Clinical Research Directory

Move-play-explore in Early Childhood Education

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.