Designing an Inclusive Fitness Unit for a Mixed-Ability Class
A Year 10 class of 28 students is completing a six-week fitness unit. One student uses a wheelchair and has full upper-body function; two students have asthma that is exercise-induced; one student has a mild intellectual disability and reads at a Year 6 level; the rest are typically developing. The school has a weights room with benches, dumbbells, a rowing machine and two treadmills, and an outdoor oval. The assessment requires students to design and monitor a four-week personal fitness program and justify it with physiological principles.
1. Explain how the teacher should adapt the assessment so the student with the mild intellectual disability can demonstrate the same learning outcomes.
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Adaptation should change the access, not the standard. The student must still design, monitor and justify a program. Supports could include a template with visual icons for exercises, a simplified written guide with short sentences, checklists for monitoring, and verbal or recorded justification instead of a long written report. The teacher should check understanding with concrete examples and provide modelled responses. The justification can be scaffolded with prompt questions (what does the principle mean, how did you apply it, what changed). The outcome being assessed (application of physiological principles) is unchanged; only the literacy demand is reduced.
2. Describe how to include the wheelchair user in a cardiovascular session on the oval and in the weights room.
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On the oval, the student can complete wheelchair sprints, shuttle circuits or a wheelchair-based interval set with the same work-to-rest structure as the running group, so the physiological stimulus is comparable and the student trains alongside peers. In the weights room, the student can use dumbbells for seated pressing, pulling and arm ergometry, and the rowing machine is not accessible from a wheelchair unless adapted, so it should not be the default. The teacher should ensure the student can reach equipment and that benches are positioned for transfers. The principle is to match the training variable (intensity, duration, rest) rather than to create a separate activity, so the student is included in the same session design.
3. Outline the safety protocol for the two students with exercise-induced asthma during the fitness sessions.
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Both students should have their reliever medication accessible at all times, not locked in a bag. A prolonged warm-up and a gradual build to intensity reduce the likelihood of bronchoconstriction, and cold or dry air should be considered when choosing the oval or indoor space. The teacher should know each student's action plan and warning signs (coughing, wheeze, chest tightness, unusual breathlessness) and should pair students so no one exercises alone. If symptoms occur, the student stops, uses medication as per their plan, and is monitored; if there is no improvement, follow the school's first-aid and emergency procedure. The teacher should also record the protocol in the unit plan and brief the students on it.