1. Fundamental Movement Skills among Primary School Children: Is there a Gender Divide?
Lisa Kelly (BSc. ARTC)
Athlone Institute of Technology
Supervisors:
Dr. Niamh Ní Chéilleachair, Dr. Siobhán O Connor, Dr. Andrew Harrison

2. Fundamental Movement Skills
Importance
Research to date
Fundamental Movement Skills are defined as the basic observable patterns of movement that create a foundation for the development of more advanced skills that are required for ADL, recreational and/or competitive physical activity. They are divided into three categories including locomotor skills which is how an individual moves from one place to another. Example include running, hopping and skipping. Object control skills include receiving or projecting objects such as kicking, throwing and catching. Stability skills demand postural control for the maintenance of static and dynamic balance and include activities such as rolling, twisting, turning and bending. The important point about FMS are that they are not naturally acquired and they must be taught and practiced in order to achieve an appropriate level of proficiency. The best age for this development is between 3 and 8 years old. To my knowledge, there is no publications that have looked at FMS proficiency among primary school pupils in Ireland, with only one study reporting FMS proficiency in post-primary pupils. This was done by O Brien at al and he reported both low levels of proficiency in addition to a gender divide whereby males were typically better than females in object control skills.
Locomotor
Object Control
Stability

3. Methods
For this study, 217 participants in senior infants to 2nd class were recruited from three schools in the midlands of Ireland. One school from Westmeath and two from Tipperary. The sample consisted of 102 males and 115 females. Testing took place in the school PE hall which was set up into stations. To begin, participants were assigned ID numbers to ensure data remained anonymous. Participant information was recorded which included date of birth, gender, preferred hand and foot, weight and height. All participants did a short warm up and were then divided into three groups whereby each group rotated through each of the three stations simultaneously. Five skills were assessed at each station. Each station was overseen by two testers, one who demonstrated the skill and gave instructions to participants and one who recorded each participant performing two trials of every skill. At station one run, gallop, hop, skip and slide were assessed. Station two – two hand strike, one hand forehand strike, kick a stationary ball, overhand throw and underhand throw were all assessed and finally station three tested horizontal jump, vertical jump, static balance, dribble and two-hand catch. Once all groups completed all three stations, they performed a short cool down and returned to class.

4. Analysis Video-recordings
TGMD-3 + Victorian Fundamental Motor Skills Manual
Independent t-tests
Scoring was done at a later date using the video-recordings. 13 skills were scored using performance criteria outlined in the Test of Gross Motor Development-3rd edition with static balance and vertical jump scored according to criteria outlined in the Victorian Fundamental Motor skills manual. All skills were assessed and scored in the same way. Here I’ll show you how the skill of running is scored just to give an example. The skill is broken down into four performance criteria. A score of 1 was given when a performance criterion was done correctly and a 0 for any performance criteria that was not performed correctly. The scores from the two trials were then added up to give an overall skill score. As such the maximum score possible for the skill of running was 8. Independent t-tests were then used to identify if there were any significant differences between males and females.

5. Results ** p< .001 ** p<.001 p>.05
This graph illustrates the mean scores for males in blue and females in pink. There was a significant difference between males and females in overall TGMD-3 score. The middle graph shows that there was no significant difference between males and females for the locomotor subtest score. For the object control sub-test score, the difference between males and females was significant.
p>.05

6. Results: Locomotor Skills
FEMALES
Skip (p=0.01)
MALES Slide (p=0.007)
Skill
Gender
Mean Score±SD
Significance
Run
Male
Female
5.3±1.7
5.16±1.69
0.522
Gallop
4.88±1.62
4.97±1.25
0.645
Hop
4.61±1.68
4.42±1.69
0.394
Skip
3.15±1.63
3.64±1.21
.014*
Slide
6.69±1.41
6.18±1.34
.007*
Horizontal Jump
4.85±1.98
4.96±1.84
0.692
Vertical Jump
7.64±2.11
7.22±2.05
0.139
In terms of the differences found between males and females in individual skills, there was a significant difference between males and females in the skills of skipping and sliding. Males were significantly better than females at the slide with females outperforming males in the skip.

7. Results: Object Control Skills
FEMALES
MALES Two-hand Strike (p<0.001) One-hand Forehand Strike (p<0.001) Kick A Stationary Ball (p<0.001) Underhand Throw (p=0.01) Overhand Throw (p<0.001) Stationary Dribble (p<0.001)
Skill
Gender
Mean Score±SD
Significance
Forehand Strike
Male
Female
4.8±1.93
3.17±1.9
.000**
Kick a Stationary Ball
5.99±1.95
3.86±1.21
Overhand Throw
5.8±1.87
4.39±1.99
Underhand Throw
6.12±1.46
5.61±1.52
0.014*
Two-Hand Strike
6.1±2.09
4.11±1.92
Stationary Dribble
3.49±1.66
2.71±1.67
.001**
Two-Hand Catch
4.34±1.43
4.12±1.55
0.297
The results for object control skills really highlight the gender divide in terms of FMS development in primary school children. Out of the 7 object control skills assessed there were significant differences found in 6. But who was better? Males actually outperformed females in all 6 which included…. Females did not perform better than males in any of the object control skills. Previous research has reported a similar trend from pre-school right through to secondary school and so this is an area that really needs to be addressed.

8. NEGATIVE EXEPERIENCES
Discussion
CULTURE
WHY?
PE CURRICULUM
The results found in this study are in line with those published by O Brien et al He reported that Irish Male post primary pupils were significantly better than their female counterparts especially regarding object control skills with females outperforming males in the skip only.
So why is this occurring? One main reason may be due to culture or traditional norms. The International council for sports science and physical education reported that boys typically spend more time out-doors in an activity enhancing environment where they are more likely to be kicking a ball and developing object control skills, in contrast females tend to avoid overly competitive games and prefer to do activities such as skipping and dancing.
Woods et al reported that there is often an over-emphasis on the games strand of the PE curriculum which is often focused on competition and the basic skill development of the game is often overlooked. As such, females are more likely to disengage from such activities and again miss out on essential opportunities to develop object control skills.
The impact of this is that boys excel more in object control skill development while females get left behind. This in turn leads to negative emotional experiences regarding PA and sports that require object control skills and in turn may be a major contributing factor to the high drop-out rates from sports among females as they enter secondary school. This is supported by findings in the ESRI report ‘keeping them in the Game’ 2013 and also by the CSPPA study by Woods et al
NEGATIVE EXEPERIENCES
IMPACT
DROP-OUT

9. Reduce Drop-Out Rates + Increase Physical Activity Participation
Conclusion
Strong Foundations
Perceived Competence
(Robinson 2011)
Create Interventions
Confidence
Studies like this provide information on the exact skills that are lacking in addition to the specific skill components that are proving most difficult. Such information should be utilised to develop targeted intervention programmes to increase FMS proficiency in primary school pupils. By increasing FMS proficiency, it should provide a strong foundation of skills which can be utilised for more advanced skills later on. This foundation should improve perceived competency. This in turn leads to a greater sense of confidence – provides a more positive emotional experience with sport and PA and in turn should increase the likelihood of maintaining a physically active lifestyle and reduce the high drop-outs that are currently being reported.
Reduce Drop-Out Rates + Increase Physical Activity Participation
Gather Information
Positive Association

10. Thank You!!
Any Questions?