Practical cooperation in teacher training programsBeyond Gym Class: Knowledge Exchange Project for More Physical Activity in School

2 December 2024, by Anna Priebe

Photo: BeSS

The BeSS im schulischen Ganztag project targets teacher training students and students in human movement science.

According to the 2024 children’s health report, 15 percent of children and adolescents are overweight or obese. To better integrate movement in the school day in the future, a project at the University of Hamburg is now targeting teacher training students in all subjects. It is being financed through the Knowledge Exchange Fund with resources from the Excellence Strategy.

All-day schooling has now become the norm. This gives parents an opportunity to balance children and work. At the same time, it exposes children to a lot of time in a pedagogical context where they can enjoy purposeful support. This also means that ´activities like sports and movement have become important school responsibilities.

“Often, schools cooperate with sports associations to offer the right things,” says Dr. Katrin Steinvoord in the movement, games, and sports research area in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hamburg. She looks at, among other things, how physical activity can be integrated into lessons. “Research shows that movement is a cross-sectional topic and should not be limited to gym class. During the school day, it can help emotionally and socially and it has the potential to increase concentration and and attention,” says Steinvoord.

A glance at daily school practice

This is why the physical education teacher is offering a project seminar this semester on gaining qualifications and professionalization in movement, games, and sports (BeSS) in schools. The goal is to sensitize prospective teachers to the issue. To do so, it is essential to engage in exchange with practitioners: on the one hand, experts from schools, sports associations, and municipal offices will visit the seminar; on the other, students will learn on location to find how how movement activities work.

“For example, we will visit the Esther Bejarano School in Bahrenfeld. There, school students will be trained as sports assistants who can offer their own activities. They will show us the movement projects they have developed,” explained Steinvoord. The focus is always to let students develop their own ideas about what movement in daily school life could mean: “This doesn’t need to be a comprehensive concept, but perhaps inspiration for movement breaks in math lessons or another look at the design of rooms.” This is why, for example, a landscape architect who designs and realizes school playgrounds has also been invited.

Cross-faculty opportunity

In Hamburg there are more than 50 schools that have earned a distinction from the Ministry of School and Vocational Education for promoting physical activity or having a definite sports profile. Steinvoord and her team are observing and supporting institutions applying for the distinction and evaluating having their certification extended. For 3 years, they have also been offering a seminar on movement during the school day that imparts knowledge about the importance of movement in the classroom, however without the field trip option that distinguishes the BeSS course.

The newly funded project is also special because it targets both teacher training students in all subjects and students in human movement science. The cross-faculty exchange should broaden students’ horizons and facilitate shared ideas for quality development in BeSS opportunities during the school day. Project coordinators evaluate surveys at the beginning and end of the project to see how students’ knowledge and attitudes on movement during the school day change throughout the seminar.