| Information component |
Page 4: Health summary – Indicator No 10 |
| Subject category / domain(s) |
Giving children and young people a healthy start |
| Indicator name (* Indicator title in health profile) |
Physically active children |
| PHO with lead responsibility |
EMPHO |
| Date of PHO dataset creation |
N/A – Gap indicator |
| Indicator definition |
The percentage of school children in Year 1 – Year 11 attending state schools belonging to a School Sport Partnership who participate in at least 2 hours of high quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum in a typical week of the academic year. |
| Geography |
N/A – Gap indicator |
| Timeliness |
The survey was carried out between May and July 2006. Results were published in October 2006. The survey is carried out annually with the results from the 2007 survey due out in October 2007. |
|
Rationale: What this indicator purports to measure
|
The percentage of state school children who participate in at least 2 hours of high quality PE and school sport per week |
|
Rationale:Public Health Importance
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All children, whatever their circumstance, should be able to participate in and enjoy PE and sport at school. Physical activity during childhood has a range of benefits including healthy growth and development, maintenance of energy balance, psychological well-being and social interaction. Through improved concentration and self-esteem, it can also improve school attendance, behaviour and attainment. The benefits continue well into adulthood by reducing, early in life, some of the key risk factors for diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis. Some evidence also suggests that participation in physical activity during childhood can help to establish a physically active lifestyle in later life. Physical inactivity in childhood is a modifiable lifestyle risk factor. |
|
Rationale:Reason for Gap
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At the time of data collection, only 80% of state schools belonged to a School Sport Partnership, with less than 80% of state schools signed up in some local authorities. Coverage of the TNS Survey of School Sport Partnerships was therefore insufficient to ensure that reliable analysis could be provided for all local authorities. |
| Rationale: Purpose behind the inclusion of the indicator |
To help increase childhood participation in physical activity by highlighting areas with low participation rates in order to assess need and enable targeted intervention.To encourage better collection of primary data to give more accurate estimates of levels of physical activity in children. |
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Rationale:Policy relevance
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In 2002, DfES and DCMS came together to lead the national PE, School Sport and Club Links strategy with the aim of delivering the PSA target to “Enhance the take-up of sporting opportunities by 5 to 16 year olds so that the percentage of school children in England who spend a minimum of 2 hours each week on high quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum increases from 25% in 2002 to 75% by 2006 and 85% by 2008, and to at least 75% in each School Sport Partnership by 2008”. The long-term ambition is to offer all children at least 4 hours of sport every week by 2010. See http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/teachingandlearning/subjects/ pe/nationalstrategy/and http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/12D/57/sr04_psa_ch2.pdf In 2004, the CMO Report “At least 5 a week: Evidence on the impact of physical activity and its relationship to health” recommended that children and young people need at least 60 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity each day. See “Chapter 4: Health benefits of physical activity in childhood and adolescence” at http://195.33.102.76/assetRoot/04/08/09/87/04080987.pdf.Increasing childhood participation in physical activity is also a key message in “Choosing Activity: A Physical Activity Action Plan”, which summarises how the government will deliver the commitments on physical activity that are presented in the public health white paper “Choosing Health” and “Tackling Health Inequalities: Status report on the Programme for Action – 2006 Update of Headline Indicators”. Seehttp://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/ Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4105354 andhttp://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/ Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_062903 |
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Interpretation: What a high / low level of indicator value means
|
As this is a gap indicator there are no indicator values present in the health profiles. Indicator values should be considered in conjunction with the national 2010 target for 85% of school children to be participating in 2 or more hours of physical activity per week, and not just compared to the England average value when assessing the need for public health intervention. |
| Interpretation: Potential for error due to type of measurement method |
The indicator is a direct measure of service provision within state schools. It does not take into account physical activity provision within private schools or physical activity undertaken by children outside of school. Although efforts have been made to clearly define ‘high quality PE’, the term is still open to individual interpretation and there is some potential for positive response bias as schools are self-reporting. |
| Interpretation: Potential for error due to bias and confounding |
Whilst private schools are able to join a School Sport Partnership and complete the TNS survey, their data is excluded from the DfES national results dataset adding possible bias to the results. Furthermore, the first state schools to have signed up to the School Sport Partnership programme are likely to have been those with the strongest sporting focus resulting in a possible over-estimation of physical activity levels in children. |
| Confidence Intervals: Definition and purpose |
N/A – Gap indicator |
