Effects of a Physical Education Intervention on Academic Performance: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial

Rodrigo Antunes Lima, Fernanda Cunha Soares, Jorge Bezerra and Mauro Virgílio Gomes de Barros
Additional contact information
Rodrigo Antunes Lima: Institute of Sport Science, University of Graz, Mozartgasse 14, 8010 Graz, Austria
Fernanda Cunha Soares: Research Group on Lifestyles and Health, University of Pernambuco, Arnóbio Marquês Street, 310, Recife 50100-130, PE, Brazil
Jorge Bezerra: Research Group on Lifestyles and Health, University of Pernambuco, Arnóbio Marquês Street, 310, Recife 50100-130, PE, Brazil
Mauro Virgílio Gomes de Barros: Research Group on Lifestyles and Health, University of Pernambuco, Arnóbio Marquês Street, 310, Recife 50100-130, PE, Brazil

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 12, 1-10

Abstract: Background: We investigated the effects of three different interventions on academic performance in students enrolled in the first year of high school. Methods: This was a cluster randomised controlled trial conducted with 1200 students enrolled in the first year of high school. Schools were randomly assigned to: 1. Doubling physical education (PE) classes (3:20 h of PE/week); 2. workshop with the PE teachers; 3. workshop with the PE teachers and doubling the PE classes; and 4. control group (1:40 h of PE/week). We assured that the schools within the groups were equal regarding: The structural condition of the sports court; number of PE teachers; number of school classes; and the average number of students per classroom. Results: Overall, the intervention was not effective in improving the students’ academic performance. However, the subgroup analysis showed that the workshop intervention group increased the academic performance of students who had failed an academic year (from 16 years of age), compared to their peers in the doubling the PE classes (1.3 points on average) and the control groups (1.4 points on average). Conclusions: Enhancing the pedagogical skills of the teachers is a promising approach in improving the academic performance of students who failed an academic year.

Keywords: adolescent; physical activity; intervention study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/12/4287/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/12/4287/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:12:p:4287-:d:372042

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().