Implementing daily physical education in primary school - potentials and barriers from the involved actor's point of view

Abstract

The objective was to determine to what extent daily physical education can be implemented in primary schools, what barriers exist and how to overcome the mentioned barriers. Moreover, it was analysed to what extent daily physical education is accepted by teachers, external trainers, parents and students. Semi-structured interviews with parents (n=7), teachers (n=5) and external trainers (n=6) of the intervention schools. The intervention students (n=44) were surveyed within focus groups. All surveyed groups appraised the implementation of daily school sports as successful. The cooperation between the schools and the sports club should be maintained during a comprehensive implementation of daily physical education. Besides an improved lessons quality teachers and external trainers reported an improved social behaviour of the children. Parents perceived positive effects on the child development. All groups believe that daily physical education increases the enjoyment of children in sports. As a certain barrier a lack of resources (e. g., facilities, equipment, financial resources) in the schools were mentioned. The cooperation between the schools and the sports club proved to be an applicable model to implement daily physical education. The combination of teachers and external trainers can contribute to a higher lesson quality. Considering the perceived potentials of daily physical education by all surveyed groups, a comprehensive implementation of systematic daily physical activity promotion in the primary school setting should be tapped more strongly in future.