Status of Daily Physical Activity (DPA) in Ontario
Elementary School Classrooms:
Reports from Teachers
Karen Vu-Nguyen1
Dr. Kenneth Allison1
Dr. Nour SchoueriMychasiw1
Dr. Erin Hobin1
1Public
Dr. John Dwyer2
Dr. Steve Manske3
Dr. Heather Manson1
Bessie Ng1
Dr. Jennifer Robertson1
Health Ontario, 2University of Guelph, 3University of Waterloo
Introduction
• Ontario Ministry of Education implemented DPA policy (2005)
• Study aims to identify:
• All elementary school students (grades 1-8)
• Extent of DPA implementation in schools/classrooms across Ontario
• 20 minutes
• School/classroom-level factors associated with implementation
• Sustained moderate to vigorous physical activity
• Preliminary
findings: time
• During instructional
• •Select
associated with DPA implementation
Eachfactors
schoolpotentially
day
• Based on teacher survey data
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Methods
• Cross-sectional study – online survey questionnaire
• Questions related to DPA implementation and factors potentially
associated with implementation
• Grade 3, 5 and 7 teachers
• Random sample of Ontario elementary schools
• Data collection to be completed by end of June 2014
• Preliminary descriptive data analysis
• 139 responses to the survey
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Preliminary Findings
Respondent Characteristics
Gender
 Male: 25.2%
 Female: 74.8%
Years as a Teacher
 ≤ 5 years of experience: 15.3%
 6-15 years of experience: 47.4%
 ≥ 16 years of experience: 37.2%
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Teaching Grade
 Grade 3: 34.1%  Grade 7: 26.7%
 Grade 5: 34.1%  Other: 5.2%
Level of Health/Phys. Ed. Training
 Little to no training: 77.3%
 University level training: 10.3%
 Other training: 12.4%
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Preliminary Findings
How often do teachers use DPA resources and supports for
planning, implementing and/or monitoring DPA?
Frequency of using DPA supports
Frequency of using DPA resources
1.4%
6.5%
10.1%
31.7%
30.9%
Never use
Rarely use
Occasionally use
Often use
Always use
25.9%
Frequency of
communicating with
local PHU
37.4%
28.8%
Never use
Rarely use
Occasionally use
Often use
Always use
27.3%
1.4%
7.2%
Never
Rarely
Occasionally
Often
Always
17.4%
74.0%
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Preliminary Findings
What are barriers identified by teachers to implementing DPA?
Barriers to implementing DPA
90.0
80.0
Strongly agree
Agree
Percentage of teachers who responded (%)
70.0
60.0
48.9
53.8
50.0
35.2
40.0
20.8
30.0
20.0
32.8
10.0
24.2
29.7
23.8
6.3
32.3
10.6
14.1
9.2
11.0
25.8
21.9
11.4
24.6
15.0
11.4
7.0
10.1
0.0
Lack of
time
Competing
curriculum
priorities
Lack of
space
Lack of
Lack of
equipment teacher
readiness
Lack of
school
board
support
Bad
weather
Lack of Students' Lack of
Lack of
resources reluctance amenities parent/
to
guardian
participate
support
Types of barriers
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Next Steps
• Complete data collection (end of June 2014)
• Conduct full analysis to examine:
• Extent of DPA implementation in schools/classrooms across Ontario
• Influence of school/classroom-level factors on implementation
• Report to Ontario Ministry of Education
• Summary of findings
• Recommendations for how the policy may be strengthened
• Other knowledge translation products
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Thank you!
karen.vu-nguyen@oahpp.ca
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