Psychometric validation of the Physical Educators’ Judgments about Inclusion in Angola

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Physical Educators’ Judgments about Inclusion in Angola (PEJI-A). Originally developed by Hodge at al. (2002), the Physical Educators’ Judgments about Inclusion (PEJI) evaluates physical educators’ judgments concerning “cognitive expressions of attitudes” related to inclusion of students with disabilities in general physical education settings (p. 435) and consists of 16 items divided among three subscales: (a) inclusion versus exclusion, (b) acceptance of students with disabilities, and (c) perceived training needs. The pre-existing PEJI instrument was translated and evaluated using a three-phase process that involved: (a) translating of the PEJI instrument from English to Portuguese as spoken in Angola (i.e., PEJI-A), (b) establishing evidence of face and content validity of the PEJI-A, and (c) investigating the reliability and construct validity of the PEJI-A. Data were collected from 237 elementary classroom and secondary physical education teachers from three Angolan provinces using a demographic questionnaire and the PEJI-A. Based on the results of the reliability analysis, EFA, and Pearson correlation analysis, the present version of the Physical Educators’ Judgments about Inclusion in Angola (PEJI-A), inclusive of all three subscales, does not demonstrate evidence of reliability and validity because the first subscale of the PEJI-A (specific to the dimension of inclusion) was not deemed to be reliable or valid. It appears that the PEJI-A needs to be revised with items that better measure the constructs of inclusion consistent with the Angolan educational context. Despite the statistical constraints of the PEJI-A related to subscale 1, it does show promise as a much-needed tool to investigate physical education for students with disabilities in sub-Saharan Africa and address the preservice and in-service training needs of physical educators that are well-documented in the literature.