The mastery of fundamental movement skills : perceptions of Primary Physical Education teachers

Abstract

Mastering Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) during Primary Years are considered as the nuts and bolts of a physical literate individual who is able to participate in lifelong physical activity or specialise in sport. Despite this, international and local studies still show prevalence of low FMS levels amongst children. The main aim of this research study is to explore barriers and factors inhibiting FMS development from the point of view of Maltese Primary Physical Education (PE) teachers. Further questions are to investigate whether teachers have a clear understanding of FMS; how they plan to teach it within a PE programme; and how FMS affects student’s physical literacy development. Furthermore, the implementation of an existing battery assessment tool, that is the Canadian Agility and Movement Skill Assessment (CAMSA), will be investigated as to whether it can support PE teachers to assess correctly FMS and develop a more meaningful FMS programme. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with six Primary PE teachers, who represented the three different school sectors in Malta. Once the PE teachers administered the CAMSA with a Year 4 class, they were asked to participate in a focus group in order to discuss the usefulness of the aforementioned tool. The qualitative data obtained from the interviews and the focus group showed that causes of FMS deficiencies remain a multi-layered and complex issue. The majority of participants admitted that while room for improvement in Primary PE exists, the outside school experiences that shape the students are far more hindering their journey towards FMS mastery.