1. An Investigation into Fundamental Movement Skill
Proficiency among Irish Primary School Children
Lisa Kelly1
, Siobhán O’Connor1
, Andrew Harrison2
, Niamh Ní Chéilleachair1
Department of Life and Physical Science, BRI, Athlone Institute of Technology1
Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick2
OVERVIEW
Fundamental movement skills (FMS) are described as foundational movement
patterns which provide a basis for more complex movement sequences required
for daily living, sports specific movements and recreational activities. They are
comprised of locomotor, object control and stability skills. The ideal window of
opportunity for the development of FMS is between 3 and 8 years and failure to
utilise this developmental period may make it more difficult to achieve mastery
later in life (Gallahue & Cleland-Donnelly 2007). The aim of this study is to
establish FMS proficiency across 16 skills among a sample of 300 primary school
children from senior infants to 5th
class. This information will guide the
development of a 12 week intervention programme with primary focus on the
skills and skill components that are most problematic.
IRISH CONTEXT
• Only 19% of Irish primary pupils are reaching the recommended levels of daily
physical activity (Woods et al. 2010).
• Only 11% of 1st
year post-primary pupils achieved FMS mastery in a battery
test of 9 FMS (O Brien et al. 2015).
• The Irish PE curriculum varies hugely with 55% focusing primarily on the
games strand.
• Out of 30 European countries, Irish primary schools provide the lowest number
of hours of PE per school year.
• To date, there is no published research that identifies FMS proficiency among
Irish primary school children.
METHODS
Figure 1. Overview of methodology from participant recruitment to testing in schools
Figure 1. provides a breakdown of the methods
employed to recruit participants, obtain informed
consent and carry out the testing procedure. Once
informed consent is provided, FMS proficiency will be
assessed across 16 movement skills in the relevant
school hall which will be set up as illustrated in Figure
2. Each participant will be video-recorded performing
skills at testing stations 1 and 2.
Figure 2: Set up for testing procedure at school hall
A. Pre-test procedure: ID numbers will be
assigned to participants and
anthropometric data will be measured and
recorded on individual participant
information sheets.
B. Warm up: Participants will be guided
through a 5-10 minute full body dynamic
warm up (Faigenbaum and McFarland
2007).
C. Testing station 1: Locomotor skills and
static balance (run, gallop, hop, leap,
horizontal jump, slide, vertical jump, skip
and single leg stance).
D. Testing station 2: Object control skills
(strike, stationary dribble, catch, kick,
overhand throw, underhand roll).
E. Testing station 3: Y balance test.
F. Cool down: Participants will be guided
through a 5-10 minute cool down of light
jogging and static stretching of major
muscle groups.
ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
15 FMS will be scored by the principal investigator at a
later date using performance criteria from one of the
following three assessment tools:
1.Test of Gross Motor Development 2nd
Edition
2.Get Skilled; Get Active
3.Victorian Fundamental Motor Skills Manual
Y balance (Figure 3) will be scored on the day of
testing as it will not be video recorded.
Data will be analysed using SPSS software version 22.0
for windows using appropriate statistical analysis.
This will include the following:
•Overall proficiency levels established in percentages
•Proficiency levels of skill components
•Difference in overall proficiency between classes
•Difference in overall proficiency between genders
•Identify if there is a relationship between Y balance test
scores and overall FMS scores.
PROPOSED CONTRIBUTION
REFERENCES
FURTHER INFORMATION
• Woods, C.B., Tannehill D., Quinlan, A., Moyna, N. and Walsh, J. 2010.
The Children’s Sport Participation and Physical Activity Study
(CSPPA). Research Report No 1. School of Health and Human
Performance, Dublin City University and The Irish Sports Council,
Dublin Ireland
• Gallahue, D.L. & Cleland-Donnelly, F., 2007. Developmental Physical
Education for All Children, Human Kinetics.
• European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2013. Physical Education
and Sport at School in Europe, Eurydice Report. Luxembourg:
Publications Office of the European Union.
• O’ Brien, W., Belton, S. & Issartel, J. 2015. Fundamental movement
skill proficiency amongst adolescent youth. Physical Education and
Sport Pedagogy, pp.1–15.
• Faigenbaum , A. and McFarland, J. 2007. Guidelines for implementing
a dynamic warm-up for physical education. JOPERD, 78(3), pp. 25-28.
For further information on this study please
contact any of the following:
Lisa Kelly: l.kelly@research.ait.ie
Siobhán O’Connor: soconnor@ait.ie
Niamh Ní Chéilleachair: nnicheilleachair@ait.ie
Figure 3: Y Balance test
This study is funded by the President Seed Fund
Athlone Institute of Technology