Research in physical education on display at the National Annual Conference

The poster presentations have now become an established and valued feature at the afPE National Physical Education and School Sport Conference and a record number of posters were on display at this year‟s event. The presentations offer an opportunity for researchers, both new and more experienced, to share their research with delegates in a relatively informal and relaxed setting. The research might be completed or represent work in progress, and centre on any topic which broadly fits into the conference themes of pedagogy, leadership or health

Posters put on quite a display at the National Annual Conference

Those of you who attended the afPE National Physical Education and School Sport Conference in July will no doubt have seen the impressive array of posters on display which featured a range of research projects and studies which are, or have recently been conducted across and beyond the United Kingdom. The poster presentations were included as part of the research strand to the conference and proved to be a great success, generating not only an attractive visual display but a good deal of interest and professional dialogue between the presenters and conference delegates

A new format for Research Matters

afPE’s Research Committee has recently been established and, on behalf of the Committee, I’d just like to take this opportunity to update you on a few developments. Most notably in this edition, these relate to some important changes to the format of Research Matters

Research committee update

In the Winter edition of the journal, a new format for Research Matters was introduced which we will be striving to move towards in subsequent editions. Amongst a number of changes, I explained that the new format would include regular updates for members on the work of the Research Committee. I therefore just wanted to share with you a few recent developments and projects the Committee have been involved with

Monitoring physical activity in children

Two main research problems were addressed within this thesis. Firstly, the construction of a selfreport measure of physical activity (questionnaire) designed specifically for use with children and secondly, the use of the measure to provide information on the activity levels of a sample of British children. Every effort was made in designing the self-report, to address as many of the problems associated with the current measures as possible, and thereby to design an instrument which may improve upon existing measures. The process involved a detailed review of the literature, implementation of a number of recommendations from the literature, and a series of preliminary and pilot studies to determine the content and feasibility of the questionnaire forms and the feasibility of the administration procedures. Following the preliminary studies, the scoring procedure for the selfreport measure was developed and the final format of the questionnaire established. The final version was an interviewer administered questionnaire comprising two forms, a school day and a weekend form. Once designed, the measure was evaluated. The evaluation of the questionnaire involved studies of the validity and reliability of the measure as well as the reliability of interviewers trained to administer the questionnaire. The results of these studies proved favourable throughout and it was declared that the measure was a valid and reliable measure of physical activity. The use of the self-report measure to gather the activity information on a sample of British children in part two of the research was thus well justified. Part two of the research involved the administration of the self-report measure to gather activity information on a final sample of 199 pupils. The questionnaire was administered according to the method and protocols established in part one of the study. The findings of the study revealed the majority of the pupils to be inactive. Low activity levels were reflected in the pupils' activity scores and in the amount of time they spent in hard/very hard activity in particular. It was declared that the health of many pupils in this study may be at risk and if these findings reflect the activity levels of British children generally, then we may expect there to be serious consequences for the future health of our young population

Association for Physical Education response to generation inactive

Association for Physical Education response to generation inactiv

School-based physical activity interventions: effectiveness, trends, issues, implications and recommendations for practice

The promotion of physical activity within schools and Physical Education (PE) has attracted growing interest in recent years. Schools have been acknowledged as the primary institution with responsibility for promoting activity in young people and more specifically, school PE has been recognized as having a key role to play. Given this, and based on previous reviews of the findings of formally evaluated interventions, this paper considers the evidence for the effectiveness of school based physical activity interventions and highlights the key trends and a number of issues concerning their type, target population, design, implementation and content. Earlier reviews have provided comprehensive summaries of the effectiveness of physical activity interventions but they have not provided specific guidance for teachers’ practice in schools. Thus, whilst it is acknowledged that the existing literature is not sufficiently extensive to provide definitive guidelines for schools, this paper considers the implications for practice and presents recommendations for future physical activity programmes, initiatives and interventions

The role of physical education in addressing childhood obesity

This paper will focus on physical education and childhood obesity and consider the role that the subject and profession can potentially and sensibly play in addressing the issue. Firstly, and to inform the discussion, some of the key facts, issues and considerations concerning childhood obesity will be explored. Some of the formal guidance and recommendations that are available on the issue will then be summarised, before concluding with some practical and specific recommendations for physical education practice

The expert physical education advisory group

The expert physical education advisory grou

Children's fitness testing: A feasibility study

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether it was necessary, cost effective and practical to investigate Welsh children’s fitness levels in order to promote active, healthy lifestyles. Design: A multi-method study comprising a comprehensive review of literature, a questionnaire survey and interviews. Setting: This was a feasibility study commissioned by the National Assembly for Wales undertaken between October 2003 and March 2004. Method: The methodology involved a world wide literature search carried out using metalib and consultation with UK experts and stakeholders in Wales via a questionnaire (n=35) and individual interviews (n=5). The response rate for the questionnaire survey was 36.4%. Results: The study indicated concern amongst experts and stakeholders about Welsh children’s health, fitness and activity, but also revealed a number of misconceptions about children’s fitness and fitness testing. The study highlighted that the measurement of children’s fitness is fraught with difficulties, including methodological limitations, the possible negative impact on some children, and the relatively weak association between children’s physical fitness and health. Additionally, utilising children’s fitness test data to inform policy and practice was considered problematic by the experts and stakeholders, and there was limited evidence from the literature that previously conducted large scale surveys on children’s fitness have positively impacted on children’s health, activity and fitness. 3 Conclusion: It was concluded that a research project focusing solely on fitness testing Welsh children is neither necessary, cost effective nor practical. However, a ‘lifestyle oriented’ project including the monitoring of physical activity was recommended as increasing activity levels is achievable for all and the process which will lead to health gains