (H)PE, confronted normative positions and structures, and explored contextually relevant and socially just strategies for enacting transgressive forms of inclusion. They did this by developing two prototypes through which socially just forms of inclusion could occur. Ideation for the prototypes occurred through co-production, where the researcher facilitated development through prompts and questioning. However, the nature of how prototypes were developed was left to the stakeholders. The first was a pre-enrolment questionnaire that people with disability would complete before joining a (H)PE class. The intention was for the questionnaire to enable teachers to address the needs of people with disability by giving them a platform to outline their strengths, weaknesses, interests, preferences and insights.
The second prototype was a proposal for a curriculum advisory group to the Department of Education to have an active role in advising them on issues related to inclusion in the HPE curriculum. Participants suggested that the advisory group should include people with disability who are currently students and those who have left education. The findings from the two phases of the study highlighted the disconnect between policy discourses of inclusion and the lived realities of people with disability, while offering a praxis-oriented framework for reconfiguring (H)PE as a more equitable and socially just space. This thesis contributes to new knowledge by articulating how the voices of people with disability, critical reflexivity, and design-led professional learning have the potential to generate systemic transformation towards socially just (H)PE practices.
Access Note
Access to this thesis is embargoed until 18th December 2026
DOI
10.25958/tnr5-g378
Recommended Citation
Connelly, S. (2025). Advancing inclusion for people with disabilities in physical education: Exploring socially just approaches to transgressive inclusion. Edith Cowan University. https://doi.org/10.25958/tnr5-g378