Physical education instructors in the multicultural school. Perceptions of the training context and needs

This article is the result of research into the situation of the Physical Education teaching body and its training needs in order to provide appropriate instruction within the multicultural school milieu. To this end, it presents the importance of Physical Education as a socialising agent for immigrant students, the different trends of specific studies on training Physical Education instructors in immigration-related subject matters, and the data obtained through a concrete study conducted with a sample of 230 schools throughout Catalonia. Notable amongst the findings is the fact that while Physical Education and sport can represent an invaluable intercultural meeting space, it is important not to overlook an education geared towards cohabitation, as well as the fact that teaching training has to be coherent with the real needs that are observed in and from education centres.