Enhancing Fundamental Movement Skills: Understanding Student Voices

Purpose: Children and adolescents who have not mastered fundamental movement skills (FMS) are noticeably less likely to engage in physical activity or sports as a consequence (Stodden et al. 2008). Physical education is... [ view full abstract ]

Purpose: Children and adolescents who have not mastered fundamental movement skills (FMS) are noticeably less likely to engage in physical activity or sports as a consequence (Stodden et al. 2008). Physical education is considered a potentially rich platform for the development of FMS (Belton et al. 2014), when the environment is meaningful to students (Kretchmar 2006). No known research to date has sought to include student voice when creating a programme to develop adolescents’ FMS. Framed in self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan 2000), the aim of this study was to research the effect of a programme integrating student voice on female adolescents FMS level.

Methods: Participants included 14 females (mean age = 13.78 ± 0.51) attending a designated disadvantaged secondary school. A six-week FMS programme based on student input was implemented during participants’ 1 x 80-minute physical education class per week. Qualitative data consisted of pre-and post-focus group interviews, participant drawings, and researcher field notes. Quantitative data included a pre-and post-analysis of five FMS (running, catching, throwing, kicking and vertical jump).

Results: A thematic analysis of the qualitative data resulted in three overarching themes: value of student experiences, understanding the learning process, and the preconceived notion that motor skills proficiency is not important to girls. Analysis of quantitative data illustrated statistical significant improvement in mean score for kicking, running, throwing, vertical jump and catch (p≤0.05) from pre-to post intervention.

Conclusion: Findings from this study advocate incorporating student voice when creating an intervention aimed at developing adolescents’ FMS. The value of a programme co-constructed between the teacher and students must not be underestimated. Furthermore, this study highlights the continuing trend of adolescents entering secondary school with low FMS mastery. However, this study proves that FMS can be developed post the perceived sensitive learning period.