The closing of schools and sports clubs during theCOVID-19 lockdown raised questions about thepossible impact on children’s motor skilldevelopment. Therefore we compared motorcompetence development over a one-year periodamong four different cohorts of primary schoolchildren. A total of 992 children from 9 primaryschools participated in this study (age 5 – 7; 47,5%boys) and were assessed two times, in grade 3 (T1)and in grade 4 (T2). Children in control group 1 and lockdown group 1 were assessed a third time aftertwo years (T3). Motor competence was measuredusing the 4-Skills Test. The mixed factorial ANOVAwith post hoc tests shows no significant differencesin motor development over the study period betweenthe lockdown groups and control groups (p > 0.05),but does show a difference between the twolockdown groups from T1 to T2 (p = 0.008). Whilesocioeconomic status (SES) was a modifier, sex andmotor ability did not modify the effects of thelockdowns. Our data show that the COVID-19lockdowns in the Netherlands did not generallyaffect motor development of young children. Incontrast, many studies have confirmed clear effectsof the pandemic lockdowns on physicalactivity1,2,3. Our study highlights the complexity ofboth motor skill development and the factors relatedto the pandemic lockdowns. We therefore suggestthat children’s motor skill development should beclosely monitored in the upcoming years.Specifically, we should pay attention to individualdifferences since it is still possible that certainchildren are impacted by the pandemic lockdowns.Moreover, long-term effects might emerge in thefuture.References1. de Sá, C. dos S. C., Pombo, A., Luz, C.,Rodrigues, L. P., & Cordovil, R. (2021). Covid-19social isolation in brazil: effects on the physicalactivity routine of families with children. RevistaPaulista de Pediatria, 39, e2020159.2. Hurter, L., McNarry, M., Stratton, G., &Mackintosh, K. (2022). Back to school afterlockdown: The effect of COVID-19 restrictions onchildren’s device-based physical activity metrics.Journal of Sport and Health Science, 11(4), 530–536.3. Moore, S. A., Faulkner, G., Rhodes, R. E.,Brussoni, M., Chulak-Bozzer, T., Ferguson, L. J.,Mitra, R., O’Reilly, N., Spence, J. C., Vanderloo, L.M., & Tremblay, M. S. (2020). Impact of theCOVID-19 virus outbreak on movement and playbehaviours of Canadian children and youth: Anational survey. International Journal of BehavioralNutrition and Physical Activity, 17(1), 85.
The quality of teaching has a clear impact on student success, but how can good teaching be defined? The European QualiTePE research project, funded by the Erasmus+ programme and involving ten European countries, seeks to adress this question specifically for Physical Education (PE). The QualiTePE instrument was designed for use in teacher training and further training to enable criteria-based observation and assessment of the quality of Physical Education lessons. The instrument is designed for diverse PE teaching and learning scenarios, alongside teacher resources, facilitating the practical assessment of teaching quality in PE. The QualiTePE instrument quantifies teaching quality by assessing specific, observable teaching characteristics via questionnaire items. Each assessment is conducted by three different population groups: 1) the students 2) the PE teacher 3) an observer. The comparative analysis of the data collected from these three perspectives enables systematic and criteria‐based feedback for (prospective) teachers, identifies areas of improvement, and informs content development for PE across Europe. The QualiTePE digital web-based evaluation tool for assessing the “Quality of Teaching in Physical Education” is now available in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Slovenian, Czech and Greek.
