<p>The use of active transportation such as walking to and from school is on the decline globally. The primary purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of active school transportation among primary and junior high school students in the Upper East and Upper West regions of Ghana. The secondary purpose was to examine predictors for meeting the recommended daily number of steps. A total of 2505 (1117 boys and 1388 girls) primary (1583) and junior high school (922) students participated in the study. The distances from children’s homes to their schools, heights, and body weights were measured –their heights were used to estimate their stride lengths. The step count for each participant to and from school each day was calculated. Data were analyzed using conditional percentage distribution and Logit model. Analyses indicated that 98.96% of participants used active transportation to and from school. Over 63% of the students were within the normal BMI range. However, 26.47% of the participants were either thin or underweight while 9.9% were either overweight or obese. Overall, 46.47% of the participants met the recommended daily steps. The Logit model indicated that educational level, BMI, mode of transportation, region, height, and age were significant predictors for meeting the recommended daily number of steps<strong>. </strong>The prevalence of school active transportation in the present study was high compared to that reported in other studies. Furthermore, the prevalence of thinness and underweight were higher than in previous studies, while the prevalence in overweight and obesity were lower.</p>
Primary school teachers in Ghana are non-specialists but are required to teach physical education (PE) in addition to the regular subjects taught in primary classrooms (CS). Using a Self-Determination Theory, this study examined classroom teacher trainees' (TT) perceived competence and intrinsic motivation in learning to teach PE. In addition, the study compared TTs' competence and motivation in PE and CS. Participants included a purposive sample of 190 from two colleges of education in Ghana. They completed modified forms of the Perceived Competence Scale (PCS) and the Intrinsic Motivation (IM) subscale of the Perceived Locus of Causality once. Descriptive statistics showed most TTs had moderate to high levels of competence and intrinsic motivation both in PE and CS. Independent Samples t-Test and One-Way ANOVA analyses indicated significant gender and grade level differences for PCS in PE. A Paired-Samples t-Test analysis indicated TTs' PCS mean score was significantly higher in CS than that in PE. However, TTs' motivation in PE and CS were similar. The classroom teacher trainees in this study perceived themselves to be less competent in PE than in non-PE contents (CS), even though their levels of motivation to learn to teach in both contexts were similar. This is consistent with extant literature that teachers in Ghanaian primary schools are not adequately prepared to teach PE. The development of children's PE programs in the country's teacher education institutions is warranted.
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