Page 58 - Sember, Vedrana, and Shawnda A. Morrison. 2018. The Mind-Body Connection. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 58
Physical Activity Research
are engaged in extracurricular sport or clubs (Sember et al., 2016).
On school days only 16% of Slovenian boys and 19% of Slovenian
girls play actively more than 2 hours per day, on weekends 57% boys
and 59% of girls (Sember et al., 2016). Only 3% of Slovenian chil-
dren uses bike and 26% walk to the school. The ACDSi nationally-
representative data (Jurak, Kovacˇ, & Starc, 2013; Starc et al., 2015)
indicates that active commuting to school remains relatively stable
with age with about 52% of boys and about 50% girls from age 5 to
18 y actively commuting to school (Sember et al., 2016). In Slove-
nia, 90% of boys and girls meet the recommendation of fewer than
2 hours of screen time per day. During weekends this percentage de-
creases to 37 and 45% of boys and girls, respectively. Weekend and
weekday combined, 74% of boys and 79% of girls aged 6–19 years
meet the recommendations for screen time (Sember et al., 2016). In
Slovenia 75% of parents encourage their children between 11 and 19
y to be physically active. Almost 90% of parents indicate they sup-
port opportunities for physical activity by buying sports equipment,
driving kids to practice, etc. When asked about their parent’s phys-
ical activity levels, children perceived their fathers to be ‘very active’
in ∼30% of cases and ‘moderately active’ in 35% of cases. In Slove-
nia, physical education (PE) is a compulsory subject in all primary
and secondary schools and they all follow the same PE curriculum.
PE minutes vary by grade such that primary school (grades 1–5) re-
ceive a minimum of 105 hours per year, grades 7–8 receive 70 hours,
and grade 9 students receive 62 hours per year. Grades 7–9 have op-
portunities to select an additional 35 hours of elective sport classes,
and 35 hours of elective dance class. Grades 4–6 may also select an
additional 35 hours of elective, health-oriented sport classes (Kovacˇ
et al., 2015). In addition to regular PE classes, primary school chil-
dren have 5 sport days in each grade, each lasting 5 hours, together
25 hours of school-based physical activity in a school year. Some
primary schools in Slovenia organise enhanced PE curriculum, dur-
ing which children receive supplementary lessons (Jurak, Cooper,
Leskošek, & Kovacˇ, 2013). Additionally, primary schools in Slovenia
are allowed to have more than the prescribed minimum of 2 or 3
PE lessons per week if the school board decides so, although less
56
are engaged in extracurricular sport or clubs (Sember et al., 2016).
On school days only 16% of Slovenian boys and 19% of Slovenian
girls play actively more than 2 hours per day, on weekends 57% boys
and 59% of girls (Sember et al., 2016). Only 3% of Slovenian chil-
dren uses bike and 26% walk to the school. The ACDSi nationally-
representative data (Jurak, Kovacˇ, & Starc, 2013; Starc et al., 2015)
indicates that active commuting to school remains relatively stable
with age with about 52% of boys and about 50% girls from age 5 to
18 y actively commuting to school (Sember et al., 2016). In Slove-
nia, 90% of boys and girls meet the recommendation of fewer than
2 hours of screen time per day. During weekends this percentage de-
creases to 37 and 45% of boys and girls, respectively. Weekend and
weekday combined, 74% of boys and 79% of girls aged 6–19 years
meet the recommendations for screen time (Sember et al., 2016). In
Slovenia 75% of parents encourage their children between 11 and 19
y to be physically active. Almost 90% of parents indicate they sup-
port opportunities for physical activity by buying sports equipment,
driving kids to practice, etc. When asked about their parent’s phys-
ical activity levels, children perceived their fathers to be ‘very active’
in ∼30% of cases and ‘moderately active’ in 35% of cases. In Slove-
nia, physical education (PE) is a compulsory subject in all primary
and secondary schools and they all follow the same PE curriculum.
PE minutes vary by grade such that primary school (grades 1–5) re-
ceive a minimum of 105 hours per year, grades 7–8 receive 70 hours,
and grade 9 students receive 62 hours per year. Grades 7–9 have op-
portunities to select an additional 35 hours of elective sport classes,
and 35 hours of elective dance class. Grades 4–6 may also select an
additional 35 hours of elective, health-oriented sport classes (Kovacˇ
et al., 2015). In addition to regular PE classes, primary school chil-
dren have 5 sport days in each grade, each lasting 5 hours, together
25 hours of school-based physical activity in a school year. Some
primary schools in Slovenia organise enhanced PE curriculum, dur-
ing which children receive supplementary lessons (Jurak, Cooper,
Leskošek, & Kovacˇ, 2013). Additionally, primary schools in Slovenia
are allowed to have more than the prescribed minimum of 2 or 3
PE lessons per week if the school board decides so, although less
56
