DCU and the GAA team up to help children to keep moving
Dublin City University, Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics and the GAA have today launched a new video series to help primary school children remain physically active during Covid-19 and beyond.
In an attempt to help with the challenges of home-schooling and the absence of GAA club activity, the video learning resources will provide assistance to both primary school teachers and parents to incorporate regular physical activity into the daily routine of children.
It will focus on fundamental movement skills (FMS) (hopping, skipping, jumping), regarded as the “building blocks” of more advanced sport-specific skills and key to children being active in later life.
The “Movement Break” videos are part of the Moving Well-Being Well project (MWBW)*, one of the largest physical literacy research projects in the world. Previous research findings from this has shown that over a quarter of children on the island of Ireland lack the skills to adequately run. Results have also shown that the development of fundamental movement skills plateau at age 10.
In light of restrictions imposed on daily life due to Covid-19, the GAA and researchers at DCU have collaborated to create the evidence-based videos which will help children to continue to develop and progress their movement abilities and remain active. All of the videos will be available to view on the GAA’s Learning platform available at learning.gaa.ie/movingwellbeingwell and the GAA Learning YouTube channel.
In total, there are forty-five videos, varying from three to four minutes in length, with a focus on (FMS). Each concentrate on a specific skill and then progresses to a slightly more challenging version of the same skill.
The research team collaborated with the Professional Development Services for Teachers (PDST) in the production of the video resources.
Speaking about the videos, Dr Úna Britton, Dublin City University, said,
“We are delighted to release these resources for everyone to use. The video series are designed to help children progress and develop their basic movement skills, and provide them with a platform to be confident in taking part in any activity they choose. We hope these resources will supplement the trojan work being done by teachers, coaches and parents across the country.”
Dr Stephen Behan, Moving Well-Being Well researcher said,
“Our main goal is to simply get Irish children moving. If we can equip children with the basic skills to move and partake in any activity they wish, we will be giving them the tools to be active for life. These resources are based on the evidence produced in the first phase of the MWBW study and I hope they bring enjoyment to as many children as possible.”
Speaking about the launch, the GAA’s Director of Coaching and Games Development, Shane Flanagan noted,
“The achievement of this latest milestone for the Moving Well-Being Well project teams is timely for the GAA as we will soon be launching our new Player Pathway Framework. The pathway is based on the FTEM Framework and its purpose is to support player development by providing the right support, at the right time for the player. In partnering with DCU and others, we now have an outstanding, evidence-based research set of resources to ensure the child in the participation phase of our pathway experiences an environment that focuses on physical literacy and helping children to learn basic movement skills, while having fun.
Acquiring these skills through the delivery of our club and school programmes will help these young participants remain involved in sport and physical activity for life. Key to this will be the coach/teacher and we will be using the research to inform our coach education framework.”
Dr. Sarahjane Belton, Head of DCU's School of Health and Performance added,
“The danger for a lot of children right now is that through the situation of social restriction, and school closure created by Covid-19, and the cold weather combined - there is a real risk of them missing critical physical activity and skill learning opportunities. This can potentially have long term health consequences. We have to make sure that activity and skill development is not neglected – these resources are another building block that teachers, parents and coaches can use in that battle.”
Dr. Johann Issartel, Moving Well-Being Well researcher said,
“The videos reflect the work done over the last number of years with the aim to increase children's physical participation and motor skills proficiency. Through the support of all partners, the future for Irish children looks very bright; we are now working together to equip them with the right tools they need in life. Parents, coaches, teachers and friends, we can all have fun and support our children's development. Let’s help children to move well; their well-being is important during those unique times.”
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*Moving Well-Being Well (MWBW) is a collaboration between the GAA, Dublin GAA, DCU School of Health and Human Performance and the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics.
The "Movement Break" series is available on GAA.ie from today (Thursday, Feb 11th) and with regular updates across GAA and DCU social media channels.