Physical Education Teacher Education for a Blind Student

The Academic College at Wingate includes teacher education for students with special needs. The College sees the inclusion in teaching of individuals with disabilities as a value-oriented message of supreme importance.

Beza is a blind student now in his second year of studies, and has begun his student teaching in elementary school. In the first semester student teaching is conducted in 1^st-3^rd grades and in the second semester in 3^rd-6^th grades. In the first semester it focuses on early childhood games, basic movements and movement education (Laban). In the second semester the focus is mainly on ball game skills, athletics and recreational games. Before teaching, Beza entered the classes and shared his feelings and senses as a blind person with the pupils. The children had many questions and he was very open to them.

Beza puts `team teaching` theory into practice. He is regularly accompanied by a College student who follows the children, gives them comments and feedback and ensures their safety. In the first lessons, in order to create communication with the children, Beza included tasks in which the children had perform activities with their eyes closed. In this way they were able to enter his personal world.

In summary, it is possible to say that the children highly respected Beza during the lessons and, except for a few rare cases of disturbances, they followed his instructions. Beza `won over` the children both in the classes he taught and in the entire school.