To combat the challenges faced by the modern PE landscape and address the needs of modern youngsters, PE programs are beginning to adopt a unique multidisciplinary approach to improving fitness and preventing injuries while increasing the perceived value of physical education to the surrounding community.
Physical education has a unique opportunity in our country to reverse the current childhood obesity trend, however, access to physical education is at an all-time low. With an estimated 70% of youth not participating in the minimum recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day, a mere 4% of America’s schools have daily physical education (1).
The result of above detriment in daily physical activity is historical peak rates of childhood obesity, athletic injuries, and other movement related pathologies (10,7,4,5,3). Children are either inactive, or specialize in the movements and skills needed for a particular sport. In either case, lack of general physical preparation results in a decreased likelihood and ability to participate in physical activity for life.
Budget constraints have been blamed for the absence of physical education. When the decision must be made to cut a program, physical education is often the first to go. Why, however, is this the case? Considering the current statistics on childhood obesity, how could we as a society so casually dismiss this growing essential institution?
The answer may lie within the perceived value of the current model of physical education. When physical education is so easily dismissed, it becomes apparent that there is a question as to the value of the current constructs of this institution.
Historically, PE functioned to introduce children to organized physical activity (8). Children would develop basic movement skills through play and physical labor, then attend physical education to further develop and progress these skills. Sports were introduced to kids in PE and athletic children would continue their participation in various organized and recreational athletic activities.
Currently, youngsters perform very little physical activity outside of organized institutions like sports or physical education. A marked decline in physical activity levels is noted as young as age 6 (1,9). Basic movement skills that were developed and practiced during free play and physical labor are no longer part of the youth physical activity landscape. Children who have physical education are showing up more physically unprepared than ever at all ages. Despite programming efforts, standard physical fitness testing continues to display an increasing downward trend in physical fitness (11,2).
Furthermore, an estimated 60% of boys and 47% of girls are involved in a team sport by the age of 6 (12). PE no longer functions to introduce a majority of kids to athletics. The multi-billion dollar sports club industry has established themselves as the gatekeeper for athletic introduction and development.
Although short-sided, parents may question why their tax dollars go to their child playing volleyball in class when they pay for 3 hours of instruction a night at the local volleyball club. To further address their athletic preparation needs, parents often employ a personal trainer to develop general skills associated with strength, speed, agility, and coordination. This would suggest there is a belief the development of these skills is being neglected elsewhere.
It’s apparent that the needs of today’s youth are markedly different than when the current PE model was developed during the 1960’s under President Kennedy.
To increase the societal value of physical education and reinstate this institution within our education system, it must be made relevant to the needs of our modern youth. While free play and physical labor use to lay the foundation for movement, physical education may now be the only exposure to general physical activity and movement skill development a youngster receives.
The early specificity of sports participation has also created a detriment in general fundamental movement skill. This lack of general physical preparation is believed to be linked to the increased rates of injury in youth sports (13,6,9,4).
Many school districts around the nation have realized the necessity for their physical education programs to be modernized both from a programming and marketing standpoint. In order to increase the value of our programs, they must communicate the value of a modernized approach to parents, coaches, and policy makers.
Below is the account of a school district that dramatically changed their PE programming for k-12 to accommodate the needs of modern youth and experienced tremendous success.
Upon receiving a government PEP grant, instead of immediately placing a large equipment purchase, we sought the services of an outside consultant from the fitness and allied health care industry to help create a change of paradigm in our PE model.
In order to address the current needs of today’s inactive or overspecialized youth, a programming approach for grades k-12 was developed and adopted based on a collaboration of best practices from a variety of youth related health care practitioners. The result was a program integrating physical therapy, pediatric medicine, physical education, sports performance and injury prevention, motor development, and obesity prevention.
The central construct of this program was highlighting the development of fundamental movement skill to combat inactivity and early sport specialization. Aside from merely assessing physical performance numbers (push-ups, sit-ups, etc.) a system was developed to assess fundamental movement skills like skipping, crawling, climbing, and other predecessors to higher-level coordinative skill. This assessment was used with all ages k-12.
A simple assessment protocol was also created to evaluate developmentally appropriate coordinative milestones for skills such as object control, body awareness, striking, kicking, and other such skills at all ages, k-12.
Proficiency in these fundamental movement and coordinative skills has been linked to increased fitness, greater participation in physical activity, and a decreased likelihood of sports injury at all ages.
Individual and class scores on these assessments were then used to target specific needs and prescribe interventions.
Scaffolded models were developed for all the skills assessed, allowing for progressions and regressions of each skill for either the entire class or individuals. This skill practice was integrated into highly active dynamic classroom warm-ups in either circuits or whole-class activities for all ages. During circuits, this model allows for individual skill needs to be addressed. The programming capability is in line with the government’s Response to Intervention model. The warm-ups comprised about 10 minutes of class time.
Further multidisciplinary resources were provided for teachers in regards to integrating injury prevention, strength training, flexibility, speed/agility/quickness training, and fitness programming within this updated model of physical education for all ages.
Everything from daily curriculum to classroom design was retrofitted to accommodate this integrated approach.
Most importantly, the constructs of “injury prevention, athletic preparation, movement and coordination training, multidisciplinary approach, obesity prevention, and lifetime movement skill” were used to communicate the significance of the new model to the local community through teacher/parent interactions and community forums. The value of the program was highlighted to classroom teachers, local sports clubs, and health care professionals as well.
The intention of this community outreach was to increase the value of the program by displaying it as a foundational model that could function to improve youth health, fitness participation, and physical performance while decreasing injury and pathology. Parents, sport coaches, and health care professionals could resonate with all of these needs.
Although still in it’s infancy, this program has produced some marked results, particularly in regards to obesity prevention. The district has two middle schools averaging 700 – 800 students in grades 7th, 8th and 9th. One of the schools has been keeping track of every student’s Body Mass Index (BMI) and their corresponding percentiles for the past 7 years. This data, calculated with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) BMI calculator for children and teens, is showing significant improvement in student wellness since the implementation of the new movement based physical education program 3 years ago. As you can see from the data below, students in the healthy weight range has improved by almost 7 percent. At the same time, the obesity rate has declined nearly 6 percent. The staff is excited to see what the new numbers will be this year in April when the new data will become available.
Based on the positive results of this program to date, we feel it’s important that other school districts adopt, execute, and market a fundamental movement based physical education program in order to increase the value and resultant access to this necessary institution of education.
Brett Klika CEO and co-founder of SPIDERfit is an international award- winning certified strength and conditioning coach, author, and motivational speaker with over 20 years experience motivating and inspiring youngsters to a life of health, fitness, and performance.
Brett consults with schools, athletic organizations, fitness professionals, and fortune 500 companies around the world.
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