Multiple layers of influence
Student's physical activity and health is impacted by a host of factors. Personal factors such as attitudes, motivation, self belief, motor skills play a role. Social factors such as parent attitudes, peer support, role models are important. Environmental factors like the built environment, access, costs, cultures, exclusionary practices, transportation are also highly influential. Read this paper to find out more about how an individual's social ecology can impact their capacity to be physically active.
Beyond Games and Sports within HPE
Within Youth Action we ask students to firstly reflect upon their own physically active lives, what movement means to them and where they like to move. We then begin to unpack the personal, social and environmental things that support or hinder their capacity to pursue movement in any form. We adopt a strengths based approach in which students are encouraged to overcome surmountable obstacles through connecting them to resources/assets within themselves and their communities (strengths). Students need to settle on an issue/problem associated with their desired activity and they need to research how this might be better overcome. The focus here is not only on the individual, but how the individual is influenced by their social and environmental circumstances.
Beyond Games and Sports within HPE
Within Youth Action we ask students to firstly reflect upon their own physically active lives, what movement means to them and where they like to move. We then begin to unpack the personal, social and environmental things that support or hinder their capacity to pursue movement in any form. We adopt a strengths based approach in which students are encouraged to overcome surmountable obstacles through connecting them to resources/assets within themselves and their communities (strengths). Students need to settle on an issue/problem associated with their desired activity and they need to research how this might be better overcome. The focus here is not only on the individual, but how the individual is influenced by their social and environmental circumstances.
Figure 1. A social-ecology for HPE
Some student led problems
The following are some of the issues students chose to tackle in their own school and home communities in order to enhance their own and others physical activity:
- Access to the sports hall during lunch times
- The change rooms are unsafe places for some students
- More lines on the ground so we can play downball at lunchtime
- Our girls soccer team want to play on the weekends - How?
- Uniform for females doesn't encourage movement
- Older males hogging the sporting areas at lunchtimes
- We want a walking/jogging group that can enter into social events and raise money
- Forming a student led physical activity and sports council in school
- Connecting more strongly with local sporting clubs
- We want the school swim carnival to be more carnival and less competition
- Sleep hygiene is not great
- Food availability and quality needs to be addressed
- Large open sports field are not that useful for our physical activity at school
- Reclaiming unused land at the front of the school for others to enjoy
- Running a mental health initiative
- Establishing a before / during school martial arts group
Below is just a quick list of issues that year seven students might raise. These would need to be unpacked further and developed into a series of questions to research. Zoom in if you cant read them.