Claude Scheuer

Introduction: Physical fitness is an important indicator of health in children. Accurately monitoring child and adolescent physical fitness is critical when designing effective public health interventions and strategies. This article aims to provide an overview of the FitBack platform and the health-related criteria that support the reporting system. Methods: Four methodological phases were used to create the FitBack platform. First, a review of existing European fitness databases was conducted to identify common fitness tests and methodologies within a European framework. Second, investigators collated data to create European-level fitness norms, health-related criteria, and health-oriented educational resources dedicated to improving child fitness levels. Third, guidance on how to create one’s own fitness monitoring and surveillance system was created based on good practice examples. The FitBack platform was then piloted and launched based on data received from stakeholders who responded to ≥2 rounds of consultation dialogues. Results: The final version of online platform, with special focus on newly developed Fitback health-related fitness criteria, are communicated herein. Discussion: The FitBack web platform is a first-step towards creating a standardised, person-centred, multi-national fitness surveillance system for children, bridging existing gaps between European political recommendations, individual member states, and harmonious cooperation between sectors. This article also provided the detailed age- and sex-specific health-related fitness cut-points that are used by the FitBack platform, and that could be useful for researchers, practitioners as well as fitness monitoring systems.

Objective: This study investigated active recess as an innovative approach to improving physical activity levels in European primary schools, addressing the need to counteract sedentary behaviour and enhance health in students. Method and Design: Using rapid reviewing, the article summarises empirical evidence from a variety of sources, including cross-sectional and intervention studies. Different approaches are investigated to determine their impact on physical activity during recess. Results: Different playground settings have distinct effects on physical activity, with grassland and designated zones in particular promoting moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Gender inequalities in physical activity patterns suggest the need for gender-sensitive interventions. Playground marking and scheduled activities temporarily increase physical activity, whereas recess of more than 60 minutes dramatically enhances physically active participation. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the impact of active recess in facilitating children to engage in higher levels of physical activity. The findings have implications for school health policy decisions.

Physical activity is an important part of children’s and young people’s healthy functioning, but evidence suggests many students are inactive to the extent that they are compromising their well-being. Traditionally, schools have played a minor role in contributing to physical activity, but it has held relatively low prestige. Some commentators have called for Whole-School or Active School approaches. Physical activity, in these models, is integrated into all aspects of school life. This article reports on a review of the most-cited elements of school-based physical activity promotion, assesses evidence of actual and potential contributions, and provides a tentative weight of evidence judgement for each component. A rapid reviewing methodology was followed, and the searches used a range of specialist academic databases (PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, SPORTdiscus, CINAHL Complete), Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and Academia.edu, restricted to 2010–2021. Six settings were found to have the potential to add physical activity time, although none suffices alone: Active Breaks; Active Homework; Active Learning; Active Recess; Active Transport; and School Sports. Active Schools offer a plausible solution to the problem of physical inactivity by adding moments of movement and integrating physical activity in all aspects of school life, underlining the need for school-level change, the consideration of stakeholder groups, and the social and physical environments of school.

Basic motor competencies (BMC) belong to the main learning goals of physical education (PE) in primary school and are needed to actively take part in the culture of sport and human movement. BMC levels between European countries differ widely and individual determinants like age, sex, and extracurricular physical activity participation consistently predict BMC levels (Wälti et al., 2022), but also structural aspects of PE are important factors of learning outcomes. In this study, we wanted to investigate if the weekly amount of PE accounts for differences in BMC levels across countries. We assessed BMC (object movement, self-movement), anthropometric data (sex, age, body-mass-index) and participation in extracurricular physical activity (ball sports, individual sports) in 3,069 6- to 10-year-old primary school children using the MOBAK-1-4 and structural aspects (amount of PE) in 179 teachers from eight European countries. Latent multilevel regression analyses were corrected for children’s sex, age, body-mass-index, extracurricular physical activity participation and region of assessment. Despite differences in the weekly amount of PE in the assessed samples, there were no significant associations between the amount of PE and object movement or self-movement in either the 6- to 8-year-old or the 8- to 10-year-old children. The covariates age, sex, body-mass-index and participation in ball sports were significant predictors of object movement in all children. Body-mass-index and participation in any kind of extracurricular physical activity were significantly associated with self-movement in children aged 6-8 years. In children aged 8-10 years, all anthropometric variables as well as participation in any kind of extracurricular physical activity were significant predictors of self-movement. Other country-specific or PE-related factors might be more crucial for the differences in BMC levels than the amount of PE (García-Hermoso et al., 2020). A focus on the quality and content of PE lessons as well as on the qualification and goals of PE teachers is suggested. Nevertheless, for children who do not participate in extracurricular physical activity, PE can be crucial for BMC development. References García-Hermoso, A., Alonso-Martínez, A. M., Ramírez-Vélez, R., Pérez-Sousa, M. Á., Ramírez-Campillo, R., & Izquierdo, M. (2020). Association of physical education with improvement of health-related physical fitness outcomes and fundamental motor skills among youths: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics, 174(6), Article e200223. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.0223 Wälti, M., Sallen, J., Adamakis, M., Ennigkeit, F., Gerlach, E., Heim, C., Jidovtseff, B., Kossyva, I., Labudová, J., Masaryková, D., Mombarg, R., De Sousa Morgado, L., Niederkofler, B., Niehues, M., Onofre, M., Pühse, U., Quitério, A., Scheuer, C., Seelig, H., Vlček, P., . . . & Herrmann, C. (2022). Basic motor competencies of 6- to 8-year-old primary school children in ten European countries: A cross-sectional study on associations with age, sex, BMI and physical activity. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 804753. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.804753

Background: Physical activity is a familiar feature in schools worldwide. Its most common justification for inclusion is its distinctive contribution to students’ physical health and fitness and claimed benefits to non-physical aspects of education, such as social skills. Possible effects on cognitive and academic performance are less frequently assumed. This article examines the academic effects of ‘Active Learning’ practices in school classrooms. Our objective was to test the claim that physical activity can enhance curricular achievement and learning, specifically curriculum-focused physical activity and Learning Through Movement. Methods: Using a rapid review methodology, in this article we report on the evidence of contributions of active learning from peer-reviewed publications from 2010 to 2022. Results: The literature generally supported the central hypothesis that students in Active Learning conditions out-performed those in non-active conditions, both during Active Learning tasks and later. Whether this was due to the introduction of physical activity in the specific setting of classroom lessons or physical activity per se remains unclear. Conclusions: To ensure positive outcomes from Active Learning, practices should be planned in association with a series of favourable change mechanisms: proactive leadership, teacher engagement, the ease of finding and implementing Active Learning in sessions, and the genuine integration of Active Learning into curricula and lessons.

Purpose: Following increased interest in physical literacy (PL), development of appropriate tools for assessment has become an important next step for its operationalization. To forward the development of such tools, the objective of this study was to build the foundations of the Évaluation de la Littératie Physique (ELIP), designed to help reduce existing tensions in approaches to PL assessment that may be resulting in a low uptake into applied settings. Methods: We followed two steps: (1) the development of the first version of ELIP by deploying a Delphi method (n = 30); and (2) the modification of items through cognitive interviews with emerging adults (n = 32). Results: The expert consensus highlighted four dimensions of PL to be assessed—physical; affective; cognitive; and social—with new perspectives, including a preference for broad motor tests over fitness. Conclusion: Results offer new insights into the assessment of emerging adults’ PL, but ELIP still requires further work concerning validity, reliability, and sensitivity.

Objectives (1) To develop reference values for health-related fitness in European children and adolescents aged 6–18 years that are the foundation for the web-based, open-access and multilanguage fitness platform (FitBack); (2) to provide comparisons across European countries. Methods This study builds on a previous large fitness reference study in European youth by (1) widening the age demographic, (2) identifying the most recent and representative country-level data and (3) including national data from existing fitness surveillance and monitoring systems. We used the Assessing Levels of PHysical Activity and fitness at population level (ALPHA) test battery as it comprises tests with the highest test–retest reliability, criterion/construct validity and health-related predictive validity: the 20 m shuttle run (cardiorespiratory fitness); handgrip strength and standing long jump (muscular strength); and body height, body mass, body mass index and waist circumference (anthropometry). Percentile values were obtained using the generalised additive models for location, scale and shape method. Results A total of 7 966 693 test results from 34 countries (106 datasets) were used to develop sex-specific and age-specific percentile values. In addition, country-level rankings based on mean percentiles are provided for each fitness test, as well as an overall fitness ranking. Finally, an interactive fitness platform, including individual and group reporting and European fitness maps, is provided and freely available online (www.fitbackeurope.eu). Conclusion This study discusses the major implications of fitness assessment in youth from health, educational and sport perspectives, and how the FitBack reference values and interactive web-based platform contribute to it. Fitness testing can be conducted in school and/or sport settings, and the interpreted results be integrated in the healthcare systems across Europe.