The Inclusion of Pupils with Special Educational Needs: A Study of the Formulation and Implementation of the National Curriculum Physical Education in Britain

The paper examines the planned and unplanned outcomes associated with the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in the National Curriculum Physical Education (NCPE) in Britain. This involves the use of key concepts from figurational sociology, and documentary analysis, to examine the emergence of disability as a social issue in British society and in secondary school education. Norbert Elias’ game models (Elias, 1978) are then used to analyse the NCPE 1992, 1995 and 2000 documents, and their associated consultation materials. This allows the researcher to identify all the major players involved in the formulation of the NCPEs, and the extent to which the objectives of each player, and their subsequent power struggles with each other, impacted upon the overall objectives and content of the NCPEs. The game models are then used to examine the extent to which the objectives of the players involved in the implementation of the NCPE generated outcomes which none of the players planned for, or could have foreseen.