Increasing physical activity of schoolchildren

About this project

<p><span style="font-size: 11px"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="color: #000000">Programme outcome the project contributes to: “Improved prevention and reduced inequalities in health”.&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000000">The project aims to develop and disseminate a school culture that encourages the physical activity of students throughout a school day and to establish a support system for training and counselling of the schools. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 11px"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="color: #1A1A1A">Decreasing physical activity (PA) of children is a great concern. Evidence shows that schools has a high potential to support the PA of students. The aim of the project is to develop and disseminate a model where school culture encourages the PA of students throughout the school day and to establish sustainable scaling up of the model. The core content activities of the project are: 1) Model of Schools in Motion (SiM) development and validation; 2) SiM implementation in schools all over Estonia; 3) Awareness rising and dissemination of SiM principles, activities and best practices.</span><br> <span style="color: #000000">Project activities shall include:</span></span></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 11px"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The development and dissemination of the model of “the school inviting to move”; </span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 11px"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="color: #000000">Training and counselling to support school teams to start or continue the dissemination of the school culture supporting the physical activity of students throughout the school day; </span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 11px"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="color: #000000">Training and counselling of teachers on methods and skills to enhance the physical activity of children during lessons and recess;</span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 11px"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="color: #000000">Training for teachers of physical education to support physical activity throughout the school day;</span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 11px"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="color: #000000">Development of a training system for pupils acting as “play leaders” in schools;</span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 11px"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="color: #000000">Exchange of best practices and counselling for schools on designing indoors and outdoors environment to support physical activity during the school day;</span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 11px"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="color: #000000">Development of monitoring, analysis and evaluation tools/systems of project activities and dissemination of best practices;</span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 11px"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="color: #000000">Co-operation and exchange of best practice with donor state experts, national and international experts.</span></span></span></li> </ul>

Bilateral cooperation results

Academic cooperation in research with the University of South-Eastern Norway has been genuinely positive and productive. Academic cooperation included bi-lateral academic research - two bi-lateral papers were published: a) "Pupils’ experiences of affordances in school-based physical activity in Norway and Estonia"; link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X24000325 and b) "School Children’s Physical Activity and Preferred Activities during Outdoor Recess in Estonia: Using Accelerometers, Recess Observation, and Schoolyard Mapping"; link: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/10/4/702 The experts of University of South-Eastern Norway participated at the annual Schools in Motion seminars in 2022 and 2023 with presentations regarding Norwegian experiences, and the specialists of the University of Tartu visited their Norwegian counterparts and participated at the programme on learning and moving during winter-time (2022). Norwegian doctorate student Eririni Pardali worked in the University of Tartu for her doctoral thesis for 4 months in 2023.

Project partners

• University College of Southeast Norway Donor project partner· Norway