There should be as much of a focus on the development of fundamental movement skills as on the development of numeracy and literacy skills in the primary and secondary education curriculum, a conference at University College Cork heard last month.
Fundamental movement skills are those skills such as running, jumping, catching, throwing and balancing, which provide the building blocks for the development of sport specific skills and the basis for developing the ability to engage in quality physical activity, explains Dr Susan Crawford, conference organiser and lecturer in sport studies and physical education at the School of Education, UCC.
As Crawford points out, lack or delay in development of these basic skills of movement can contribute to children and adults developing complications of inactivity such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes. The first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary conference on fundamental movement skill development across the lifespan was held at the Mardkye Arena, UCC, bringing together international experts in the combined fields of education, health, disability and sport.
Maintaining movement
Crawford said: "The aim of the conference was to reinforce the importance of developing and maintaining movement skill development across the lifespan from a health perspective. At the moment, there is a huge focus on numeracy and literacy in our education curriculum but no mention of fundamental movement skills. This is something that needs to be addressed at primary and secondary level and also at undergraduate level."
The conference saw the establishment of a Fundamental Movement Skill (FMS) Hub, a forum for exploring research, policy and practice from national and international perspectives. This initiative was recently awarded Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCoTENS) funding. In line with its objective of providing a supportive framework for collaborative research and professional activities in teacher education in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, SCoTENS provides seed funding for projects such as research, conferences and exchanges which further this objective.
"By developing fundamental movement skills and giving people these building blocks, they will be more inclined to participate in sports and to have a healthy relationship with physical activity which is the long-term goal. If people do not have the skills, they will not participate and end up standing on the sidelines," said Crawford.
Development disability
Crawford, who is also the mother of a 17-year-old son with autism, has a particular research interest in the area of developmental disability. Two books she has written on autism and physical activity – one for parents and one for practitoners – were launched at the conference by Olympic athlete Olive Loughnane.
Prof David Sugden of the University of Leeds, who is internationally renowned for his co-development of the movement assessment tool Movement ABC, gave the keynote address. He stressed the importance of motor development in our lives. He explained that the stage from two to seven years was the stage when children acquired nearly all their fundamental movement skills and there was an argument that after that age, they were simply refining the skills they already had. “There is not a lot of data on whether children are doing enough in terms of movement but they are not, of course, and they need to do more. I’m not talking about being sporty or being involved in organised activities, but about walking, hopping, skipping, jumping and climbing – playground games which they love anyway and which are so vital in helping to develop movement skills,” he said.