Special Issue | Promotion of Health and Active Behaviors through physical education and in-school physical activity
Publication: Vol. 18, No. 1 (March 2025)
Description
The promotion of health from early ages is key for the enhancement of public and individual
wellness in the long term due to the fact that habits developed in childhood and adolescence
tend to be maintained during the whole life. Indeed, detrimental habits established in youth
may lead to higher risk for the onset of chronic diseases later in life (Gardner et al., 2020;
Henderson et al., 2018; Kleppang et al., 2023; Li et al., 2016; Mayne et al., 2020). On the
contrary, structuring positive behaviors in youngsters not only increases the odds of better
health in adulthood, but also, consequently, indirectly brings additional benefits both by
reducing the health-care costs and increasing individuals’ working effectiveness (Frech, 2012;
Palomäki et al., 2018; Previtali et al., 2022; Telama, 2009; Weintraub, 2023).
In this sense, both the political and scientific workforces have turned their attention towards
health-focused interventions within the school environment. In fact, schools may potentially
represent the strongest setting for health education in youth (Society of Health and Physical
Educators [SHAPE], 2023). This is essentially due to two main unique characteristics of schools:
on the one side, education is obligatory (and mostly free) worldwide, hence, the vast majority
of kids attend schools for most of their young life; this allows for interventions to be able to
reach most of the youth population. On the other side, schools are usually considered safe
environments, therefore, parents and their children are more likely to be open to enroll in
programs proposed within their walls.
It is common knowledge that some of the main benefits for overall individual health (including
its physical, psychological, and social spheres) are due to active behaviors. Participation and
adherence in physical activities provides several advantages at early ages, among which
improved metabolism, better lipid profile, reduced risk of developing obesity in the short and
long term, as well as increased social inclusion or higher psychological wellbeing (Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, 2022; World Health Organization, 2022). Again, schools offer
an excellent environment for fostering active behaviors in kids, particularly thanks to the
physical education subject. Additionally, the concept of “comprehensive school physical activity
program” (SHAPE, 2023) has been integrated into school policies worldwide: the general idea is
that kids should be active not only during physical education (which in most countries
constitutes only a small portion of the weekly school program), but also during recess, through
after-school programs carried out in the school facilities, and even during regular classes from
other subjects.
Objective
Although comprehensive physical activity in schools has been widely promoted, there still exists
an important gap between its theory and actual practical implementation. The objective of this
special issue is to gather scientific evidence on the impact of physical education and,
particularly, in-school physical activity programs combined or embedded into school curricula,
on the different spheres of individual health in youth.
Special issue editor
- Dr. Armando Cocca, Department of Human Movement, Faculty of Education, University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
Instructions
We request that the authors submit their full research papers into the ERIES Journal system.
The submitted papers should follow the technical requirements published in the Instructions
for authors (please check the journal website) and should be aligned with the special issue
objective.
For your inquiries, please contact: editor@eriesjournal.com or armando.cocca@osu.cz.
Timeline
- 1 st call for papers: February 1, 2024
- Full manuscript submission deadline: September 30, 2024
- Full manuscript acceptance deadline: February 28, 2025
- Publication of the special issue: March 31, 2025
References
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2022) Physical Activity Facts, Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/physicalactivity/facts.htm
Frech, A. (2012) ‘Healthy Behavior Trajectories between Adolescence and Young Adulthood’,
Advances in Life Course Research, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 59-68.
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2012.01.003
Gardner, L. A., Champion, K. E., Parmenter, B., Grummitt, L., Chapman, C., Sunderland, M.,
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World Health organization (2022) Physical activity, Available at: https://www.who.int/news-
room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
