Supporting primary school teachers to include a child who is visually impaired in the Primary PE lesson – 'Exploring the Methodology'

The paper presents an outline of the methodological approach used to examine supports which are needed by teachers to include a child who is visually impaired (VI) in the Primary Physical Education (PE) lesson. There are approximately 2,598 (NCBI, 2023) children who are VI currently in Irish primary schools. Previous research in this areas indicates that children who are VI exhibit lower levels of motor competence (Lieberman et al., 2014; Meier, Höger and Giese, 2023). There is limited research however, in relation to how teachers can be supported to meaningfully include children who are VI in PE lessons. Within the Irish context, it is noteworthy that there is scarce evidence regarding how children with additional needs (AN) are included in PE lessons (Marron et al., 2023), despite this being a focus of discussion internationally. This current research study seeks to address this knowledge and practice gap. This paper establishes the methodological approach of semi-structured interviews which was employed to examine the lived experiences of teachers in Ireland who have taught PE to children who are VI in the mainstream class setting. The method of thematic analysis used to examine the findings of this research study is explored in detail. Participant recruitment, limitations and challenges faced by the researcher are discussed alongside ethical considerations. This paper concludes with an overview of the importance of qualitative research and the value of employing semi-structured interviews as a methodological approach.