Physical Education (PE) is very important for the motor and physical development of children. In the first triad of Slovene primary schools, PE is taught for at least three lessons a week. These lessons are taught by PE teachers. Additional physical activity is offered in some classes, allowing children to participate in daily lessons, which are co-taught by a PE teacher and by a classroom teacher. However, these classes are not systematically state-financed. Previous research has highlighted different types of advantages of additional co-taught physical activity classes, i.e. better organisation, increased security, expertise and intensity. The aim of our study was to find out if the intervention of a PE teacher and the number of physical activity weekly lessons influence children's physical and motor development. 25.924 children attending the first three grades at 240 primary schools in Slovenia were included in the study. SLOfit database was used to analyse the participants’ physical and motor development. The results show that implementation of an increased amount of PE lessons and intervention of a PE teacher do not influence the physical characteristics of children. However, the findings also show that some children attending five weekly PE lessons taught by a PE teacher had less subcutaneous fat. Moreover, the children attending classes taught by a PE teacher performed better in all test items, while children with an increased amount of weekly lessons performed better in some of the test items. Based on the results of the study it can be concluded that intervention of a PE teacher as well as inclusion of daily PE classes in the primary school curricula would be very important to ensure optimal development of children.
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