Active Schools in Europe—A Review of Empirical Findings

Abstract

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.

Promoting physical activity and academic achievement through physically active learning: Qualitative perspectives of co-design and implementation processes

“…The integration of PA with academic learning is an area of growing interest in education, as schools face the challenge of providing enough opportunities for children to engage in regular PA while also meeting academic objectives [17,37,38]. The present study aimed to address this challenge by developing and evaluating the implementation of a PAL program in school classrooms over 8 weeks.…”

Effects of the inclusion of physical activity in secondary education academic classes on educational indicators and health markers: rationale and methods of the ACTIVE CLASS study

“…Notably, AB ranging from 5 to 15 min have been associated with improved PA levels during school hours (14)(15)(16)(17). Regarding educational variables, the impact of AB on time-on-task has been investigated, and it appears to be significantly higher when AB are integrated (14,16,17). The results on other variables such as academic and cognitive performance are inconclusive (16,17), likely due to the variability in measurement tools used across studies.…”

“…Previous research has predominantly focused on the effects of AB on PA levels and educational outcomes. Notably, AB ranging from 5 to 15 min have been associated with improved PA levels during school hours (14)(15)(16)(17). Regarding educational variables, the impact of AB on time-on-task has been investigated, and it appears to be significantly higher when AB are integrated (14,16,17).…”

Active recess: School break time as a setting for physical activity promotion in European primary schools

“…Physical activity (PA) has become a public policy priority in Europe over recent decades, following the publication of Physical Activity and Health in Europe: Evidence for Action , and the outcomes of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) European Ministerial Conference on Counteracting Obesity two years later. Subsequently, legislation, policies, guidance and activity programmes have been developed with children as key targets and schools in important settings (Bailey et al, 2023a). Despite this, increasing physical inactivity among children has been described as ‘alarming’ (WHO, 2021: 2).…”