Supporting disabled ākonga to build belonging

“I can help them and make them feel welcome for who they are.” – Physical Activity Student Leader

Disabled tamariki in Aotearoa New Zealand are less active, enjoy being active less, experience higher levels of exclusion during physical activity in class, experience greater barriers to being active than their peers, and have fewer chances to do the physical activity they want to at school.

• 8% of tamariki responding to the Voice of Tamariki survey reported finding it a lot harder than their peers to do daily tasks and experience some level of impairment.

Committed to addressing inequities, Healthy Active Learning teams work with schools and specialist units to ensure physical activity opportunities are available to benefit all ākonga. This has included adaptive PE workshops with ākonga and kaiako, supporting interschool adaptive sport events across multiple schools and ensuring PE sheds are equipped with adaptive equipment.

As one example, Sport Auckland has been upskilling Physical Activity Student Leaders (PALs) in how they can best support ākonga from the specialist units to experience quality physical activity. This included helping at adaptive sports days, where ākonga from specialist units in the region came together.

The deputy principal at Mount Roskill Primary School, in Tāmakai Mākaurau, Auckland, said this approach was creating a pathway for ākonga from the specialist unit to be included in games at break times and build a sense of belonging.

“Physical activity leaders are now understanding how to communicate with specialist school learners. It’s not a big scary thing anymore and it’s comfortable and natural to talk to the kids in the same way they would anyone else.” – Tumuaki