Sport and physical education : a tool for social inclusion

Abstract

The aim of this research was to study the relationship between sport, Physical Education (PE) and social inclusion. The researcher was interested in exploring how sport and PE can be a tool for social inclusion, and examined this argument from the point of view of policy makers and key stakeholders in the field of PE and sport. A qualitative approach was chosen and data collected via eight semistructured interviews featuring an understanding of how sport and PE can be both an arena for exclusion and inclusion. Moreover, factors which result in exclusion from or within sport were presented and substantiated with several participants’ personal experiences and anecdotes. The data also indicated that there was a general consensus regarding the potential of sport and PE to promote social inclusion. In addition, policies, programmes and services at an international and national level were reviewed in which various key stakeholders were pointed out and viewed as being central to the social inclusion agenda, thus reflecting the need for a trans-disciplinary approach. A number of recommendations and suggestions are put forward namely, empowering local councils and non-government organisations (NGOs) to promote sport for all in the community and assigning the portfolio of sport to the Minister for Youth and Sport, or any minister responsible for the sphere of sport in the Maltese Islands.