Physical activity plays a key role in promotion of child health and development from an early age. Yet, there are growing concerns about low physical activity levels among preschoolers. As 97% of 3-5-year-olds in Norway attend preschool, preschools are unique arenas for promotion of physical activity, health and development, giving every child the best start in life. The aim of Active Learning Norwegian Preschool(er)s (ACTNOW) was therefore to develop and implement an effective and sustainable model for professional development of preschool staff and for increased physical activity in preschools, to shift societies toward a more active way of life, to improve children’s health and development, and to reduce social inequality from an early age. Through this approach, we may facilitate innovation in the public sector, shape future public health and early childhood education policy, and lay the foundation for a physically active, equitable, and sustainable society.
The project had a 2-level intervention model of professional development of preschool staff aiming to improve their capacity, motivation, and opportunity to promote physical activity of moderate to vigorous intensity, motor challenging physical activity, cognitively engaging physically active play, and physically active learning for children aged 3-5 years. The intervention was developed with strong user involvement from preschool owners and relevant stakeholders to facilitate the development of a feasible model of professional development. On the preschool level, we have investigated how the intervention affected preschool practices related to physical activity. On the child level, we have investigated how the intervention affects children's physical, motor skill, socio-emotional, and cognitive development. The design of the project was a randomized trial including a sample of 46 preschools (23 intervention and 23 control) in Western Norway.
We have worked together with 77 staff (directors and minimum one teacher from each classroom of the participating preschools) over 18 months, with the first 7 months being an intensive period of professional development. The professional development (Year 1) was structured as 6 days of face-to-face seminars (4 days on Campus and 2 days locally in each preschool), 2 webinars (240 minutes in total) and 9 digital lectures (240 minutes in total), amounting to approximately 50 hours in total. In addition, we had a one-day physical booster session during Year 2 (12 months after kick-off). Intervention preschools were further supported by a digital physical activity ideas toolbox that was co-created with researchers and staff (now made publicly available here: https://activeinpreschool.com) and a package of movement-play-learning equipment. Of the 77 staff participating in the project, 16 completed a 15-credit university module on a voluntary basis. This course has been further developed into a 30-credit education module “Fysisk-motorisk aktivitet og utvikling i barnehagen” funded by the Norwegian Directorate of Education.
The process evaluation of the intervention shows that 94-95% of staff are happy that they have participated in the project, consider they have developed sufficient expertise to promote physical activity in preschool, and that they likely will continue working with the intervention model after ending the project. However, they also report that physical activity could be better integrated with other activities they do and only 21% report they have managed to implement all intervention components as planned (35-64 for individual components). Staff report lack of time as the most significant barrier to intervention implementation. Observation shows favorable changes in preschool practices over both 7 and 18 months.
1265 children participated in the outcome evaluation. The results show small favorable effects for physical activity after 7 months, but negligible effects after 18 months. Effects were larger after both 7 and 18 months when the analysis was restricted to the preschools reporting the best implementation. Results show partly favorable effects for motor skills after both 7 and 18 months, but effects are small and not consistent. There was generally no effect for physical fitness, cognition or socioemotional development. Beyond the outcome evaluation, association analyses showed clear relationships for physical activity with motor skills and physical fitness, whereas relationships for physical activity with cognition were weak and inconsistent.
The results show that more research is needed to determine how professional development and/or other types of support may improve quality of preschool physical activity practices. Whether integration of more physical activity in preschool practices affect children’s physical, motor, cognitive or socioemotional development is difficult to determine before interventions succeed in showing a solid increase in physical activity.
Gjennom prosjektet har me i samarbeid med barnehageeigarar, barnehagar og relevante aktørar utvikla ein modell for kompetanseutvikling av personale i barnehagar. Prosessevalueringa viser at barnehagane er godt nøgd med kompetanseutviklinga og samarbeidet vårt. Ein direkte verknad av prosjektet er at tilsette i 23 barnehagar har gjennomført denne kompetanseutviklinga og eit utviklingsarbeid for a auke kvaliteten på barnehagen sin praksis knytt til fysisk aktivitet. Trass i små og uklare umiddelbare effektar på barn si helse og utvikling, har mange barn fått ein kvardag med meir og betre fysisk aktivitet, med potensielle langtidseffektar. Kunnskap og erfaringar frå prosjektet bidreg til å utvikle grunn-, etter- og vidareutdanningar av barnehagelærar, barnehageleiarar og studentar innafor fysisk aktivitet og folkehelse ved Høgskulen på Vestlandet og forhåpentlegvis andre stadar. Høgskulen på Vestlandet er ein stor og viktig lærarutdanningsinstitusjon og vil nå mange nye og erfarne barnehagelærarar, og vil dele erfaring med andre institusjonar gjennom sine nettverk. Prosjektet er bakgrunn for vidareutdanning i «Fysisk-motorisk aktivitet og utvikling i barnehagen” finansiert av Utdanningsdirektoratet for ein 5-årig periode. Effekten av dette kan vere auka kvalitet i utdanning og barnehagepraksis på lengre sikt. Prosjektet var sentralt for tilslag frå NFR på eit stort tverrfagleg forskingsprosjekt: Move-play-explore in Early Childhood Education (MoveEarly), som bygger på ACTNOW. Ein verknad er såleis utvikling av nye store prosjekt og samarbeid, som både kan auke kvalitet i forsking, utdanning og barnehagepraksis nasjonalt og internasjonalt. MoveEarly vidareutviklar samskaping og gjennomføring av kompetanseutvikling og utviklingsarbeid, samt fysisk aktivitet som hjørnestein for ein heilheitleg pedagogisk tilnærming i barnehagen, og kan potensielt få stor innflytelse på politikk og praksis. Utover kompetanseutvikling, fekk tiltaksbarnehagar tilgang til ein digital idébank for fysisk aktivitet som vart utvikla i samarbeid mellom forskarar og personale i barnehagane (https://aktivibarnehagen.no). Denne nettsida er no (med ekstra finansiering frå Oslo kommune) ope tilgjengeleg for alle barnehagar i Noreg og, etter oversetting til engelsk, resten av verda. Nettsida blir no drifta gjennom Høgskulen på Vestlandet sitt nasjonale oppdrag knytt til mat, helse og fysisk aktivitet. Dette er potensielt ein viktig verknad som kan nå mange barnehagar i lang tid framover og potensielt fremme fysisk aktivitet og utvikling i samfunnet gjennom tidleg innsats. Auka kunnskap om samanhengar mellom fysisk aktivitet og små barn si utvikling vil bidra til å utvikle tilrådingar på feltet og vil såleis kunne medføre ein effekt for samfunnet på lang sikt. Internasjonal merksemd for høg kvalitet i prosjektet gir verknadar i form av samarbeid og innflytelse på forsking på feltet, og kan gi langsiktige effektar knytt til politikk, barnehagepraksis og barn si helse og utvikling.
Physical activity (PA) plays a key role in preventing a host of non-communicable diseases and developing human capital from an early age. Yet, there are growing concerns about low PA levels among preschoolers. As 97% of 3-5-year-olds in Norway attend preschool, preschools are unique arenas for intervention, laying the foundation for equitable development of health, human capital, and life opportunities. Yet, we lack evidence of scalable, effective and sustainable interventions to increase PA and concomitant outcomes in this age group. Therefore, we will conduct a large cluster randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of PA professional development of preschool directors and staff (a 15-credit university module) on preschool PA practices and child health and development during 18 months. We will recruit 40-44 preschools and 700–1100 children in one county in the western part of Norway to allow for detecting small to moderate effect sizes and ensuring a heterogeneous sample for the study of implementation. The project is organized in 3 work packages to investigate children’s physical development, children’s socio-emotional and cognitive development, and intervention implementation. The intervention will be developed with strong user involvement from municipalities and relevant stakeholders to facilitate the development of sustainable solutions. In strong collaboration with partners of national and international stature, we will develop a leading research group on transdisciplinary intervention research relating to promotion of PA and public health in the preschool sector. If successful, ACTNOW will be a springboard for future national and international implementation of PA initiatives in preschools, along with joint international project proposals and efforts to promote PA, physical fitness, motor competences, socio-emotional health, cognition, learning, and human capital in complex and culturally diverse contexts.
