THE INFLUENCE OF PARALYMPIC SCHOOL DAY ON CHILDREN'S ATTITUDES TOWARDS PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to determine the influence of Paralympic School Day on the attitudes of school children toward people with a disability; to analyze the basics and theories of Paralympic Education in school settings. METHODS: The participants were 36 children with a mean age of 11.78 (17 boys and 19 girls) from the elementary school Hrdlicky in Ostrava, the Czech Republic. All participants completed the questionnaire "Children's Attitude Toward Integrated Physical Education-Revised" (CAIPE-R) (Block, 1995) and the Adjective checklist before and after the implementation of the program. RESULTS: The scores of the participants' general attitudes toward including people with disability in PE increased from 16.50 to 17.25, the mean scores of the adjective checklist increased from 19.81 to 19.92, but the scores of their attitudes toward changing sports rules for people with a disability decreased from 17.89 to 16.86, however, these changes were not statistically significant. Girls' attitudes toward people with a disability tended to be better both before and after the intervention. CONCLUSION: Generally, Paralympic School Day can change participants' attitude toward people with disability, but when the specific activities are arranged, we have to take the participants' features under consideration. In order to have a consistent influence, a long term duration of the intervention should be arranged.