Teacher Perspectives on Whole-School Daily Physical Activity: Strategies to successfully implement DPA

Abstract

The research study discussed the challenges, strategies and benefits to Daily Physical Activity (DPA) implementation for students. The literature demonstrates that students in Canada suffer from a variety of mental health, physical health and academic concerns. DPA has been shown to improve each of these aspects of children’s lives. The main topic of research for this study considers elementary school teachers' perspectives on whole-school DPA and its outcomes for students and teachers. To answer this research question, the insights of two elementary teachers who had participated in whole-school DPA were obtained through semi-structured interviews. Teachers face many challenges implementing DPA such as time-management, lack of training and resources, and lack of administrative motivation/assistance. This research concludes that with the proper training, confidence and motivation, and support from the school administration, teachers should be able to implement effective and successful DPA with few resources and little required space.