Log in or sign up in seconds
Log in using your details below to continue to Play Active
New to Play Active?
Sign up for free today and learn ways to provide more opportunities and supportive environments for active and energetic play
Sign up
Improving children’s physical activity in early childhood education and care (ECEC)
We would like to invite you to participate in Play Active. Play Active works with services to improve children’s physical activity levels, health and development whilst attending ECEC. You have been asked to take part in this project because you are a director of an ECEC service.
The project is being conducted by the Telethon Kids Institute in collaboration with our partners (Early Childhood Australia, YMCA, Play Matters Collective, Health and Wellbeing Queensland, Australian Childcare Alliance SA, QLD & WA, Goodstart Early Learning WA, Cancer Council WA, WA Dept of Local Government Sport and Cultural Industries).
The research team conducting this project include the following investigators: A/Professor Hayley Christian, Professor Stewart Trost, Professor Carol Maher, Professor Patti-Jean Naylor, Professor Jasper Schipperijn, A/Prof Kevin Murray, Dr Ian Li, Dr Andrea Nathan, Dr Matthew McLaughlin, Emeritus Professor Adrian Bauman, Mr Todd Dawson, Jayne Kaiko and research staff Jenny Beer and Corinne Zadow.
What is it about?
Physical activity is important for children’s health, well-being and development. A large proportion of young children are not reaching the recommended level of physical activity needed for their health and development. ECEC services provide an ideal opportunity to improve children’s physical activity levels. ECEC nutrition, sleep and sun protection policies are required in many state and territory regulations. Yet, policies around how much physical activity children should achieve whilst at ECEC are missing.
This project builds on years of research involving extensive consultation with stakeholders to develop an evidence based ECEC physical activity policy template, recommendations and support strategies. Play Active is an engaging physical activity policy program to help ensure children at your service are engaging in enough physical activity and energetic play, every day. We would like to invite your service to participate in Play Active.
What does it involve?
Step 1: Register at www.playactive.org.au and complete a self-assessment survey (10 minutes) to determine the current physical activity practices at your service.
Step 2: Tailor your Play Active physical activity policy to the needs of your service based on your self-assessment results.
Step 3: Complete some brief online professional development.
Step 4: Payment of your service membership fee to provide membership for 2 years and access to member benefits and ability to download your personalised physical activity policy.
Step 5: Unlock access to the member benefits: A membership pack will be posted to you containing your policy and certificate, a resource guide, posters, flyers, signage, floor decals and more. Your service will also get access to the Play Active website members area where you will be able to access the membership pack materials digitally as well as other resources such as webinars, further professional development and a member’s only space on social media platform(s).
Step 6: Monitor your progress: Repeat self-assessment survey (10 minutes) at 12 and 24 months.
Step 7: Tell us what you think about Play Active: 6 months after you receive the program we will send you a short survey (5 minutes) so you tell us what you think about Play Active – what is working, what is not and what needs to change to better support you implement your Play Active policy in your service.
To assist in evaluating the Play Active program, information from the self-assessment survey will be used to determine ECEC services starting point in the program. The self-assessment will be repeated at 12 and 24 months to measure changes at your service which will inform how effective Play Active is and if further modifications are needed. The short survey at 6 months (step 7) will tell us about Play Active’s acceptability and appropriateness. We will also collect website analytics such as professional development completion and policy tailoring which will help us to measure and report on our project outcomes.
Voluntary Participation and Withdrawal from the Study
Participation in this project is completely voluntary. If you decide to participate and then later change your mind, you are able to withdraw from the study without explanation and without consequence by contacting [email protected]. The data will be destroyed after withdrawal unless otherwise agreed. In the event a centre decides to withdraw from the study, they will be able to access the intervention website (which houses the resources) until their membership period expires (at the end of 2 years).
Your Privacy
Information that identifies anyone will be removed from the data collected. All de-identified data will be stored securely at UWA and the Telethon Kids Institute and can only be accessed by the research team. The data will be stored for a minimum period of 7 years, after which it will be destroyed. All information and data collected through the Play Active website will comply with the requirements of privacy legislation. This is done via the privacy statement and statement on website security both of which will be available on the Play Active website.
The identity of participants or services will not be disclosed at any time. The data will be used only for this project and future related sub-studies and will not be used in any or future research without first obtaining explicit written consent from participants.
The findings of this study will be used to refine the self-assessment tool. It is also anticipated that at least one journal article and a presentation/report will arise from this research. Your name and identifying details will not be used in any publication arising out of the research without your consent.
Possible Benefits
By participating in Play Active there may be increased opportunities for children at your service to be active which is beneficial for their health and development. Participants may access a summary of the study results by emailing [email protected].
Possible Risks and Risk Management Plan
There are no foreseeable risks associated with this study.
Contacts
If you would like to participate or discuss any aspect of this study, please feel free to contact Associate Professor Hayley Christian or email [email protected]
Approval to conduct this research has been provided by the University of Western Australia, in accordance with its ethics review and approval procedures. Any person considering participation in this research project, or agreeing to participate, may raise any questions or issues with the researchers at any time. In addition, any person not satisfied with the response of researchers may raise ethics issues or concerns, and may make any complaints about this research project by contacting the Human Ethics office at UWA on (08) 6488 3703 or by emailing to [email protected]. All research participants are entitled to retain a copy of any Participant Information Form and/or Participant Consent Form relating to this research project.
Improving children’s physical activity in early childhood education and care (ECEC)
We would like to invite you to participate in Play Active. Play Active works with services to improve children’s physical activity levels, health and development whilst attending ECEC. You have been asked to take part in this project because you are an educator at an ECEC service in Western Australia, Queensland or South Australia.
The project is being conducted by the Telethon Kids Institute in collaboration with our partners (Early Childhood Australia, YMCA, Play Matters Collective, Health and Wellbeing Queensland, Australian Childcare Alliance SA, QLD & WA, Goodstart Early Learning WA, Cancer Council WA, WA Dept of Local Government Sport and Cultural Industries).
The research team conducting this project include the following investigators: A/Professor Hayley Christian, Professor Stewart Trost, Professor Carol Maher, Professor Patti-Jean Naylor, Professor Jasper Schipperijn, A/Prof Kevin Murray, Dr Ian Li, Dr Andrea Nathan, Dr Matthew McLaughlin, Emeritus Professor Adrian Bauman, Mr Todd Dawson, Jayne Kaiko and research staff, Jenny Beer and Corinne Zadow.
What is it about?
Physical activity is important for children’s health, well-being and development. A large proportion of young children are not reaching the recommended level of physical activity needed for their health and development. ECEC services provide an ideal opportunity to improve children’s physical activity levels. ECEC nutrition, sleep and sun protection policies are required in many state and territory regulations. Yet, policies around how much physical activity children should achieve whilst at ECEC are missing.
This project builds on years of research involving extensive consultation with stakeholders to develop an evidence based ECEC physical activity policy template and recommendations. Play Active is a physical activity policy program for ECEC providers to help ensure children at your service are engaging in enough physical activity and energetic play, every day. We would like to invite you to participate in Play Active.
What does it involve?
Step 1: Register at www.playactive.org.au
Step 2: Complete some brief online professional development to become certified in Play Active.
Step 3: Invite your Director to register to become an accredited Play Active service.
To assist us in evaluating the Play Active program, we will ask you to complete a short (5 minute) online survey. The questions will be about the amount and type of physical activity children at your service do. We will ask you to do this survey at the start and at 12 and 24 months (you will receive an email with the link to the short survey).
Voluntary Participation and Withdrawal from the Study
Participation in this project is completely voluntary. If you decide to participate and then later change your mind, you are able to withdraw from the study without explanation and without consequence by contacting [email protected]. The data will be destroyed after withdrawal unless otherwise agreed.
Educators can take part in the intervention if their centre director does not register their centre. The educator intervention involves completing the free online professional development training via the website. Once an educator completes their training, they are prompted to invite their director to become involved in the program, however it is not compulsory for directors to join.
Your privacy
Information that identifies anyone will be removed from the data collected. All de-identified data will be stored securely at UWA and the Telethon Kids Institute and can only be accessed by the research team. The data will be stored for a minimum period of 7 years, after which it will be destroyed. The identity of participants or centers will not be disclosed at any time. The data will be used only for this project and future related sub-studies and will not be used in any or future research without first obtaining explicit written consent from participants.
The findings of this study will be used to refine the self-assessment tool. It is also anticipated that at least one journal article and a presentation/report will arise from this research. Your name and identifying details will not be used in any publication arising out of the research without your consent.
Possible Benefits
By participating in Play Active there may be increased opportunities for children at your service to be active which is beneficial for their health and development. Participants may access a summary of the study results by emailing [email protected].
Possible Risks and Risk Management Plan
There are no foreseeable risks associated with this study.
Contacts
If you would like to participate or discuss any aspect of this study, please feel free to contact Associate Professor Hayley Christian or email [email protected].
Approval to conduct this research has been provided by the University of Western Australia, in accordance with its ethics review and approval procedures. Any person considering participation in this research project, or agreeing to participate, may raise any questions or issues with the researchers at any time. In addition, any person not satisfied with the response of researchers may raise ethics issues or concerns, and may make any complaints about this research project by contacting the Human Ethics office at UWA on (08) 6488 4703 or by emailing to [email protected]. All research participants are entitled to retain a copy of any Participant Information Form and/or Participant Consent Form relating to this research project.
