The 5th Congress of Exercise and Sport Sciences - The Academic College at Wingate

Physical Activities of Teachers from Preschool and Their Provision of Physical Activities to Their Students

Vitor Coelho 1 Rute Tolocka 2
1Federal University of Tocantins, Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil
2Methodist University of Piracicaba, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil

Background: Early education has been considered one of the tools to reach optimal child development and the number of children in pre-schools has increased in recent years. However, studies have shown that children have few opportunities to do physical activities (PA) in their schools (Olesen et al., 2013; Henderson et al. 2015; Botey et al. 2015). The low level of physical activity PA has brought negative projections about obesity, sedentary behavior, and motor deficits in children until the age of five (Trost, 2003; Dawson-Hahn et al., 2015). PA of children has been related to the physical practice of their parents (Loprinzi and Trost, 2010; O`Dwyer et al., 2012; Remmers et al., 2014) but such a relationship between teachers and their students is not known yet.

Aims: To verify the association between PA of teachers from preschool and their provision of physical activities to the students.

Methods: This is a survey research, with random sampling (N= 197), from five cities of the State of Tocantins, Brazil. Data were collected from preschool teachers in classes with four to five-year-old children. Questions were about sex, age, family income, subjects, personal physical activities and physical activities provided for the children. Statistical analysis was conducted. the Spearman test was used to check the correlation among the variables.

Results: A majority of participants were women (96%), with pedagogy degrees (76%), and similar income (US$221 to 1330/monthly) (70%) and were 39.9 ±8.4 years of age. Fifty-five percent of the teachers were PA practitioners, and 68% practiced for at least two years. Only 11% of teachers offered daily some type of PA for preschoolers. A statistical correlation was found between the practice of PA of the teachers and the offer of such activities to the children.

Discussion: The correlations found indicate the influence of teachers` habits in relation to physical activities offered to children. Teachers who practice PA also offer more practice opportunities for children. The low level of daily physical activities of teachers and children is contrary to World Health Organization minimum recommendations and may compromise child development.

Conclusion: The association between the frequency of PA of the teachers and the PA that they offered to the preschoolers, both with a low rate, indicate that both of them can be at risk of a sedentary lifestyle and associated pathologies if remain unchanged. There is a need to encourage teachers to practice PA as well as offer it to children.

Vitor Coelho
Vitor Coelho
Federal University of Tocantins








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