Abstract
Schools are considered ideal venues to promote physical activity (PA) in children. However, a knowledge gap exists on how to adequately integrate PA into the school day and in particular, on the preferences of children regarding additional PA in school. Therefore, the aim of our qualitative study was to gain comprehensive insight into 10–13-year-old primary schoolchildren’s perspectives on how to increase PA in the school setting. We conducted nine focus groups (32 girls and 20 boys) with children attending the final two grades of primary school in the Netherlands. We used inductive thematic analysis to analyze the data. The results showed that children were enthusiastic about additional PA in school. Children suggested various ways to increase PA, including more time for PA in the existing curriculum, e.g., physical education (PE), recess, and occasional activities, such as field trips or sports days; school playground adaptation; improving the content of PE; and implementing short PA breaks and physically active academic lessons. Children emphasized variation and being given a voice in their PA participation as a prerequisite to keep PA enjoyable and interesting in the long term. Finally, children mentioned the role of the teacher and making efforts to accommodate all children and their different preferences as important. Children have concrete ideas, acknowledging the challenges that accompany integrating additional PA in school. We therefore recommend actively involving children in efforts to increase school-based PA and to make “additional PA in school” a shared project of teachers and students.
Highlights
The numerous physical and mental health benefits of physical activity (PA) for children are scientifically well-documented [1,2], many children worldwide continue to fall short of meeting the recommended minimum of 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day [3,4,5].Self-reported PA data for children from 39 countries show that only 23% of 11-year-olds and 19% of13-year-olds currently meet this guideline [6]
We identified six key themes: (1) children’s motivations for participating in additional PA, children’s ideas and perspectives on incorporating additional PA in school, 3) giving children a voice
Despite the fact that children with different activity levels participated in each focus group, almost all children in our study were enthusiastic about additional PA in school, which is in line with earlier research showing that many children and young people generally enjoy participating in PA [64], and want to be more active [65]
Summary
The numerous physical and mental health benefits of physical activity (PA) for children are scientifically well-documented [1,2], many children worldwide continue to fall short of meeting the recommended minimum of 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day [3,4,5].Self-reported PA data for children from 39 countries show that only 23% of 11-year-olds and 19% of13-year-olds currently meet this guideline [6]. The numerous physical and mental health benefits of physical activity (PA) for children are scientifically well-documented [1,2], many children worldwide continue to fall short of meeting the recommended minimum of 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day [3,4,5]. Self-reported PA data for children from 39 countries show that only 23% of 11-year-olds and 19% of. 13-year-olds currently meet this guideline [6]. These low levels of PA become even more pressing since time spent on MVPA typically further declines from primary to secondary education [7,8]. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 2713; doi:10.3390/ijerph15122713 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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