Changes of physical performance as indicators of the response to enhanced physical education

The value of field performance tests in the assessment of a programme of enhanced physical education has been examined in a 3-factor study of students over all 6 primary school grades. The enhanced programme under review offered a one hour of required physical education daily from age 7 to 12 years, taught by a specialist physical educator. Control students from immediately preceding and succeeding classes continued with the standard programme, a standard single period of physical education per week taught by a nonspecialist. Subjects were classed by gender, environment (urban vs rural school) and the experimental intervention to allow analysis by MANOVA. Students in the experimental programme showed small but statistically significant gains in laboratory measures of aerobic power and muscle strength relative to controls. In general, these responses were mirrored by gains in scores on the Canadian Association for Health Physical Education and Recreation (CAHPER) field performance test battery. The latter tests also suggested gains of anaerobic power, coordination and muscular endurance. It is concluded that an enhanced programme of physical education can enhance function in primary school students, but the size of gains is not a strong argument for such programmes. Further, gains in performance test scores indicate the direction, but not necessarily the magnitude of programme responses.