Fundamental Movement Skills of Preschool Children in Northwest England

-This cross-sectional study examined fundamental movement skill competency among deprived preschool children in Northwest England and explored sex differences. A total of 168 preschool children (ages 3-5 yr.) were included in the study. Twelve skills were assessed using the Children's Activity and Movement in Preschool Motor Skills Protocol and video analysis. Sex differences were explored at the subtest, skill, and component levels. Overall competence was found to be low among both sexes, although it was higher for locomotor skills than for object-control skills. Similar patterns were observed at the component level. Boys had significantly better object-control skills than girls, with greater competence observed for the kick and overarm throw, while girls were more competent at the run, hop, and gallop. The findings of low competency suggest that developmentally appropriate interventions should be implemented in preschool settings to promote movement skills, with targeted activities for boys and girls

Thoughts of a design team: Barriers to low carbon school design

Copyright © 2014 Elsevier. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Sustainable Cities and Society. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Sustainable Cities and Society Vol. 11 (2014), DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2013.11.006With the increasing threat of serious climate change, various governments are aiming to substantially reduce their carbon emissions. In the UK all new schools and domestic buildings are required to be ‘zero-carbon’ from 2016. Schools are seen as community centres of activity and learning by local authorities, as such there is an emphasis to make schools exemplar buildings within the community and demonstrate best practice with regards to low and zero-carbon design. This paper focuses on what are the pertinent drivers and obstacles to low carbon school design based upon literature review and a survey of experts in the field. We find that more barriers are identified than drivers for low carbon design, with the greatest drivers being legislation, environmental concerns and running costs. The greatest barriers were identified as increased equipment in modern schools, complexity of building systems and the perceived extra cost of low carbon design and technologies. It is suggested that most barriers could be overcome by improving communication between the design team, client and end users, and that truly integrated design teams are the key to mainstream low carbon school design.Devon County Council (as part of the Montgomery School project

Effect of a 6-Week Active Play Intervention on Fundamental Movement Skill Competence of Preschool Children

This study examined the effectiveness of an active play intervention on fundamental movement skills among 3- to 5-year-old children from deprived communities. In a cluster randomized controlled trial design, six preschools received a resource pack and a 6-week local authority program involving staff training with help implementing 60-minute weekly sessions and postprogram support. Six comparison preschools received a resource pack only. Twelve skills were assessed at baseline, postintervention, and at a 6-month follow-up using the Children’s Activity and Movement in Preschool Study Motor Skills Protocol. One hundred and sixty-two children (Mean age = 4.64 ± 0.58 years; 53.1% boys) were included in the final analyses. There were no significant differences between groups for total fundamental movement skill, object-control skill or locomotor skill scores, indicating a need for program modification to facilitate greater skill improvements

A stakeholder analysis of the perceived outcomes of developing and implementing England’s obesity strategy 2008–2011

Background International recommendations urge governments to implement population-based strategies to reduce the burden of obesity. This study assesses the development and implementation of the obesity strategy in England 2008–2011, Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives (HWHL). The aim was to identify if stakeholders perceived HWHL to have made any difference to the action to address obesity in England, with the ultimate objective of identifying insights that could inform the development and implementation of future obesity strategies in England and elsewhere. Methods Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews and thematic framework analysis. 40 stakeholders involved in the development and implementation of the obesity strategy were interviewed. Results Evidence from this study suggests that HWHL was perceived to have made a positive difference to efforts to address obesity in England. It was credited with creating political buy-in, engaging more stakeholders, stimulating and facilitating action, enhancing knowledge and changing attitudes. But it was reported to have failed to fully catalyse action across all government departments and sectors, or to develop adequate mechanisms for learning about the effectiveness of the different elements and actions in the Strategy. Key elements of the Strategy contributing towards to the perceived positive differences included its multi-faceted, inclusive nature; governance structures; monitoring programme to assess progress against national and local targets; child-focus; and funding. The development of the Strategy was said to be stimulated and aided by the prior synthesis of a critical mass of scientific evidence. Conclusions The English experience of HWHL lends support to the recommendations to develop population-based obesity strategies. It indicates that in order to stimulate comprehensive, inter-sectoral action, obesity strategies need to take a population-based, multi-faceted approach, be implemented through a clear governance structure, follow a systematic process of aligning goals, objectives and agendas between government departments and sectors with a stake in obesity, and have a clear system of reporting changes in obesity rates against a target. In order to design effective policies and to build the case for continued investment, obesity strategies also need to incorporate a national framework for learning and evaluation from the outset

Effectiveness and acceptability of parental financial incentives and quasi-mandatory schemes for increasing uptake of vaccinations in preschool children: systematic review, qualitative study and discrete choice experiment

Uptake of preschool vaccinations is less than optimal. Financial incentives and quasi-mandatory policies (restricting access to child care or educational settings to fully vaccinated children) have been used to increase uptake internationally, but not in the UK

Deconstructing 'Aspiration': UK policy debates and European policy trends

Strategies of 'employability' and 'activation' are increasingly favoured in the European Union policy context. These strategies are aimed at fostering inclusion by stressing the responsibility of the individual to participate in education and employment. Similar tendencies can be observed in the United Kingdom (UK) over the last decade, among them a debate on raising young people's aspirations. The article reports first findings from a research project on the construction of 'aspiration' in and through policy debates in the United Kingdom. Drawing on Michel Foucault's concepts of Archaeology and Genealogy, policy documents were analysed for the discursive strategies they employ. The analysis suggests that the debate on 'aspiration' constructs young people from disadvantaged backgrounds as deficient, conflates economic and social equality discourses and individualises structural problems. These discursive strategies mirror tendencies that can be observed in strategies of activation and employability in the United Kingdom and the European Union. Focusing on 'aspiration' can be regarded as a way to prepare young people for the responsibility to actively pursue labour market participation at an even earlier stage