People Like Us

This project focuses on reflecting on what research on physical activity and marginalized groups can tell us about how we all acquire norms, attitudes, and values related to the body, its potential, and human diversity. According to Goffman (1963), this is one of two simultaneous processes that must be examined in order to understand how people come to recognize others as different and potentially stigmatized. Over time, norms, attitudes, and values become meaningful and legitimate to us, even when we do not consciously reflect upon them. This also includes how we develop assumptions about what it means to belong to a stigmatized group.

The second process concerns how people with a particular stigma come to realize that they are, in some way, different from others (Goffman, 1963).

This project investigates various contexts, including schools, mental health services, correctional services, and rehabilitation. By focusing on different settings, we are able to analyze a seemingly persistent situation that recurs across contexts. This situation is characterized by the coexistence of largely positive attitudes toward marginalized groups and their participation in physical activity alongside continued reports of discrimination and exclusion.

The overall aim of the project is to investigate how inclusive intentions in physical education coexist with students’ experiences of exclusion. Particular attention is paid to subtle and often invisible mechanisms operating in the interactions among students, teachers, and institutional structures. The goal is to develop knowledge that can contribute to a more inclusive PE environment.

The project consists of two studies:

1. Analysis of local PE curricula combined with teacher interviews.
2. Observation of PE practice in schools.

Study 1 examines how directives from the national curriculum are translated into local school plans, such as annual and term plans. The study explores the content of the plans teachers actually use in PE and how teachers reflect on the priorities guiding their development. The aim is to understand how these plans may influence who participates and in what ways. In this way, the study sheds light on how inclusion is shaped even before teaching begins.

Study 2 focuses on what actually happens in physical education practice. To gain insight into this, two classes are followed over time: one at a mainstream (inclusive) school and one at a special school for students with disabilities. This part of the project involves observations of PE lessons and other relevant situations in school life, such as collaboration and meetings between teachers and school leadership. Interviews are also conducted with students, teachers, and other stakeholders involved in planning and implementing PE. The aim is to understand how PE is practiced in everyday life and how various expectations and institutional conditions shape students’ experiences of inclusion.

The theoretical framework draws on sociocultural learning theory, the didactic relational model, and teacher–student relationship theory, while being grounded in the relational perspective on disability.

The study was conducted as a comparative case study in which a mainstream school and a special school represented two separate cases. Data collection consisted of six semi-structured interviews, involving three participants from each setting. This design allowed for an in-depth exploration of each case before comparing them to identify similarities and differences.

The findings indicate that teachers in mainstream schools place strong emphasis on achievement, relationships, and flexible adaptation, while facing challenges related to competence, time, and structural conditions. In special schools, teaching appears more individualized, structured, and dependent on interdisciplinary collaboration and consistent adult support.

Across both cases, achievement, safety, and enjoyment of movement emerged as key objectives. At the same time, limited resources, varying levels of expertise, and physical infrastructure constraints reduce opportunities for full inclusion.

Overall, the study demonstrates that inclusive PE is influenced by multiple factors. In particular, a lack of specific expertise in Adapted Physical Activity (APA), combined with a diverse student population and varying individual needs, represents a significant challenge to inclusion. Structural school conditions also play an important role in shaping opportunities to create an inclusive PE environment for all students.

Keywords: physical education; students with disabilities; mainstream school; special school; inclusion; adapted physical activity; accommodation; participation

The study is based on a qualitative research design using semi-structured interviews. A total of eleven interviews were conducted, including seven with parents and four with children. The material was analyzed using thematic analysis, and ethical considerations were central throughout the research process.

The findings show that participation opportunities are shaped through an interaction of several interconnected conditions. Three main findings emerged:

1. Families’ migration experiences influence children’s participation opportunities through language, social networks, financial resources, knowledge of systems, and an ambivalent sense of gratitude for the opportunities available in Norway.
2. The study demonstrates that facilitators and barriers are often two sides of the same coin. Financial resources, transportation, accessibility, and parental involvement may promote participation in one context while acting as barriers in another.
3. Exclusion cannot be understood solely as an individual problem. It must also be viewed in relation to how schools and sports organizations are structured around norms that appear neutral but, in practice, presuppose specific forms of language, bodily ability, resources, and institutional knowledge.

The study concludes that children’s participation opportunities are influenced by the interplay between migration experiences, parental support efforts, and societal structures. While many of the factors that appear to facilitate or hinder participation are consistent with previous research on disability, immigrant backgrounds, and participation in general, this study shows that these factors take on particular significance when they intersect.

Barriers do not operate independently but interact and reinforce one another, making participation opportunities especially vulnerable. Consequently, the study shifts attention away from children and families as carriers of the problem and toward the relational and structural conditions that make some forms of participation more accessible than others.

Although schools and sports organizations often express strong intentions of inclusion, there remains a gap between these ambitions and everyday realities. Genuine participation requires more than good intentions. It depends on communities being accessible, flexible, and meaningful on children’s own terms.

Keywords: immigration; migration; disability; impairment; participation; belonging; empowerment

The study is based on a qualitative research design and is operationalized through a dual-cycle model inspired by action research. The data material consists of:

1. Six individual semi-structured interviews with three teachers and three assistants.
2. A digital workshop involving eight PE teachers.
3. Testing of video drafts and feedback from both participants and students at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences.

The data were analyzed using an inductive thematic approach. Particular emphasis was placed on participants’ own descriptions to establish a foundation for developing authentic, practice-oriented scenarios.

The project’s theoretical framework draws on Edwards’ concepts of relational expertise, common knowledge, and relational agency, as well as Lave and Wenger’s understanding of situated learning and participation in communities of practice.

The findings identify three key themes that are critical for inclusive physical education:

1. Understanding students’ needs beyond diagnostic categories.
2. Relationships as the foundation for inclusion.
3. Structural conditions that shape inclusive practice.

The analysis shows that shared understanding between teachers and assistants, combined with mutual recognition of each other’s perspectives, can contribute to more accurate assessments of whether students actually experience inclusion in PE. At the same time, collaboration between teachers and assistants is often constrained by limited time, unclear role distribution, and a lack of systematic planning.

Two major changes were made during the development process toward the final product:

1. Revising the scenario theme and point of departure.
2. Revising and refining the video content, accompanying text, and guiding questions.

These changes were informed by four key considerations:

1. The objectives of the project.
2. The role of the researchers.
3. Analysis of the empirical material and application of theory.
4. The extent to which participant feedback was incorporated.