The amount of movement and the desire to participate in sports activities are declining all over the world. The health situation of children and adolescents is worsening and consequently there are growing numbers of obese, overweight children. The main reason for this is a fast spreading sedentary lifestyle. To establish and maintain a healthy life it is important to partake in a sufficient amount of various physical activities. Nowadays, children and adolescents spend a considerable amount of time at school; additionally school subject Physical Education presents the only physical activity for many of them and hence it is of utmost importance that time for sports is spent in a quality way.
Adolescents differ in their motor abilities and this is important to consider at Physical Education class. It is not correct to treat all children and adolescents in the same manner. Some specific adjustments are required. They are important not only for children with special needs – here we include physically impaired children, blind and partially sighted, deaf and hard-of-hearing, children with mental disabilities and also obese children and children with excess body weight. Their excess weight is definitely a factor that prevents them from moving.
The theoretical part of my Master’s thesis presents the problems of obesity and excess weight in details; these are two omnipresent concepts in our society. We present the importance of exercising for health. We summarize the findings of previous studies, which dealt with the issue of fast-spreading trend in obesity worldwide as well as in Slovenia. We also made a summary of those studies that examined the motor abilities of obese, overweigh children. We listed the characteristics and types of differentiations as well as individualizations that can be carried out in school, especially at Physical Education class.
Twenty-three primary school teachers from various primary schools in Ljubljana, all of who teach Physical Education, participated in the empirical part of the thesis. We were interested in three things: how often they modify the curriculum of Physical Education to adjust classes to obese, overweight children, what are the influences of those adjustments and what is their opinion on the manual Prilagoditve vsebin pri predmetu šport debelim in prekomernim učencem v prvem in drugem triletju.
The results of the survey show that more than a half of all teachers often adjust the classes to meet the needs of pupils. Most often they adjust running, front roll, back roll and exercises that demand a large number of repetitions (for example: rope jumping, gymnastic exercises for strength). Running is modified by shortening the distance the pupils have to run. Time of active running is often shortened; running is combined with walking periods. Front and back roll are modified with the help of an incline, which makes it easier for pupils to make a flip; additionally pupils are asked to land on their knees. Exercises that demand a large number of repetition are modified by lessening the number of repetitions.
The majority of teachers is of an opinion that those adjustments have a positive influence on obese, overweight children. They have highlighted that the adjustment enable pupils to be more successful, which has a direct positive influence on their self-esteem. In addition, goals are more achievable.
Most teachers have a similar opinion on the usefulness of the manual. They emphasize that it is useful, understandable and detailed.
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