El tiempo de compromiso motor en Educación Física: hacia una Educación Física de calidad

Introduction According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2010), physical education must promote the development of healthy living habits and physical activity in order to improve quality of live and prevent diseases. However, in line with Yanci, Vinuesa, Rodríguez and Yanci (2016) and in accordance with the Eurydice report of the European Commission (2013), physical education classes are for 80% of the students the only time of the day in which they perform physical activity. For this reason, the time factor is one of the most visible concerns of teachers. Method In relation to this problem, the purpose of this study is to analyse the variable Motor Engagement Time (MET), of primary students in the area of physical education. The sample was composed of 38 subjects, of which 18 students were of the 1st year, and 20 students of the 5th year, of a state school inside of the province of Valencia. During the whole procedure (9 sessions) data protection standards were guaranteed by the authorization of the families for recording minors along the research. The instruments used to obtain the data were: the registration sheets based on the system of Ramírez, Lozano, San Matías, Zabala and Viciana (2003), the video camera, a memory card to store the contents and a tripod. The sessions were recorded from an external point outside the physical activity zone to show a peripheral view and to avoid conditioning of the practice. Results The first Course group obtained a maximum MET of 14,07 min. which represents 31,37% of the Program Time (PT) and a minimum of 10,38 minutes (23,63% of PT). This data added to the results of the two remaining sessions make an average of 12,50 minutes/session (28,53% of PT). In respect of the 5th grade group, the minimum registered MET value was 8,29 minutes (18,8% of the PT) and the maximum of 16,24 min. (36,44% of PT). If we add those results to the ones of the other sessions, the average is 12,10 minutes/session, i.e. an average MET percentage of 27,05% relative to the PT. The average percentage of MET between the two courses was 27,79% compared to the PT variable. Discussion This means that, in relation to some previous studies, the results of the study are located slightly above those obtained by Fernández-Revells (2008) (23,97%) and are notably inferior to those of Yanci et al. (42,8%). If we contrast these results with some other made in Secondary School and taking into account the study of Marin-Recio (2009) which focuses on the factor of teaching methodology employed, we find that similarly values are significantly below (66% and 44% depending on the teaching style) and García & Ruiz (2017), 48,22%. Conclusions In this case, it is the younger students who obtain the best results in the MET variable. However, the low MET recorded in the Physical Education sessions, both in initial and final courses of the primary stage, is insufficient to obtain significant benefits in the health and well-being of our students. In this way, it is understood the need to develop and make use of strategies to increase the time of motor activity of the students with the objective to reverse the situation and to prevent illnesses produced by a sedentary lifestyle.