Physically active academic lessons: acceptance, barriers and facilitators for implementation

Sindre M Dyrstad,Silje E Kvalø,Ingrid Skage,Marianne Alstveit

doi:10.1186/s12889-018-5205-3

Sindre M Dyrstad, Silje E Kvalø + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5205-3

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Abstract

BackgroundTo improve health and academic learning in schoolchildren, the Active School programme in Stavanger, Norway has introduced physically active academic lessons. This is a teaching method combining physical activity with academic content. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the response to the physically active lessons and identify facilitators and barriers for implementation of such an intervention.MethodsFive school leaders (principals or vice-principals), 13 teachers and 30 children from the five intervention schools were interviewed about their experiences with the 10-month intervention, which consisted of weekly minimum 2 × 45 minutes of physically active academic lessons, and the factors affecting its implementation. All interviews were transcribed and analysed using the qualitative data analysis program NVivo 10 (QSR international, London, UK). In addition, weekly teacher’s intervention delivery logs were collected and analysed.ResultsOn average, the physically active academic lessons in 18 of the 34 weeks (53%) were reported in the teacher logs. The number of delivered physically active academic lessons covered 73% of the schools’ planned activity. Physically active lessons were well received among school leaders, teachers and children. The main facilitators for implementation of the physically active lessons were active leadership and teacher support, high self-efficacy regarding mastering the intervention, ease of organizing physically active lessons, inclusion of physically active lessons into the lesson curricula, and children’s positive reception of the intervention. The main barriers were unclear expectations, lack of knowledge and time to plan the physiclly active lessons, and the length of the physically active lessons (15–20 min lessons were preferred over the 45 min lessons).ConclusionPhysically active academic lessons were considered an appropriate pedagogical method for creating positive variation, and were highly appreciated among both teachers and children. Both the principal and the teachers should be actively involved the implementation, which could be strengthened by including physical activity into the school’s strategy. Barriers for implementing physically active lessons in schools could be lowered by increasing implementation clarity and introducing the teachers to high quality and easily organized lessons.Trial registrationClinicaltrail.gov ID identifier: NCT03436355. Retrospectively registered: 16th of Feb, 2018.

Highlights

To improve health and academic learning in schoolchildren, the Active School programme in Stavanger, Norway has introduced physically active academic lessons
The present paper reports findings from a process evaluation embedded within the “Active school” randomized controlled trial, evaluating the implementation of physically active academic lessons with a focus on the following research questions: 1. What were school leaders’, teachersand children’s responses to the physically active academic lessons?
The number of delivered physically active academic lessons is shown in Table 2, and covered 73% of the schools’ planned activity, which were 90 or 135 min/week of physically active lessons

Summary

Introduction

To improve health and academic learning in schoolchildren, the Active School programme in Stavanger, Norway has introduced physically active academic lessons. Increasing children’s physical activity level in school without reducing academic time has been one argument for combining physical activity and academic content [3], so-called physically active academic lessons, or just physically active lessons Several programmes such as “Energizers” [4], “Take 10” [5], “Physical Activity Across the Curriculum” [6], “Texas I-CAN” [3, 7], “Virtual Field Trips” [8], “Fit and Academically Proficient at School” [9] and “Active Smarter Kids” [10] have introduced physical activity into the school learning environment. Three reviews about physically active lessons have been found, concluding “Encouraging evidence of improved physical activity and educational outcomes following physically active lessons is provided” [11], “Classroom-based physical activity may have a positive impact on academic-related outcomes” [12], and “Physically active academic lessons increase physical activity levels and may benefit learning and health outcomes” [13]

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