According to the Norwegian Directorate of Education (2023), approximately eight percent of all students in grades one through 10 receive special education, 46% of whom receive at least some of their services from a teaching assistant. Research indicates that the use of such assistants may present some difficulties, the most commonly noted being that “the lowest-paid, least qualified, often insufficiently supervised personnel have been assigned to support the students with the most challenging learning and behavioural characteristics” (Giangreco, 2021, p. 280). Further, in a recent report by Redd Barna (2023) students with disabilities discussed that while participation is a fundamental principle in Norwegian schools, they experienced being excluded or given an alternative task (often with an assistant) when adaptation became too difficult.

With this in mind, we aim to:

1. Conduct a mixed method study to map the current support models employed in Physical education (PE) settings for children with disabilities across Norway and how these models are experienced and used to facilitate access to the national PE curriculum, to better understand how and when feelings of marginalization and exclusion might occur.
2. Host a 2-day pre-symposium workshop for colleagues from around the world to discuss supports for students with disabilities in general PE classes. During the workshop, each invited collaborator will present and discuss the service model(s) most commonly used in their geographical area or country. We will discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and connections between the various service delivery models and the potential relevance to our home countries or regions.