TITLE:
A 30-Year Journey of Monitoring Fitness and Skill Outcomes in Physical Education: Lessons Learned and a Focus on the Future
AUTHORS:
Garry Tester, Timothy R. Ackland, Laurence Houghton
KEYWORDS:
Physical Education, Fitness, Skill, Physical Quotient
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Physical Education,
Vol.4 No.3,
August
28,
2014
ABSTRACT: The
aims of this paper are to provide normative data for primary school-age
children from various regions in Australia, to identify secular trends in the
data over three decades, to focus on results for selected schools that have
adopted varied levels of commitment to the physical education program and
finally, to demonstrate a way forward to improve the fitness and skill levels
of children. Children’s physical (PQ), fitness (FQ) and skill (SQ) quotient
data were collated from over 30 years (1981-2012) of program implementation,
with individual data from 27,571 students aged 6 - 12 years. Compared to the
initial cohort of children from whom the sub-scale was created (1981- 1989),
mean PQ data were consistently 10 - 15 points lower for both boys and girls over
the past three decades. There appears no identifiable trend for Australian
rural versus metropolitan students. Of great concern,
however, was the decline in skill level for the younger children over the past
20 years. While fitness levels appear to have been maintained, the poorer SQ
scores for the cohort aged 6 years, particularly in females, clearly impact
negatively on the composite PQ values. With detailed test protocols and
quotient calculations freely available, and now published normative data, the
PQ can be used widely across nations to develop genuine hope for the future of
improving the health of children.