It is a concern for parents as the long summer school holidays approach: how can they keep children active and not spending their weeks of leave from routine sitting in front of a screen?
But the seven-odd hours a day children and teenagers spend at school is also becoming more sedentary, despite Australian research showing the benefit of “brain break” exercise.
As Emily Kowal writes in today’s Sun-Herald, the University of Newcastle’s innovative Burn2Learn program has now run two pilots assessing the impact of short-burst physical activity on classroom focus and behaviour – one for senior school students, and another for students at mainstream schools with a disability – which both demonstrated its effectiveness.
These are two groups of students who routinely miss out on structured physical activity – and its benefits – at school.
For the latter group, as Kowal writes, lack of resourcing can leave them feeling uncomfortable, isolated and lacking confidence in mainstream physical activity classes, making some feel as if they should not participate at all.
And once mandatory physical education falls off the curriculum for year 11 and 12 students – replaced with a heavy load of HSC subjects and their required study – their school day also becomes very sedentary.
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If students aren’t engaged in local sports teams outside school – or attending a high-fee private school with mandatory weekend sport – physical activity can disappear from their weekly schedules.
The Cancer Council’s National Secondary Students’ Diet and Activity (NaSSDA) survey estimates that only one in six children aged 12 to 17 get the recommended amount of exercise: at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise each day. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s data suggests that figure drops to one in 10 for those aged 15 to 17, reflecting the decline in sports participation among older children.
The Burn2Learn program has shown physical activity can benefit students’ classroom focus and behaviour but other Australian research has shown that being involved in sport is also associated with better academic outcomes.
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