Active school researchers support BBC campaign

News
Date published
06/12/2018

CLASS PAL (Physically Active Learning) is a three-year project to support primary school teachers in the use of physically active teaching methods in the classroom. As part of the project, the research team based at Loughborough University has studied how teachers implement these learning methods over one school year.

The team has published three peer-reviewed papers and presented their work at a number of national and international conferences. With a growing reputation in this field the team were contacted to act as consultants on a new physically active learning campaign called Super Movers - a partnership between the BBC and the Premier League.

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Super Movers aims to support primary school teachers in the delivery of physically active learning in the classroom, by using curriculum based ‘Brain Booster’ videos for children to move along to. In addition, children and their parents, can also use the videos whilst at home. There are over 100 videos and accompanying content for teachers and families to use. 

As part of the consultancy the Loughborough University-based team led by Dr Lauren Sherar set-up a survey to help Super Movers improve their campaign.

Following the launch of the Super Movers videos and resources, teachers, pupils and parents completed an online survey which included questions on their likes, dislikes and recommendations for the future direction of Super Movers. These results also helped to promote the efficacy of Super Movers to teachers.

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In addition to generating a report from this survey, the Loughborough University team hosted an expert advisory group including University academics from Loughborough, Nottingham and University College London, as well as practitioners from schools and community health organisations.

The project lead Dr Lauren Sherar said: “Collaborating with the Premier League and the BBC on their Super Movers campaign was a fantastic opportunity. The campaign has proven to have great appeal, with teachers and pupils, and reach. The resources will be important for schools to create a whole-school strategy to enhance physical activity, wellbeing and health of pupils, while having fun along the way”. 

Sharon Hepburn, Series Producer from the BBC Learning Super Movers team says:

“The academic rigour and expertise that the Loughborough team brought to the Super Movers report and to the advisory group, helped us to shape new content, confirm the efficacy of the project and promote the campaign to teachers. They have been excellent collaborators.”