Early Childhood Education Movement Environments: An Exploration of Quality, Children’s Outcomes, and the Potential Efficacy of Professional Development

<p dir="ltr"><b>Background</b> Holistic child growth and development is underpinned by five interconnected child development domains: the social, emotional, cognitive, language and physical domains. The physical domain is comprehensive and comprises elements related to movement, reflexes, sensors, physical development and physical activity. Everyday movements and interactions support optimal growth and development in the physical domain, and thus, deficiencies in this domain can negatively impact cognitive development, language development, social behaviours, peer relationships and self-esteem.</p><p dir="ltr">Early childhood education (ECE) settings have a critical role in children's physical development. Thus, physical development is a key component of national and international ECE curricula, as well as national and international policy and practice documents. Several ECE factors have been identified as important in the promotion of physical development in ECE settings, such as intentional teaching opportunities and the quality of the ECE environment. The quality of the ECE environment is directly related to children’s outcomes, that is, higher quality ECE environments result in more favourable health and well-being outcomes for children. The quality of the ECE environment that relates to the physical child development domain is known as the movement environment. To date, few studies have explored aspects relating to the quality of the movement environment, with the MOVERS scale recently being developed to assess the ECE movement environment. Therefore, the aims of this doctoral thesis were to: (1) determine the validity and reliability of the MOVERS scale (Chapter 3, paper 1), (2) explore the relationships between the quality of the movement environment and children’s physical activity, gross motor skills and fine motor skills (Chapter 4, paper 2), (3) explore the relationship between the quality of the movement environment and children’s academic outcomes (numeracy and literacy) (Chapter 5, paper 3), (4) determine the potential efficacy of the MOVERS Professional Development Program on the quality of the movement environment and children’s outcomes (Chapter 6, paper 4).</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Methods</b> The validity and reliability of the MOVERS scale were determined using data from 13 ECE settings. Standardised tests, such as ICCs, percentage agreement and weighted Kappa, Cronbach’s alpha and correlation coefficients, were used to test the test-retest reliability, internal consistency and concurrent validity (Chapter 3). Linear and generalised mixed models were used to determine the relationship between the quality of the movement environment and children’s physical activity, gross and fine motor skills and numeracy and literacy skills (Chapters 4 and 5). In Chapter 6, linear mixed models were used to determine the potential efficacy of the MOVERS Professional Development Program on the quality of the environment and children’s outcomes. In each study, the quality of the movement environment was assessed using the MOVERS scale and objective measures of physical activity (accelerometers), gross (TGMD-2) and fine motor skills (ASQ-3), numeracy (PENS) and literacy (PPVT-4) were used in all studies.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Results</b> Chapter 3 reported the validity and reliability of the MOVERS Scale. The MOVERS scale was shown to have excellent test-retest reliability and excellent internal consistency. The investigation of the concurrent validity of the MOVERS showed mixed findings. Chapter 4 reported positive relationships between the quality of the movement environment and children’s physical activity and gross motor skills. No significant relationships were found between the quality of the ECE movement environment and children’s cognitive outcomes (Chapter 5). In Chapter 6, large effect sizes were reported for the quality of the ECE movement environment. Medium to large effect sizes were reported for children’s gross motor skills, and small to medium effect sizes were reported for numeracy skills. In the intervention group, a greater number of children moved from being at risk of delay or delayed to developmentally on track in fine motor skills.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Discussion and Conclusions</b> This research program significantly contributes to the current evidence pertaining to the quality of ECE movement environments. Researchers can be confident that the MOVERS scale is a reliable scale to assess the quality of the movement environment in ECE settings. Further research regarding the concurrent validity of the MOVERS scale would be valuable. This research also explored relationships between the quality of the movement environment and several child-related outcomes (Chapters 4 and 5). The positive relationships between the quality of the movement environment and children’s physical activity, gross and fine motor skills and numeracy skills are important. It is feasible to suggest that further relationships may be present in larger sample sizes with increased heterogeneity in the quality of the movement environment. As demonstrated in Chapter 6, educator professional development is a potentially effective method of improving the quality of the movement environment, as well as improving children’s outcomes. Further professional development opportunities focusing on the physical child development domain and the quality of the movement environment are needed within the Australian context and beyond.</p><p dir="ltr">This program of research addressed several significant gaps in the current literature pertaining to the quality of the movement environment in ECE settings and the child physical development domain. Supporting and promoting optimal physical development from a young age is critically important for children’s health and well-being in the short and long term. Continued advocacy is needed within the ECE sector to continue this important work. The results from this research will provide a strong foundation for future research.</p>