Equal Play: Paralympics GB's campaign to ensure fair opportunities for all children

Paralympics GB and their athletes are making a call to Sir and the UK Government to ensure that no child is left behind in their physical education by 2028.

It has been a month since the Paralympics - the most inspirational spectacle in sports - has ended. An event of determination, sacrifice and strength, many disabled kids will have been inspired to become future Paralympians. But currently, most disabled kids are not introduced to sports and are excluded from physical education classes in their schools. That is where the Equal Play campaign comes in.

Equal Play is a campaign created by ParalympicsGB which is calling on the government to ensure equal access to PE and school sport for disabled children, instead of excluding and sidelining them. Current statistics are showing that one in four disabled children are taking part, which means that out of the 1.5 million disabled children - which makes up 15% of the school population - only 375,000 are being allowed to take part. No child should be left behind.

There are several reasons why the gap is so big, ranging from lack of funding for training, accessible equipment and spaces to attitudes and stereotypes that exclude and marginalise disabled students.

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In the report researched and written by ParalympicsGB and several experts, they mention how they recognise that solutions are naturally very complex, however they have identified four key areas that change can be made to improve support for teachers, schools and the experience of disabled kids.

Lack of training

The first area mentioned by the report is a lack of training and development opportunities to empower teachers to deliver inclusive physical education. Many PE teachers report that they feel incapable of including disabled children, due to lack of training and equipment. Many schools have funding available to up-skill their staff, in order to improve the professional development which can improve their confidence in teaching PE lessons. However, it is noted that due to conflicting priorities means that disability inclusion is quite often left on the back burner.

Schools can get their relevant training through the Paralympics GB and Team GB ‘Get Set’ youth engagement programme, which provides free inclusive resources to support PE teachers so that they can provide a high quality curriculum for all children. This resource has reported that 79% of teachers feel more confident delivering inclusive and accessible PE lessons.

Lack of inclusion

The second area of change mentioned in the report is a lack of inclusion within initial teacher training and education. Currently, formal primary school education only provides a few hours of PE training, with no compulsory requirement to have disability inclusion training.

Some schools hire external sports coaches to complete their PE curriculum. Evidence suggests that the training that these external coaches receive does not include much - or sometimes any - disability inclusion, and that statement also applies to specialist PE teachers in secondary school. Current teachers training uses a cookie cutter, one size fits all approach that means that disabled students with diverse needs are not accommodated.

The training for many schools and teachers can improve through the Initial Teachers Education by increasing focus on disability inclusion, as well as exposing trainee teachers to disabled children and teenagers during their placements.

Lack of prioritisation

The third area of change noted is a lack of prioritisation as a curriculum subject, given the crowded nature of the current schedule. physical education is often sidelined in the national curriculum compared to the core subjects, and is often viewed as an add on; despite the benefits.

There are some secondary schools who prioritise sports more, however it often emphasises and focuses on a narrow focused view of traditional sports which can often leave disabled children and teenagers feeling left out.

Physical education needs more of an importance as it helps to teach students additional skills outside sports as well as improve health and wellbeing, which in turn helps young people improve their academic achievements.

Lack of representation

The fourth and final area of change mentioned by the report is a lack of disabled teachers and representation within the teaching profession. According to a DfE study in 2016 - the last time that disability data was collected regarding the teacher workforce - only 0.5% of teaching staff are disabled. Additionally, the fact it has been eight years since the last report shows that there is a lack of monitoring of disability data.

Furthermore, there are calls for an outward campaign from teaching training organisations and the government to increase the amount of disabled teachers in our schools. Many British athletes have reported to Paralympics GB that they did not see themselves represented in the classroom. Another advantage of having an increase in disabled teachers is that more children will be conditioned to see disabled people, which in turn will improve the view of disabled adults and children in the future. You can read the here.

The namesake

This campaign came off the back of the compelling documentary of the same name that highlights the experiences of two disabled children, Marley and Tammy. Marley is a London teenager whose life has been deeply transformed by sports and Tammy who faces obstacles to physical activity at her school and deals with daily exclusion. The film follows the two children as they face exclusion at school and fight for their right to equal access to sports and PE.

Marley builds his confidence and social skills through while Tammy takes up wheelchair racing and finds her competitive side after being inspired by ParalympicsGB athlete Hannah Cockroft, who she also gets to meet.

ParalympicsGB have said that they are ready to work with the British Government to deal with this matter.