Movement games from the point of view of primary education teachers in Slovakia

Abstract

The main goal of the survey carried out by us is to find out the current opinions of teachers at the primary level of education in Slovakia for teaching the thematic unit activities in nature and seasonal movement activities with a focus on the place of movement games in their teaching. Using a survey, they obtained data from 1,363 teachers of primary education who teach physical and sports education in 75 elementary schools from 8 regions of Slovakia. As many as 15% of all respondents answered that they do not teach the thematic unit outdoor activities and seasonal physical activities at all. Overall, the most commonly taught activity in nature is hiking and spending time in nature. The least respondents like teaching cross-country skiing. Despite the broad and demanding focus of teachers in the primary level of education, we consider it necessary that the teaching of the thematic unit outdoor activities and seasonal physical activities (due to their importance from the point of view of health and the creation of a future lifestyle) is implemented either in winter or summer with 100% occupancy. The obtained results are applicable for compensation of identified deficiencies and subsequent optimization of the educational process in this important period of children's development. Since the results of our study are from the whole of Slovakia, they have a nationwide social impact and significance.