The London 2012 and World Championship gold medal-winning wheelchair racer claimed that while some teachers are making sports accessible for all, there is still a large proportion not equipped with the knowledge to include disabled students in PE lessons, and she admitted she was not surprised to learn the results of the Youth Sport Trust survey.

"This doesn't come as a huge shock," Cockroft explained.

"I went to a mainstream nursery, primary and secondary school and was the only disabled child there so had some real challenges when it came to PE lessons.

"I dreaded them, as I knew I would get completely sidelined and told to get in the library or do something completely different that wasn't part of the PE lesson.

"I wasn't going to break in half just because I have a disability; all I wanted to do was get involved in the sports activities with my friends and not having these opportunities was a huge thing for me.

"It wasn't the teachers fault though; there wasn't the support resources such as the Sainsbury's Active Kids for All Inclusive PE Training back then, so they didn't know what to do to include me in activities."

The Youth Sport Trust study demonstrated that almost three quarters - 73 per cent - of the 52 leaders in disability sport from schools across Great Britain that were surveyed said disabled students in special schools experience higher quality PE compared with those attending mainstream schools.

The Youth Sport Trust surveyed 52 leaders in disability sport from schools across the country, including some of the charity’s Inclusion Partner Schools, which compared the quality of PE provision for disabled students in special schools and mainstream schools ©Youth Sport Trust


Meanwhile, only 29 per cent of those asked thought teachers in mainstream schools could signpost disabled students to the most appropriate sports clubs, compared to 70 per cent who thought special schools were more than capable.

Other findings indicated that seven out of 10 - 70 per cent - of the teachers surveyed thought mainstream schools struggle to identify high-level sports ability in a disabled person, whereas more than half - 56 per cent - thought teachers in special schools could.

"Some mainstream schools are doing a fantastic job at including their disabled students in activities but this should be happening in every school," Cockroft said.

"Luckily it didn't hold me back.

"However, there are loads of disabled kids that have really bad experiences of PE because they aren't included and this can shatter their confidence and self belief, affecting everything in their life."

She added that more training, such as the free Sainsbury's Active Kids for all Inclusive PE Training, is needed to equip teachers with the skills to integrate disabled students into inclusive sports activities.

Tom Murphy, a PE teacher at Davenant Foundation School, spoke of his experiences of taking part in the course.

"I didn't have much training at university around making PE lessons inclusive, which meant I was worried about my lack of experience when I first started teaching," he said.

"The training has really opened up my eyes to how easy it can be to adapt activity to suit all children without changing it completely or excluding students."

The Youth Sport Trust has issued a five-point plan to help teachers make sports activities inclusive for disabled young people, with tips including setting progress and exploring challenges with students to being creative, having inclusive equipment and giving young people a voice.

More information on the Sainsbury's Active Kids for all Inclusive PE Training can be found here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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