Movement and learning

It is important to think about physical activity and exercise in school and classroom settings as involving more than just PE and sport. There are many ways that classroom teachers can incorporate different kinds of movement into their learning programmes to support a range of academic, behavioural, and social emotional outcomes.

The benefits of physical exercise and movement are wide-ranging and will serve students in the classroom and beyond.

The importance of physical activity for physical and mental health is well established. In addition, there is a growing body of evidence demonstrating the relationship between physical activity and more specific academic outcomes, and between exercise and self-regulation. For example, physical activity has been linked to improved on-task behaviour and working memory. There is also evidence that increased levels of physical activity at school have greater benefits for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds and may lead to more equitable outcomes.

Building movement and exercise into daily classroom routines can lead to a range of benefits for students and support improved academic learning and better behavioural and emotional regulation.

• How can we build appropriate amounts and types of physical activity and movement into learning programmes?
• How can we use movement to improve students’ behavioural and emotional regulation?
• How can we explore the relationship between movement and specific academic outcomes?