Implementation and effectiveness of a physical education intervention in primary school on physical fitness qualities

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of 20\r\nphysical education lessons taught by qualified physical education\r\nteaching assistants in improving physical fitness qualities. A second aim\r\nwas to estimate the feasibility of a validated [1, 2], functional, and easily\r\nadministered test battery for measuring children’s physical fitness.\r\nMethods: 40,360 children, 20,758 boys and 19,602 girls (Boys: age,\r\n8.7 ± 1.5 years; height, 131.6 ± 10.3 cm; weight, 30.5 ± 8.4 kg;\r\nGirls: age, 8.7 ± 1.5 years; height, 130.4 ± 10.8 cm; weight,\r\n29.6 ± 8.1 kg), from 5 to 12 years old, were involved in the study.\r\n20 9 60 min physical education lessons, to be delivered once a week\r\nbetween November 2015 and May 2016, were conducted by a qualified\r\nphysical education teaching assistant. Anthropometric measures (BMI\r\nz-score), cardiorespiratory fitness (6 min walk test_6MWT), musculoskeletal\r\nfitness (standing broad jump_SBJ) and motor fitness (4x10 m\r\nshuttle run test_SRT) were evaluated at baseline and after 6 months.\r\nResults: Overall, the children in each age group were able to perform\r\nall of the test items, indicating the suitability of the test battery for\r\nchildren as young as 5 years of age. After 6 months girls slightly\r\ndecreased BMI z-score (D = -0.0034, p = 0.1054), while boys\r\nsignificantly increased BMI z-score (D = 0.367, p\0.0001). Mean\r\nvalues indicate that all parameters were significantly modified in both\r\ngroups (6MWT, D = 24 m, p\0.0001; SBJ, D = 5 cm, p\0.0001;\r\nSRT, D = -0.6 s, p\0.0001) with respect to baseline data, boys\r\nachieving higher improvement in the SRT (p = 0.0141) when compared\r\nto their counterparts.\r\nConclusions: The proposed school-based program showed effectiveness\r\nand feasibility. Our results suggest that childhood is a\r\npossible specific time window for physical fitness enhancement. The\r\ndifferences observed by gender highlight the need to use different\r\nstrategies to increase the involvement of all the participants.\r\nReferences\r\nArtero EG (2011) Int J Sports Med 32(3):159–169.\r\nLammers AE (2008) Arch Dis Child 93(6):464–468