The Role of Local Leaders in the Implementation of Adult-Initiated Motor Skill Development and Physical Activity in Preschool-A Case Study.

Trine Top Klein-Wengel,Thomas Skovgaard,Søren Smedegaard,Jonas Vestergaard Nielsen

doi:10.3390/ijerph182413119

Abstract

Good motor skills (MS) and physical activity (PA) are considered important for children’s physical, social, and psychological development. The Motor skills in PreSchool (MiPS) study-Denmark aimed to optimize children’s MS through weekly PA sessions. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of local preschool leaders and their strategies in influencing the implementation of MiPS into daily practice. Leaders from all seven preschools in the project were interviewed. The results show that preschool leaders used communication (setting an agenda and dedicating speaking time to address the program at staff meetings) and reflective questioning about the pedagogic staff’s current practice in relation to the program (adding focus on MS and PA) as their main course of action. Through this form of communication and reflective questioning, the preschool leaders aimed to involve the staff and heighten their sensemaking in the existing practice while also ensuring that the implementation of the program was kept in progress. In sum, future implementation of an MS and PA initiative in preschools should put emphasis on a shared responsibility between leaders and staff combined with an adaptive approach in which the existing practice is reshaped rather than just increasing the workload of the pedagogic staff.

Highlights

Having good motor skills (MS) and engaging in physical activity (PA) are considered to be important for children’s physical, social, and psychological development [1,2,3]
The results report on the dominant themes that emerged from the analysis relating to the local leaders’ role and strategies for implementing Motor skills in PreSchool (MiPS) into daily practice, namely: (i) frequent preschool leader communication and staff involvement served as key elements to facilitate the implementation process; (ii) leaders were able to help build a sense of meaningfulness and relevance to the existing preschool practice; and (iii) preschool leaders recognized that implementation is an ongoing process, recognizing the need to ensure sustained attention on the project elements in the preschools
The results show that preschool leaders used communication and reflective questioning to probe the staff’s current practice in relation to the program as their main course of action

Summary

Introduction

Having good motor skills (MS) and engaging in physical activity (PA) are considered to be important for children’s physical, social, and psychological development [1,2,3]. Life MS development is important in order to create a foundation for more complex movement activities in daily living and sports later in life [1,3]. Only a small proportion of children meet these recommendations [5,6]. This has highlighted the need for effective implementation strategies to increase PA levels in the primary years of childhood [7,8,9]. A need has been raised to strengthen the focus on MS and PA development in Danish preschools [11]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion