How to design and establish a national school-based physical fitness monitoring and surveillance system for children and adolescents : a 10-step approach recommended by the FitBack network

Joensuu, Laura (author), Csanyi, Tamas (author), Huhtiniemi, Mikko (author), Kälbi, Katalin (author), Magalhães, João (author), Milanović, Ivana (author), Morrison, Shawnda A. (author), Ortega, Francisco B (author), Sardinha, Luis B. (author), Starc, Gregor (author), Tammelin, Tuija H. (author), Jurak, Gregor (author)

Background: Providing individual- and population-level data on children's physical fitness (PF) is a crucial public health and education priority. However, few national fitness monitoring or surveillance systems are currently in practice internationally. We aim to summarize the current European PF monitoring and surveillance systems for school-aged children and to provide experience-based guidelines on how to design such systems. Methods: The FitBack network consists of experts from diverse backgrounds with the common interest to improve the accessibility of PF monitoring for young people globally. Through FitBack network, we identified and compared the national or regional PF monitoring and surveillance systems currently in operation across Europe. We formulated a 10-step approach for designing and establishing one's own system, based on analysis of experienced strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to monitoring childhood fitness. Results: We identified a total of eight PF monitoring systems in Finland, France, Galicia of Spain, Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Serbia, and Slovenia. The FitBack network recommends the following steps for designing and establishing one's own system: (1) set up mission statements and aims, (2) involve stakeholders, (3) utilize scientific background, (4) governance structure, (5) ensure sufficient funding, (6) data management planning, (7) provide meaningful feedback, (8) conduct pilot testing, (9) plan implementation process, and (10) invest in communication with stakeholders. Conclusions: This study provides an updated overview of the best practices for school-aged children's fitness monitoring and surveillance in Europe. Additionally, it offers a 10-step approach to assist in the creation of similar systems in Europe or globally.

• Language: English
• Keywords: sport, assessment, disease prevention, education, epidemiology, NCDs, physical literacy, policy, population health
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FŠ - Faculty of Sport
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: 14 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 34, iss. 3, art. 14593
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-186755
• UDC: 796.01-053.6
• ISSN on article: 1600-0838
• DOI: 10.1111/sms.14593
• COBISS.SI-ID: 189144067
• Publication date in RUL: 04.09.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports
• Shortened title: Scand. j. med. sci. sports
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 1600-0838
• COBISS.SI-ID: 517824025

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: šport, ocenjevanje, preprečevanje bolezni, izobraževanje, epidemiologija, telesna pismenost, politika, zdravje prebivalstva

Projects

• Funder: European Union
• Funding programme: Erasmus+ SportProgramme
• Project number: 613010-EPP-1-2019-1-SI-SPO-SCP
• Name: FitBack project

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0142
• Name: Bio-psiho-socialni konteksti kineziologije