Academic success and good health are outcomes most parents and schools prioritise and strive to attain for their children and students, but many don’t know there is an even more significant link between the two.
21 January 2010
According to the Department of Sport and Recreation (DSR), parents and teachers should be looking at increasing the time children spend in sport or physical activity as a strategy to potentially optimise children’s learning.
“With a new year now upon us, and with parents being a major influence in their child’s participation in sport and recreation, parents are being urged to make it their resolution to encourage their children to be more physically active – whether it be joining a local sport or recreation club, throwing a frisbee in the park or walking them to school,” said DSR Director General Ron Alexander.
A review of Australian and international research by UWA academic Karen Martin surrounding the relationship between physical activity and academic success supports the theory that children who are more physically active are more likely to achieve better academically.¹
The great majority of university-based, internationally published research in this field found a positive association between children’s levels of physical activity – or sport – and cognitive functioning – or academic success – at the time of study or at follow up.
The review found study groups that received extra physical education from a trained specialist or specially trained generalist teacher had an advantage over control groups, in teacher ratings of classroom behaviour.
Study results showed increased learning per unit of time when children were engaged in higher levels of physical activity, and supported the theory that increasing physical activity has a positive effect on learning.
Recently released results of the Children and Adolescent Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey (CAPANS) 2008 showed, among numerous other findings, that less than half the school students interviewed reported undertaking the recommended minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
For more information, see the ‘Value of Sport and Recreation’ section on the DSR website. Parents can also find sport and recreation clubs in their local area using the ‘Find a Club’ tool in the ‘Clubs’ section of the website.
1. Martin, K. (2006). Improved learning through physical activity. Perth: WA Department of Sport and Recreation.
