About the project

The ACTIVE Schools Project was held in 27 government-

funded primary schools in Perth, Western Australia by

researchers from The University of Western Australia.

Funding was provided by the Western Australian

Department of Education and Healthway.

The schools were randomly selected from 9 groups

incorporating an equal number of: low, middle and high

socio-economic status schools; and old, middle, and

newly built schools.

The ACTIVE Schools Project investigated the

relationship between primary school environments and

children’s physical activity participation while at school.

The project incorporated 3 stages including instrument

development, instrument testing and data collection

and analysis. These are displayed below.

Project aims

The four main aims of the project were to: 1. identify school environmental characteristics related to children’s physical activity during recess

(morning and lunch breaks) and class-time using interviews with children and school staff, and a review of previous research in this field;

2. measure and estimate children’s average physical activity participation at different schools; 3. examine school, classroom and child-level characteristics using a school physical environment audit

and staff and child questionnaires; and 4. identify school, classroom and child-level characteristics associated with class-time and recess physical

activity .

What is the school environment?

Many school features can be considered part of the

school environment:

1. Physical features of a school such as the oval,

playground equipment, classroom and plants.

2. Policies are rules, such as no running on footpaths

and not permitting classroom use during recess.

3. Socio-cultural beliefs and practices such as the

attitude of the principal towards daily physical

education and the culture of physical activity

competition within the school.

School

Child focus

groups

Staff interviews

Instrument drafting:

environment audit and

questionnaire development

Stage 1: Instrument development

Literature review

Qualitative study

1. Data entry

2. Data cleaning

and preparation

3. Data analysis:

27 schools

27 principals

23 PE coordinators

51 teachers

408 grade 6 children

Collect data:

27 schools

27 principals

23 PE coordinators

51 teachers

1309 grade 2, 4 and 6

children

Pilot study: instrument

and procedure

testing

The ACTIVE Schools Project methods

Stage 2:

Instrument testing

Stage 3: Data collection and analysis

Physical activity measurement

Children’s physical activity was measured in this study with accelerometers, a device similar to

a pedometer, except that it records movement rather than steps. Data from the

accelerometers can be converted into different physical activity intensities. In this study

moderate and vigorous activity were added together to provide a ‘physical activity’ measure .

2

Supports for class-time physical activity

Features supporting or encouraging physical

activity during class-time reported by principals,

teachers and children included:

good quality, quantity and availability of sport equipment (e.g. bats, balls, hoops, mits)

sport apparatus (e.g. football goals, basketball hoops)

good amount of space and grass

lower child enrolment

having a PE teacher

using external/private PE clinics/providers

varied and high number of external PE programs

having a culture of competition

teachers with positive PE/sport attitude

children having positive attitudes to PE/sport

parents having a positive attitude towards and involvement in PE/sport

teacher’s perceiving responsibility for their class’s physical activity participation.

Physical activity during class-time

On average, across all 27 schools, children

participated in 37 minutes of moderate- to-

vigorous physical activity during class-time

daily. However, this ranged from 3 minutes

at one school, to 88 minutes at another.

When children’s average accelerometer data

were analysed with child, teacher and school

information, specific aspects of the school

environment were associated with higher

moderate- to- vigorous physical activity

during class-time (see Table 1).

Barriers to class-time physical activity

The main barriers to physical activity during class-time reported by principals, teachers and children were:

poor storage of sport equipment (bats, balls, hoops, mits etc)

insufficient time for PE/sport (crowded curriculum)

fear of children being injured

fear of litigation/being sued

too much emphasis on competition

negative classroom teacher attitude towards teaching PE/sport

classroom teacher’s lack of knowledge and skills in teaching PE/sport

Characteristic Additional class-time PA (mins)

Each additional 100 square metres of grass per child 1

Each additional sport apparatus* item 5

School PE coordinator met adult Australian Physical Activity guidelines 27

No designated person assigned to coordinate PE at the school 29

Classroom teacher held ‘fitness’^ as 1 of their 2 main PE activities 9

Boy 5

Children from a non-English speaking home 5

Children who perceived they were good at sport 4 cricket nets and pitches, football and soccer goals, long jump pits and wall markings, ^ examples provided to teachers included star jumps and laps of oval.

Table 1: Characteristics associated with additional class-time physical activity minutes per child per day

3

Barriers to recess physical activity The main barriers to physical activity during recess reported by children, teachers and principals were:

play areas too close to car parks/roads

poor or lack of weather protection

sloping land

poor playground equipment quality

children not allowed to bring own sport equipment

no running allowed

no hat, no play policy

inside areas available during breaks

fear of litigation/being sued

poor sport equipment access and availability

fear of injury (by teachers)

grade-specific play areas

game rules and conflict about rules

parent complaints

social issues

cost upgrading/new playground and sport equipment

Physical activity during recess (morning and lunch breaks)

On average, across all 27 schools, children participated in 27 minutes of moderate- to- vigorous physical activity during school recess daily (equivalent to 41.2% of recess time). This ranged from an average of 2 minutes at one school, to 37 minutes at another. When children’s average accelerometer data were analysed with child, teacher and school information, specific aspects of the school environment were also associated with higher moderate- to- vigorous physical activity during recess (see Table 2).

Supports for recess physical activity Features that support or encourage physical activity during recess reported by children, teachers and principals included:

good access to sport equipment

high amounts of space and grassed play areas

low child density

access to natural play areas

good variation in playground equipment

number of hard courts and wall markings

good school design

teacher involved in play/sport

varied and enjoyable PE programs

having sport equipment available before school

good knowledge of, and display of, playground and game rule information

having a PE teacher

having access to school grounds out- of- hours

good problem solving by children

gender specific sports perception

adult/teacher assistance

having structured activities

good Parent and Citizen Association fundraising

positive teacher attitude towards PE/sport

good competition culture

Characteristic Additional recess PA

(mins)

Each additional 100 square metres of grassed area per child 4

All grassed areas unshaded 8 Each year that a school was newer 0.1 PE coordinator met adult Australian Physical Activity Guidelines 6

Teacher did not attend PE professional development in last 2 years 5

Boy 8

Children from a non-English speaking home 3

Children perceived they were good at sport 3

Children were a healthy weight 3

Table 2: Characteristics associated with additional recess physical activity minutes per child per day

4

Implications This study has implications for school design, policy and practice.

Schools with small amounts of grass per child can be identified and interventions planned. Placement of transportable classrooms onto grassed areas should be discouraged.

Schools providing high number of shaded grassed areas may need to expand the availability of un-shaded grassed play areas while implementing suitable sun-safe strategies.

Provision of sport apparatus is likely to assist with supporting physical activity.

Older schools require further examination to determine specific aspects of their environments that may be associated with lower physical activity.

Promoting physical activity to teachers and encouraging good role modelling is important. Encouraging the development of a positive physical activity school culture is warranted.

Assessment of time available for the PE coordinator to organize equipment, sport, hold PE and sport classes and complete duties is warranted. When possible, schools with an assigned PE coordinator may benefit from increasing the number of hours that the PE coordinator is assigned to undertake PE classes or encourage class teachers to undertake more PE and sport sessions.

The impact of teacher PE professional development programs requires examination. Such programs may benefit from incorporating strategies for teachers to optimise physical activity while ensuring PE learning outcomes (including the development of motor skills) are met.

Conclusions

Schools are unique settings as they can provide opportunities to increase physical activity for large populations of children. The results of this study suggest that the school environment plays an important role in supporting children’s class-time and recess moderate- to- vigorous physical activity. Schools, education departments and planners are encouraged to use this information to plan and develop school environments that support physical activity.

For further information on the Active Schools Project contact

Dr Karen Martin, karen.martin@uwa.edu.au

Results taken from Martin KE., (2010) School, Classroom and Child-Level Correlates of Children’s Class-Time and Recess Physical Activity PhD Thesis, The University of Western Australia.