The importance of satisfying children’s basic psychological needs in primary school physical education for PE-motivation, and its relations with fundamental motor and PE-related skills

Background: Motivation for physical education (PE) is considered an important factor for the development of children’s physical skills during PE. According to self-determination theory, satisfaction of the psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence is related to higher levels of autonomous motivation, and lower levels of controlled motivation. To get a better insight into these relations, the present study examines whether satisfaction of the psychological needs is predictive of fundamental motor skills (FMS) and PE-related skills, both directly, and indirectly (via motivation, i.e. ‘the motivational sequence’). As PE-related skills are more representative to the skills that are generally practiced during PE, the strongest relations are expected for these types of skills. Method: In this study, 2224 children (51.6% boys, mean age 11.8 ± 0.55) of 89 primary schools filled out questionnaires assessing the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs and their motivation for PE. Using a block design, FMS were assessed using standardized tests, and a diverse set of PE-related skills that are explicitly practiced during PE-lessons were tested using valid and reliable tests. Structural equation models were built in Mplus to examine the hypothesized relations. Results: Competence, peer-relatedness, and teacher-relatedness were predictive of autonomous motivation, whereas only peer-relatedness was predictive of controlled motivation. Different relations with psychological needs and motivation were found for FMS and PE-related skills. Autonomous and controlled motivation predicted PE-related skills, whereas only controlled motivation predicted FMS, in both cases via direct and indirect paths. In addition, direct relations were found between competence and both FMS and PE-related skills, and of peer-relatedness and teacher-relatedness with FMS specifically. Conclusions: Satisfaction of the psychological needs seems important for children’s PE-motivation and for their skill development, both directly and indirectly. These results underline the important role that PE-teachers play in constructing a need-satisfying environment. The motivational sequence seems to be more applicable to PE-related skills than to FMS, showing that is important to choose adequate outcome measures when examining PE-motivation

The impact of school size reduction on the development of academic skills in rural primary schools

Basisscholen aan de ‘randen’ van Nederland krimpen al geruime tijd in leerlingenaantallen. Doordat basisscholen kleiner worden, de onderwijscontext ongunstiger wordt en hoog opgeleide ouders wegtrekken staat de onderwijskwaliteit onder druk en zouden de leerprestaties kunnen dalen. Met dit surveyonderzoek is de ontwikkeling van leerprestaties in een krimpgebied onderzocht en nagegaan of de ernst van de krimp en sociaaleconomische achtergrond van leerlingen hier invloed op hebben. De data zijn afkomstig van schooladministratie- en leerlingvolgsystemen van bijna 1600 leerlingen op 24 reguliere basisscholen in Oost-Groningen. Gevonden is dat de gemiddelde vaardigheidsscores voor rekenen-wiskunde, begrijpend en technisch lezen licht fluctueren rondom de landelijke norm in de midden- en bovenbouw. Meerniveau groeicurve-analyses tonen de veerkracht van de basisscholen. Bij een minder goede leerlingencohort wordt de aanvankelijke achterstand weggewerkt totdat er in groep 8 geen noemenswaardige verschillen meer zijn met de andere leerlingcohorten. Ook de relatief ongunstige sociaaleconomische achtergrond van leerlingen en de mate van krimp vormen geen belemmering voor de ontwikkeling van de leerprestaties. Aanvankelijke lagere leerprestaties worden te niet gedaan, ongeacht de ernst van de krimp waarmee de school geconfronteerd wordt. Basisscholen in het krimpgebied Oost-Groningen weten voldoende te anticiperen op de ernstige gevolgen van krimp.Because of school size reduction, less favorable educational context and migration of high educated parents it is assumed that student achievement levels are gradually decreasing in rural areas. We studied the development of mathematics, reading comprehension and language decoding skills and whether this is influenced by the severity of school size reduction. Longitudinal data of 1600 pupils of 24 Dutch rural primary schools are used. Their average achievement level in grade one (6-7 year-olds), three-four, and six fluctuated slightly around thenational average. Multilevel polynomial growth models show that in case of an underachieving cohort at grade one the lag of development is gradually eliminated, regardless of the severity the school size reduction. In grade six all pupil cohorts attain a similar level. Dutch primary schools in a rural area are able to react effectively to the severe consequences of the reducing school size

Development of fundamental motor skills between 2006 and 2016 in Dutch primary school children

Background: Fundamental Motor Skills (FMS) are important building blocks for children’s sport-participation and lifelong physical activity. In the last decade, several international studies have reported delays in the development of FMS. To get better insight into the Dutch situation and to provide future directions, this study examined the development of FMS in Dutch primary school children.Method: The main goal of this study is to compare FMS of 11–12-year-old Dutch children in 2016 with scores of similarly-aged-children in 2006. In addition, gender, age, BMI were taken into account, to see whether changes in motor performance are related to these child characteristics. FMS-test scores on seven motor competence tests (balance, swing, jump, roll, shoot, throwing and catching, and tennis) from 1939 children in 2016 were set side by side with those of 1648 children in 2006. Temporal changes in motor competence scores were analyzed using regression-analysis.Results: This cross-sectional study shows better results for the children in 2006 compared to similarly-aged-children in 2016. Lower scores were found on six out of seven tested FMS, with the largest declines on the object control skills tennis and throwing and catching. Only vaulting jump skills remained on the same level. Overall, children with a higher BMI scored lower on all tests, except for throwing and catching via the wall. On the balancing, jumping and tennis test, the gap with children with a lower BMI widened over the last decade. Girls showed a lower competence level on rolling, shooting and throwing and catchingcompared to boys. During the last decade, their performance on the tennis test decreased more than for boys. Conclusions: Results of this study are alarming as diminishing motor skills are related to lower sport participation and poorer health outcomes. For the future generation, new interventions are needed to help children reach a sufficient proficiency level in FMS, to prevent or overcome the negative effects of lowered motor skills. Targeting FMS components during physical education and outside of school hours may potentially be a valuable strategy in reverting the lowering FMS levels amongst childre