Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity in Primary School Children: Inactive Lessons Are Dominated by Maths and English

Daly-Smith, Andy, Hobbs, Matthew, Morris, Jade L., Defeyter, Greta, Resaland, Geir K. and McKenna, Jim (2021) Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity in Primary School Children: Inactive Lessons Are Dominated by Maths and English. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18 (3). p. 990. ISSN 1660-4601

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18030990

Abstract

Background: A large majority of primary school pupils fail to achieve 30-min of daily, in-school moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The aim of this study was to investigate MVPA accumulation and subject frequency during academic lesson segments and the broader segmented school day. Methods: 122 children (42.6% boys; 9.9 ± 0.3 years) from six primary schools in North East England, wore uniaxial accelerometers for eight consecutive days. Subject frequency was assessed by teacher diaries. Multilevel models (children nested within schools) examined significant predictors of MVPA across each school-day segment (lesson one, break, lesson two, lunch, lesson three). Results: Pupils averaged 18.33 ± 8.34 min of in-school MVPA, and 90.2% failed to achieve the in-school 30-min MVPA threshold. Across all school-day segments, MVPA accumulation was typically influenced at the individual level. Lessons one and two—dominated by maths and English—were less active than lesson three. Break and lunch were the most active segments. Conclusion: This study breaks new ground, revealing that MVPA accumulation and subject frequency varies greatly during different academic lessons. Morning lessons were dominated by the inactive delivery of maths and English, whereas afternoon lessons involved a greater array of subject delivery that resulted in marginally higher levels of MVPA.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: academic lessons, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, whole-school, physical activity, physically active learning
Subjects: L400 Social Policy
L500 Social Work
L900 Others in Social studies
X900 Others in Education
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing
Depositing User: Rachel Branson
Date Deposited: 25 Jan 2021 12:09
Last Modified: 31 Jul 2021 14:47
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/45296

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