The views, collective awareness and staff practices in promoting physical activity in preschools: an analysis of two preschools in Norway with high and low levels of physical activity

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Norwegian preschool framework plan (Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training [2017. Framework Plan for Kindergartens. https://www.udir.no/globalassets/filer/barnehage/rammeplan/framework-plan-for-kindergartens2-2017.pdf]) establishes that preschools are to be an arena for daily physical activity. Preschool is an important arena for children's physical activity, as many children spend much time in preschool every day. The present study aims to examine the views of staff members and their collective awareness and practice when promoting physical activity for four-to-six-year-olds in two preschools. The findings and discussion in this article are based on focus group interviews in two preschools where the children in one of these institutions (the high-activity preschool) have a higher physical activity level on average than the children in the other preschool (the low-activity preschool). The data is analysed within a sociocultural theory framework, and the analysis reveals that the deliberate and active use of the preschool's outdoor area and the planning and organisation of the activities, which are based on a shared view on the significance of the physical activity, and active adults, who participate in the children's activity and play, are elements that contribute to the physical activity level in the high-activity preschool.