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Move-play-explore in Early Childhood Education
Sponsor: Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
Summary
Evidence is lacking about scalable, effective and sustainable interventions to increase whole-child development in young children. Targeting worrisome trends in physical inactivity and schoolification negatively affecting young children, we will conduct a large cluster randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of professional development of kindergarten staff on kindergarten pedagogical practices regarding movement, play and exploration and child health and development over 18 months. The aim is to recruit 50 kindergartens and 500 children aged 4 years in one county in the western part of Norway to allow for detecting small to moderate effect sizes and ensuring a heterogeneous sample of kindergartens for the study of implementation. Children's physical, mental and socio-emotional development, as well as intervention implementation, will be investigated. The intervention will be developed with strong user involvement from kindergartens and relevant stakeholders to facilitate the development of sustainable solutions.
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
4 Years - 4 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
500
Start Date
2024-08-19
Completion Date
2026-06
Last Updated
2025-03-17
Healthy Volunteers
No
Interventions
MoveEarly
The intervention has two levels: the kindergarten level and the child level. 1. Staff will receive approximately 60 hours of professional development, including 6 full-day physical seminars, 2 full-day kindergarten visits, 6 written tasks with follow-up webinars and an online resource. The focus will be how to promote movement, play and exploration among children aged 1-6 years. 2. Staff is supposed to promote children's movement, play and exploration through 7 pedagogical principles: 1. Value, understand and promote movement, 2. Value, understand and promote play, 3. Value, understand and promote exploration, 4. Create rich physical environments, 5. Create opportunities for meaningful participation, 6. Create good balance between challenge and support, and 7. Create good dialogue through action and words.
Locations (1)
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
Bergen, Norway