Engagement in physical activity for health and well being: Self-rated activity level, perception of the value of physical activity and differences among teachers in public primary schools of six selected educational circuits

Abstract

Often, children draw inspiration from teachers who participate in regular physical activity for health and wellbeing. In this study, we examined 1) teachers’ self-rated participation level in physical activity and perception of the value of physical activity for enhancing health and wellbeing 2) teachers’ gender and class level differences in participation of physical activity and perception of the value of physical activity for enhancing health and wellbeing and 3) the correlation between teacher participation in physical activity, perception of the value of physical activity and the frequency at which physical education lessons were taught. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey with a sample of 172 subjects out of estimated population of 300 in six randomly sampled educational circuits in the Volta Region, Ghana. Self-structured questionnaire was validated by means of expert opinion and was found dependable for data collection. Pre-data analyses were performed to screen and clean data from probable errors. Data analyses were performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS for Windows, Version 17). The study found that the extent to which most public primary school teachers participated in physical activity was generally low. To great extent, teachers perceived positively the value of physical activity for enhancing health and wellbeing. The study did not show statistically significant differences in gender and class level participation of teachers in regular physical activity and perceptions of the value of physical activity for enhancing health and wellbeing. Positive correlation was found between teachers’ participation in regular physical activity and the frequency at which physical education lessons were taught in public primary schools.