ICF and SEN: a National project for identification toward quality of life model

The school represents a privileged context for observing these individual and social conditions, and for early interventions, according to an ecological and capability perspective. The Quality of Life model and the ICF model are valid references for the development of customized projects in this direction. Our study starts from the assumption that it’s necessary to discuss with all school’s actors (school heads, teachers, students, parents) to realize an efficient model for the identification of (SEN) in the framework of the ICF and it’s also necessary to work according to a model that meets a logic of possible defined relations among the areas in the anthropological paradigm of the ICF. Particularly it’s necessary to take advantage of the aims of Physical Education, a discipline that allows people to show themselves completely and to dialogue with the environment through the body, without hiding attitudes, postures and situations that comply their psycho-physical and emotional-relational state. This research project has as its objective the validation of tools for the identification of SEN through observation and evaluation of psycho-affective students’ indicators (Personal Factors of ICF and some essential factors of quality of life) during the lessons of Physical Education. Then, these same data will be compared with the skills expressed by students during the disciplinary hours of curriculum (Area of basic learning and application of knowledge of ICF). The possible logical correlation between the two different operative areas would lead to an interpretation of the phenomenon of educational needs that would help teachers to define a threshold to identify students as SEN. Although the research data have not been collected yet to make an analysis, it’s useful the promotion of this project to realize a new scientific model for the identification of SEN in the framework of the ICF, evaluating Physical Education in the school that, unfortunately, is often underestimated and disregarded as interpretative key of students’ behaviors and educational failures.