Movement integration in elementary classrooms: Teacher perceptions and implications for program planning

Contextual factors related to implementation of classroom physical activity breaks

“…The present study of schools in districts that recently adopted structured classroom physical activity programs identified several factors that explained teacher implementation of classroom physical activity. While time/scheduling has been noted as a key barrier to implementation of classroom physical activity in previous studies [25,[34][35][36], the present study identified several additional factors that supported or inhibited implementation. Teachers were more likely to implement the intervention if they received resources to support implementation, administrators and other teachers in the school viewed the intervention positively, they perceived that the intervention could improve classroom behavior, and they perceived that they could fit the intervention into their schedule without disrupting academic lessons.…”

An Exploration of Supports for Increasing Classroom Physical Activity within Elementary Schools

“…In much of the CBPA literature, teachers value CBPA as a practice Foran, Mannion, & Rutherford, 2017), but barriers to implementation remain a problem (McMullen et al, 2014;Stylianou et al, 2016;Webster et al, 2017). Overall, many of resources available to teachers and schools (e.g., through an internet search for classroom physical activity programs) do not provide within their materials an extensive amount of evidence-based supports for implementation (Calvert et al, in press).…”

“…As part of a process evaluation conducted during an intervention to train teachers to use CBPA at 24 schools, Gibson and colleagues (2008) found that although many teachers said they like CBPA, the actual use of these strategies was fairly limited, even among teachers who enjoyed such activities. Other work has documented that while many teachers like the idea in principle, the logistics and real-world pressures of education settings makes implementation challenging (Cothran, Kulinna, & Garn, 2010;McMullen, Kulinna, & Cothran, 2014;Webster et al, 2017).…”

“…Due to the nuanced information required to understand complex issues, many of the prior studies of CBPA have been qualitative in nature, utilizing interviews. These studies have been conducted internationally (Naylor, Macdonald, Zebedee, Reed, & McKay, 2006;Gately, Curtis & Hardaker, 2013), and in a variety of school settings in the US (Cothran et al, 2010;McMullen et al, 2014;Vazou & Skrade, 2014;Webster et al, 2017). Most prior studies have utilized relatively small samples of teachers ranging from eight teachers (Gately, Curtis & Hardaker, 2013) to 23 teachers (Cothran, Kulinna & Garn, 2010), although a recent study interviewed 59 classroom teachers (K-8) and specialists at five schools in the Midwest (Dinkel, Schaffer, Snyder, & Lee, 2017).…”

“…However, most prior studies sampled teachers who are relatively-engaged stakeholders, recruiting teachers who have enough interest in CBPA to volunteer to participate in research. Fewer studies (Carlson et al, 2017;Webster et al, 2017) have quantitatively examined the level of implementation the teachers achieved in relation to their CBPA perceptions. The current study expands the field by employing mixed methods -including interviews and implementation data -and a larger sample of teachers that includes both engaged and unengaged stakeholders.…”