Emotions Towards Physical Education Lessons of Hearing Impairments Pupils Attending Special Elementary Schools

The purpose of this study was to map and analyse the emotions among the pupils attending special schools for children with hearing impairments (HI) towards physical education (P.E.) classes. The main objective was to compare the emotions of their feelings during the P.E. lesson and when the P.E. lesson is cancelled. We analysed the data of 73 pupils attending five grades (from 5^th up to 9^th) of two special elementary schools (at Hrdličkova Street; n = 37 and at Drotárska cesta Street; n = 36) in Bratislava (Slovakia). The research sample consisted of 45 boys and 28 girls in average age 13.5 ± 1.4 years. 48 % of pupils were deaf, 36 % of them were hard of hearing and 16 % were hearing but with hard communication and learning disorders. A non-standardized questionnaire (Antala et al. 2012) was used as a primary research method. Two of the selected questions were related to the emotionality towards P.E.lessons. The data were differentiated from the point of view of the gender and schools. A comparison of the emotions of pupils with HI pointed out a difference consisting in a significantly higher level of positive emotions during P.E. classes among boys (p < .05) and students attending special school at Hrdličkova Street (p < .05). A statistically significant difference was not discovered in the emotions when P.E. class was cancelled neither among genders nor schools. In general, pupils receiving special education show very high positive emotions of the feelings during P.E. lessons but on the other hand they are happier than disappointed when P.E. lesson is cancelled. This will not only increase the positive emotions towards P.E. lessons but also allow physical activities to become a regular part of pupils’ leisure activities as well as long term sport activities.