Movement guidelines for young children: Engaging stakeholders to design dissemination strategies in the Hong Kong early childhood education context

Abstract

BackgroundEarly childhood is a critical period during which patterns of movement behaviors are formed. The World Health Organization had endorsed guidelines for physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleep over a 24-h time period, which had been adopted by the Center for Health Protection of Hong Kong. This paper reports on stakeholder engagements that were conducted to inform the design of strategies to disseminate the guidelines in early childhood education (ECE) settings.MethodsUsing a mixed-methods study design, we sought to (a) assess the stakeholders' levels of awareness and knowledge of the Hong Kong movement guidelines for young children and (b) identify the factors that influence the uptake of the said guidelines. We conducted an online survey of early childhood education teachers (N =314), twelve focus groups involving teachers (N = 18) and parents (N = 18), and individual interviews of key informants (N = 7) and domestic workers who provide care for preschool-aged children (N = 7). Descriptive statistics were used for the quantitative data, and thematic analysis was performed on the qualitative data using an inductive and semantic approach following a realist framework.FindingsOur findings show that teachers were aware of the movement guidelines for young children, but their knowledge of the specific guidelines was deficient; parents and domestic workers had limited awareness and knowledge of the guidelines. Uptake of the movement guidelines is enabled by parent engagement, activities in the ECE centers, home-school cooperation, and community activities for children. The challenges include the time poverty of parents, local curriculum requirements, limited physical spaces, social values, and pandemic-related restrictions.ConclusionWe recommend that dissemination strategies in the ECE context should deliver knowledge content and support stakeholders in mitigating the challenges associated with time, space, and social conditions.

Integrating Fundamental Movement Skills and Mathematics in Early Childhood: A Pilot Study

“…From another perspective, the lack of difference in the mathematics outcomes between the pilot and comparison groups also indicates that the FMS and PA benefits did not come at the expense of mathematics learning. In societies such as Hong Kong, where academic learning is highly prioritized [16], these findings could show parents and educators that movement and PA in ECE settings will not have any detrimental effect on the highly prioritized academic outcomes.…”

“…In Hong Kong, parents expect kindergartens to prepare their children for a successful academic future. Kindergarten teachers face challenges associated with academic priorities and consequent time constraints that limit their ability to promote both movement proficiency and PA [16]. Moreover, the ECE curriculum tends to be increasingly oriented towards academic preparation, impacting teachers' prioritization for literacy goals [17,18].…”