Teachers' Perspectives on Promoting Physical Activity in Early Childhood Education: A Pilot Study in Indonesia

Abstract

Teachers have a vital role in children's development. This study aims to collect the perspectives of early childhood education teachers on 1) the importance of their roles and responsibilities in promoting physical activity; 2) their understanding of various physical activities; and 3) their interest in physical activity training. An online survey was employed to obtain a quantitative description of the data and open-ended questions to obtain feedback in the form of early childhood education teacher comments to obtain comprehensive data results. 22 early childhood education teachers were involved in this study. The results showed that most early childhood education teachers revealed the importance of promoting physical activities in early childhood (67.3% to 91.8%), and their understanding of physical activities in early childhood education was between 57.3% - 82.7%. They had the lowest score on the implementation of aquatic activities at schools. Most of the candidates (77.3% - 90.9%) showed an interest in participating in further physical activity training. These findings serve as initial data to develop an appropriate physical education model for early childhood in Indonesia. Overall, early childhood education teachers are very interested in participating in physical activity training that can increase their role in promoting child development.