Young children’s physical activity levels in primary (elementary) schools: what impact does physical education lessons have for young children?

ABSTRACT

Objectives: This paper explores the impact of physical education (PE) lessons, focusing on children aged 6–7 years, an underrepresented age in physical activity research. Methods: 10 children wore Actigraph accelerometers recording physical activity throughout the school day (9 am until 3.10 pm), for a year. Repeated measures ANOVA analysed: type of day (days including PE and days that did not) and gender (p < .05). Results: Boys achieved 88% (girls 70%) of the recommended daily physical activity levels on PE days compared to 77% (girls 63%) on non-PE days. Significant differences occurred, boys more active than girls also PE days being more active than non-PE days. Conclusion: The novel findings indicate PE lessons significantly contributes to children’s physical activity levels.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical education
• children’s physical activity

Acknowledgements

To recognize and thank Kate Woolf-May for her support throughout this research as well as her support during my PhD and to acknowledge her sad and way too early passing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Kristy Howells is Director of Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy within the Faculty of Education and her research specialises in early years movement, physical development and physical activity.

Ian Wellard is a Reader in Human and Life Sciences and his research interests relate to the socio-cultural aspects of movements and body cultures, particularly within the context of sport, physical activity and dance.

Kate Woolf-May was a Reader in Health and Clinical Exercise Sciences, who has researched metabolic equivalents (MET) to determine exercise intensity and for the prescription of exercise for cardiac rehabiliation, She has aswell developed guides for health, sport and exercise professionals on exercise prescription: physiological foundations.

ORCID

Kristy Howells http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0758-7532