The effect of school uniform on incidental physical activity among 10-year-old children

Abstract

The school setting provides a unique opportunity to promote physical activity in children by ensuring adequate time, appropriate facilities and education guidance is offered. However school uniform design could also limit physical activity. A repeated measures cross over design was used to compare school recess and lunch time physical activity over 4 weeks in 64 primary school children (M = 10.48 yrs) when wearing winter uniform or sports uniform. Pedometers recorded step counts during each school recess and lunch breaks. Mixed model analyses found that girls, but not boys, were significantly more active at recess (p=.03), lunch (p = .04) and overall (p=.006) when wearing their sports uniform compared to their winter uniform. School uniform did not impact the boy’s physical activity levels. A physically- restrictive school uniform has the potential to inhibit physical activity among primary school aged girls.

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The effect of school uniform on
incidental physical activity among 10-
year-old children
Hannah Norrish a , Fiona Farringdon a , Max Bulsara a & Beth
Hands a
a School of Health Sciences, University of Notre Dame Australia,
Fremantle, Australia
Version of record first published: 24 Apr 2012.
To cite this article: Hannah Norrish , Fiona Farringdon , Max Bulsara & Beth Hands (2012): The
effect of school uniform on incidental physical activity among 10-year-old children, Asia-Pacific
Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education, 3:1, 51-63
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The effect of school uniform on incidental physical activity among
10-year-old children
Hannah Norrish, Fiona Farringdon, Max Bulsara and Beth Hands*
School of Health Sciences, University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, Australia
The school setting provides a unique opportunity to promote physical activity in
children by ensuring adequate time, appropriate facilities and education guidance
is offered. However school uniform design could also limit physical activity. A
repeated measures crossover design was used to compare school recess and
lunchtime physical activity over four weeks in 64 primary school children
(M10.48 yrs) when wearing winter uniform or sports uniform. Pedometers
recorded step counts during each school recess and lunch break. Perception of the
level of intensity of physical activity was also measured using a self-report log
book. Mixed model analyses found that girls, but not boys, were significantly
more active at recess (p.03), lunch (p.04) and overall (p.006) when wearing
their sports uniform compared to their winter uniform. School uniform did not
impact the boy’s physical activity levels. Perceived intensity of physical activity
increased slightly among both girls and boys. A physically restrictive school
uniform has the potential to inhibit physical activity among primary-school-aged
girls.
Keywords: children; physical activity; school uniform; incidental breaks; ped-
ometer; gender difference
Introduction
The school environment provides an important opportunity to enhance daily
physical activity in children. The school day includes formal physical activity
opportunities such as physical education and sport as well as unstructured play time
during recess and lunchtime breaks. Activity undertaken during these important play
breaks is discretionary and children best accumulate activity when they are able to
interact with their peers in an outdoors setting (Pate, Baranowski, Dowda, & Trost,
1996). These school breaks generally comprise a recess of approximately 15 minutes
and lunch break of approximately 3040 minutes and therefore provide important
opportunities for children to meet a significant proportion of the recommended daily
physical activity level of 60 minutes (Department of Health and Aging, 2004). Data
collected during the 2007 Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical
Activity Survey showed that approximately 20 minutes of lunch breaks were spent
engaged in moderate to vigorous activity in a sample of 794 10- to 13-year-old
children (Stanley, Ridley, & Olds, 2011). Beighle, Alderman, Morgan, and Le
Masurier (2008) found that children spent more than 60% of their recess time in
physical activity compared to outside school time (20%) and Loucaides and Jago
(2008) found that recess activity alone accounted for 9% of daily physical activity.
*Corresponding author. Email: bhands@nd.edu.au
Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education
Vol. 3, No. 1, March 2012, 5163
ISSN 1837-7122 print/ISSN 1837-7130 online
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Gender differences in physical activity level and intensity are consistently
reported across numerous studies regardless of the measurement protocol. Sallis,
Prochaska, and Taylor (2000) reviewed 1089 studies that evaluated 40 variables that
impact on physical activity levels in children aged 3 to 12 years. In 81% of gender
comparisons, boys were more active than girls. Pedometry is the most common
objective measure of physical activity in the school setting. Morgan, Graser, and
Pangrazi (2008) found that late elementary and junior high girls took approximately
10% fewer steps per day than boys. Tudor-Locke, Williams, Reis, and Pluto (2006)
studied Year 6 children and reported that boys took significantly more total steps per
day than girls especially during recess, lunch and after school. Of interest to this
present study, Loucaides and Jago (2008) found that the largest differences in steps
between boys and girls were observed during the 20 minute recess period.
These differences could be due in part to intensity of preferred activities. Boys
and girls appear to use their play periods to engage in different activities (Harper &
Sanders, 1975). Numerous researchers have reported that boys participate in more
total games, ball games, chase games and rough and tumble activities than girls
(Cratty, Ikeda, Martin, Jennett, & Morris, 1970; Hands, Parker & Larkin, 2006;
Pellegrini, Blatchford, Kato, & Baines, 2004; Pfister, 1993; Reilly & Stratton, 1995).
Girls are more likely to play more jumping/verbal games, such as jump rope and
clapping/chanting games. The intensity of these activities range from light to
vigorous, and overall time engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity during
school break times may not be optimal. For example, Zask, Beurden, Barnett,
Brooks, & Dietrich (2001) found that of 500 kindergarten to Year 6 children, only
50% of the boys and 28.6% girls engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity in
most break periods. Hands, Parker, Glasson, Brinkman, and Read (2004) found that
more females engaged in low intensity physical activity such as standing or walking
around during recess (20.2%) and lunch (12.4%) compared with males during recess
(8.9%) and lunch (4.5%).
Schools present a unique opportunity to provide time, facilities and guidance for
children to participate in physical activity and contribute largely to meeting
recommended daily physical activity levels (World Health Organization, 2008).
However, some school rules, policies or physical environments may act as either
barriers or motivators to physical activity. Previous school-based structural
interventions shown to increase children’s physical activity during play breaks
include fitness sessions (Scruggs, Beveridge, & Watson, 2003), structured games
(Connolly & McKenzie, 1995), provision of playground markings (Stratton, 2000;
Stratton & Leonard, 2002; Stratton & Mota, 2000), loose equipment (Afonso &
Botelho, 2003; Verstraete, Cardon, DeClercq, & Bourdeaudhuij, 2006), fixed
equipment (Sutterby & Frost, 2002), improved design of the playground (Afonso
& Botelho, 2003; Ridgers, Stratton, Fairclough, & Twisk, 2007; Stratton & Leonard,
2002), length of play break (Verstraete, Cardon, DeClercq, and Bourdeaudhuij,
2006; Zask, Beurden, Barnett, Brooks, & Dietrich, 2001) and teacher prompts
(McKenzie et al., 1997; Sallis et al., 2001). On the other hand, barriers to physical
activity include limited availability of play space or lack of playground markings
(Stratton, 2000; Stratton & Leonard, 2002), and restrictive school rules and policies,
such as insufficient sports equipment and length of scheduled eating time and play
time (Marron, 2008). Marron (2008) found that 19.9% of schools did not provide
equipment during incidental breaks due to limited storage space, high equipment
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costs or risk of equipment loss/damage. Further, many schools did not permit
students to bring their own sporting equipment to school.
One potential barrier that has not been explicitly explored, yet anecdotally
observed, is the requirement by some schools for students to wear school uniforms
that may restrict free movement. In many independent Australian schools, the
standard winter uniform for boys consists of long- or short-sleeve buttoned-up shirts,
tie, jumper, long trousers, and leather shoes. For girls, the uniform consists of similar
upper body attire, however they wear a knee-length skirt or pinafore and stockings
with their leather shoes. The summer uniform for boys comprises shorts, short-sleeve
shirt and leather shoes; for girls it consists of a belted tunic or short-sleeve shirt and
lightweight skirt which are less physically restrictive. Overall however, such school
uniforms are not designed for students to participate in moderate or vigorous
physical activity. In contrast, the sports uniform consists of shorts or tracksuit pants,
a t-shirt and tracksuit top, combined with sports shoes for both sexes. However
children are only permitted to wear this on physical education or sports days. Some
studies have found that children’s physical activity levels differ significantly
throughout the course of the year (Beighle et al., 2008, Kohl & Hobbs, 1998). In
Mediterranean climates, children tend to be more active during summer than winter
(Loucaides, Chedzoy, & Bennett, 2003; Rowland & Hughes, 2006). As seasonality
may impact on children’s physical activity levels, it would be of interest to examine if
the design of school uniforms contributes towards this trend. In many Australian
schools, winter uniforms, particularly for girls, appear to be more restrictive than
summer uniforms, and therefore may discourage physical activity.
Some researchers have reported complaints by girls that clothing can be a barrier
to being more physically active. Biddle et al. (2005) found that adolescent girls felt
inhibited from cycling to school because they were required to wear a skirt as part of
the school uniform. Others did not participate in school sport due to tight, ill-fitting
or inappropriate clothing (Coakley & White, 1992; Hands, et al., 2004, Orme, 1991;
Porter, 2002). However, few studies have investigated the impact of clothing attire,
and more specifically school uniform, on children’s physical activity and intensity.
The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of school uniform on the
amount, and perceived intensity of physical activity, undertaken by 10-year-old
children during play breaks at school. We hypothesized that the children would be
more active, particularly the girls, when wearing their sports uniform compared to
their school winter uniform. We also hypothesized that the children would engage in
more vigorous activity when wearing the sports uniform compared to the winter
uniform. Reflecting on school rules and policies in the context of physical activity is
crucial if physical activity is to be encouraged. Therefore, how ‘active friendly’the
school uniform is for playing during incidental breaks should be considered
(Department of Education, 2012)
Methods
This pilot study used a repeated measures crossover design to compare school recess
and lunchtime physical activity over four weeks in Year Six primary school children
when wearing winter uniform or sports uniform. The study was conducted in term
two of the school year, beginning at the start of June when students change to winter
school uniform; in part to minimize the effect of adverse weather conditions.
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In Weeks 1 and 3 participants wore their standard winter school uniform and in
Weeks 2 and 4, participants wore their sports uniform.
Participants
The participants were 64 children (males 36, females28) with a mean age of
10.48 yrs (SD.53). This convenience sample comprised students in the two Year 6
classes attending a small independent metropolitan primary school. Once permission
was obtained from the principal and teachers at the school, all Year 6 students were
invited to participate in the study via information sheets and letters to parents. Active
parent and student consent was obtained from 98.46% of the sample. Only one
student declined to participate. This study was approved by the Institutional Human
Research Ethics Committee.
Measures and procedures
Physical activity
Yamax Digi-Walker SW200 pedometers were used to record the number of steps
taken during recess and lunchtime each day. This model is a valid and reliable
measure of physical activity among children (Barfield, Rowe, & Michael, 2004;
Bassett et al., 2000) and four or five days is sufficient time to obtain a reliable mean
step count (Gretebeck & Montoye, 1992; Trost, Pate, Freedson, Sallis, & Taylor,
2000). At the beginning of the study, each pedometer was tested for accuracy by
completion of a 20-step test (Tudor-Locke, Williams, Reis, & Pluto, 2002). During
the data collection, a team of 10 adults retested each pedometer on the Sunday prior
to each week (Sidman, Vincent, Corbin, Pangrazi, & Vincent, 2001).
The data were collected by trained students from the Year 7 class. They were
shown how to ensure all pedometers were working, how to seal the pedometers with
stickers to record data after each break. All pedometers were numbered so that each
student used the same pedometer during all four data-collection weeks. During a
briefing before the study, all participants were shown how to ensure pedometers were
fastened 23 inches to the right of their navels, in line with the midpoint of the right
knee, and on the waistband of their pants/shorts/skirts.
Approximately five minutes before each play break, the research assistants
distributed pedometer boards to the Year 6 classrooms. Pedometers were worn for 20
minutes during recess and 35 minutes during lunch. Both breaks had a warning bell 5
minutes prior to the end of the break. At that time, students put away any play
equipment and started to return to class. Actual activity time, therefore, was
calculated as 15 minutes for recess and 20 minutes for lunch, as students were
required to sit and eat their lunch for the first 10 minutes of lunchtime. At the
conclusion of each break, the students reattached their pedometer to their number
on the pedometer board. The research assistants recorded step data against each
pedometer number in a record book and resealed the pedometers in preparation for
the next break. The participants also recorded if they lost their pedometer and the
type of uniform they were wearing in their log book.
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Perceived intensity of physical activity
Perceived intensity of physical activity was recorded in a log book by the student
immediately after each break. Diary measures and log books have the strongest
validity of 18 self-report methods of assessment on physical activity in children
(Sallis, 1991; Sirard and Pate, 2001). In this study, a simple scale of faces rated one to
three was used with 1light physical activity (no huffing and puffing), 2moderate
physical activity (some huffing and puffing), and 3vigorous activity (lots of huffing
and puffing) (see Figure 1). The face validity of the log book designed for this study
was confirmed by a team of experts in measurement of physical activity then piloted
and modified with a small group of primary school children. The Year 6 teachers
used a set protocol to prompt completion. These scores were converted into a mean
perceived-intensity score for each uniform condition (maximum 3, minimum 1).
Data collection
Data were collected at recess and lunch over the four-week period, with a potential
maximum of 10 days (10 recess and 10 lunch occasions) for each uniform condition.
The data for the first day were not included to minimize the effect of reactivity, and
data were not gathered on four days due to inclement weather during Week 4 when
the participants were wearing sports uniform. In addition, data were missing due to
children being absent, kept in class to finish work or as a consequence of poor
behavior, getting injured or falling ill, going on a school excursion, being removed
from the playground due to the ‘no hat, no play’rule, or the weather being
Tick the box below that best describes how you felt during this play
No huffing and puffing
Some huffing and puffing
Lots of huffing and puffing
Figure 1. Perceived intensity scale.
Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education 55
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unfavourable for outdoors play. The final number of data points for participants
ranged between 4 and 15 for winter uniform and 2 and 12 for summer uniform.
Data analysis
Data were excluded if the pedometer malfunctioned; was taken off for over five
minutes; lost; if the student wore the incorrect uniform; or did not provide at least
four days data for each uniform type. In addition, pedometer data were removed if
the recorded step counts were below 100 or over 2000 during recess or below 150 and
over 3000 during lunch as these were considered to be unusually high or low step
counts and therefore considered as outliers. For these data, the responses for
individuals were tracked to see if there was a pattern before exclusion. Consequently
the final sample sizes varied each day and between recess and lunch throughout the
study. Differences in perceived intensity between gender, uniform type and occasion
were examined using t-tests. A linear mixed model was used to quantify the
relationship between the number of pedometer steps (the dependent variable),
uniform type, play breaks (recess or lunch) for the whole sample and stratified by
gender. This model can account for repeated observations taken over time (Singer &
Willett, 2003). Uniform and Incidental Breaks were treated as fixed effect parameters
and a post-hoc test was carried out to compare the mean changes in number of steps
over time. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS v. 18 utilizing the mixed
procedure and the level of significance was set at pB.05.
Results
Boys took more steps than the girls overall (t3.86, pB.001), at recess (t4.16,
pB.001), and at lunch (t2.50, p.015) regardless of uniform type (Table 1). The
mean steps per minute were based on 15 minutes and 20 minutes of activity during
recess and lunch respectively.
Table 2 provides the unadjusted mean step counts for males and females
according to occasion and uniform type. The mixed model analyses found that girls,
but not boys, were significantly more active at recess, lunch and overall when wearing
their sports uniform compared to their winter uniform. The girls took more steps
during recess (128) and lunch (176) when wearing their sports uniform than when
wearing their winter uniform. The boys marginally increased their step counts during
recess and overall but the differences were not significant. When the data for the total
Table 1. Mean pedometer steps and steps per minute for combined, recess and lunch breaks
for boys (n36) and girls (n24).
Combined Recess Lunch
Mean Mean Steps/min Mean Steps/min
M (SD) M(SD) M(SD) M(SD) M(SD)
Boys 1310.0 (347.6) 1134.1 (471.3) 75.6 1460.3 (378.5) 73.0
Girls 1031.8 (227.3) 735.0 (211.7) 49.0 1251.3 (259.7) 62.5
Note: All gender differences significant pB.01.
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Table 2. Unadjusted mean daily pedometer steps for winter and sports uniforms during combined and separate incidental breaks.
Recess Lunch Total
Winter Sports p Winter Sports p Winter Sports p
M(SD) M(SD) M(SD) M(SD) M(SD) M(SD)
Boys 1036.1 (345.1) 1127.1 (532.6) 0.16 1485.4 (374.7) 1455.8 (539.4) 0.82 1275.5 (331.9) 1364 (522.0) 0.37
Girls 690.1 (275.0) 818.2 (244.5) 0.03 1172.6 (296.5) 1348.3 (368.3) 0.04 933.3 (271.8) 1134.1 (271.9) 0.006
Total 884.7 (358.5) 1050.7 (441.5) 0.02 1348.5 (376.2) 1408.1 (470.7) 0.17 1125.8 (349.4) 1261.9 (441.5) 0.02
Note: pvalues based on linear mixed model analyses.
Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education 57
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sample were considered and controlling for gender, mean step counts were
significantly higher at recess and overall when the sports uniform was worn.
The participants recorded their perceived intensity of effort (1, 2 or 3) after each
activity period. The number of occasions where each intensity level was reported were
summed for boys and girls when wearing each uniform type (Figure 2).
More low-intensity play breaks were reported for both boys and girls during play
breaks regardless of uniform type. Of interest, when sports uniform was worn, the
prevalence of vigorous-intensity occasions increased for boys (6.8 % to 17.3%) and
the prevalence of moderate-intensity occasions increased for the girls from 11.5 % to
23.3%). Girls only reported five play occasions (four wearing winter uniform and one
wearing sport uniform) as vigorous. For each participant, the intensity scores were
converted to a mean composite score for each uniform condition (see Table 3). There
were no gender, uniform or occasion differences in perceived intensity (Table 3),
Figure 2. Prevalence (%) of perceived intensity of males and females for all breaks.
Table 3. Perceived intensity of activities M(SD) for recess and lunch according to uniform
type.
Recess Lunch Total
Winter Sports pWinter Sports pWinter Sports p
M(SD) M(SD) M(SD) M(SD) M (SD) M(SD)
Boys 1.42(.40) 1.49(.56) .73 1.52(.46) 1.40(.50) .22 1.44(.37) 1.46(.57) .87
Girls 1.13(.34) 1.24(.32) .22 1.15(.30) 1.27(.35) .14 1.14(.31) 1.25(.30) .17
Total 1.25(.39) 1.33(.45) .24 1.30(.41) 1.33(.42) .74 1.27(.37) 1.34(.44) .28
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although a trend was apparent for the girls. At both recess and lunch, girls had a
higher mean perceived intensity when wearing sports uniform.
Discussion
The primary purpose of the study was to examine the effect of school uniform on
physical activity during school play breaks, and if the effect differed between girls
and boys. The results revealed that girls, but not boys, took more steps during play
breaks when wearing sports uniform compared to winter uniform. Although
perceived intensity levels of the play breaks increased for both boys and girls when
wearing sports uniform, it appears that this increase was more apparent in the girls
than the boys. Light activity was the most prevalent intensity level for both boys and
girls across both uniform types.
Regardless of uniform type, the boys took more steps during recess and lunch
than girls which is consistent with many other school-based studies, (Beighle,
Morgan, Masurier, & Pangrazi, 2006; Vincent & Pangrazi, 2002), however the mean
steps per minutes for males and females were much lower at recess and lunch than
those reported in other studies (Beighle & Pangrazi, 2006; Loucaides & Jago, 2008;
Tudor-Locke et al., 2006). The researchers were unable to identify any specific data
for 10-year-old children, however Beighle and Pangrazi (2006) suggested a mean of
90 steps per minute is typical of nine-year-old children. For primary-school-aged
children, Tudor-Locke et al. (2006) reported means of 99.3 steps/min and 67.4 steps/
min and Loucaides and Jago (2008) reported 72.2 steps/min and 51.9 steps/min for
males and females respectively during recess. Given these ranging levels, further
studies are needed to better determine mean steps per minute for boys and girls of
different ages.
The gender difference in steps per minute could be attributed to differences in the
intensity of play patterns. In this study, a higher prevalence of play breaks with a
perceived vigorous intensity were reported by boys than girls. Others have reported
that boys tend to dominate available playground space as they engage in more
vigorous activities such as competitive games like soccer and football, chase games,
or rough-and-tumble play requiring speed, strength, endurance, and aggression
(Beighle et al., 2008; Pellegrini, Blatchford, Kato, &Baines, 2004). On the other hand,
girls participate in more sedentary activities (Ridgers, Stratton, Fairclough, 2006).
Uniform type had a greater impact on physical activity level among the girls than
the boys. They were significantly more active at both recess and lunch when wearing
their sports uniform compared to their winter uniform. Other studies have found that
changing the structural environment can impact on physical activity, especially in
relation to girls. Verstraete et al. (2006) found providing game equipment at recess
was effective in girls, but not in boys. Similar to the current study, Verstraete et al.
(2006) indicated that the boys had high physical-activity levels prior to the game
equipment being introduced, making it difficult to find significant improvements. In
this study, boys had similar step counts in both conditions and boys were
significantly more active than girls in both uniform conditions over the four weeks.
Therefore, the boys already had higher physical activity levels in the winter uniform
condition, and, similar to the study by Verstraete et al. (2006) it was difficult to find
significant improvements when they were in the sport uniform condition. Conversely,
as the girls had lower physical-activity levels than boys in the winter uniform
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condition, they had the opportunity to show a significant difference when wearing
the sport uniform. It appears that the winter uniform for boys does not adversely
impact on their ability to be physically active whereas the restrictive nature of the
winter uniform for girls has the opposite effect. It should be noted that the winter
uniform for boys requires long trousers whereas a skirt is required for girls. It is not
such a big change in uniform when moving from trousers to a sport tracksuit
however; moving from a skirt to sports tracksuit is clearly a greater change for the
girls.
This study also questioned if intensity would change if the type of uniform
changed. Although minimal, students engaged in slightly more vigorous activities
when wearing their sports uniform and this did not differ significantly between boys
and girls. Ridgers et al. (2007) indicated that while boys are more active overall
during play time, boys and girls experienced comparable increases in their recess
Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) and Vigorous Physical Activity
(VPA) following the playground markings and physical structures intervention.
Perhaps the reason this study did not capture any major changes in intensity was the
nature of the measurement. There were only three choices to rate intensity level,
making it difficult to detect any significant change. Students also may not have
clearly understood how each statement and face was related to each feeling after
being physically active. Although they recorded responses in the log book
immediately after the play break there was no way to determine if the intensity of
the activity varied in the break. For example they may have engaged in vigorous
activity for the first 10 minutes, but not in the last 5 minutes of the break. Therefore,
recording how they felt immediately after the break may not actually reflect the
intensity of their activities over the entire break.
In addition, although the three intensity categories were explained to the students
prior to the study, some students may have overestimated or underestimated their
intensity.
Strengths and limitations
This is the first study to identify a negative effect of school uniform on activity levels
in primary school children; however as the small pilot study involved a convenience
sample from one year group in one school the study needs to be replicated with a
larger sample. Some events may have prevented the students from engaging in
physical activity during the play breaks and it was not possible to record all of these.
As discussed above, the scale used for the students to report perceived intensity may
not have been sufficiently discriminatory to detect change, or sufficiently detailed to
monitor variations in intensity over the play break.
In conclusion, the increase in mean steps, especially in females, and the slight
increase in intensity when wearing the sports uniform reported in this study are
important given that many children do not meet the recommended daily physical
activity level of 60 minutes (Department of Health and Aging 2004). Any strategies
that increase the potential to be physically active should not be ignored. Schools are
able to provide opportunities for young people to be physically active (Al-Nakeeb,
Duncan, Lyons, Woodfield, 2007; Booth, 1997;Tudor-Locke et al., 2006) and a
range of school-based interventions have lead to increases in children’s physical
activity (Alfonso & Botelho, 2003; Ridgers, Stratton, Fairclough & Twisk, 2006;
60 H. Norrish et al.
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Scruggs et al., 2003; Stratton, 2000; Stratton & Leonnard, 2002; Stratton & Mullan,
2003; Sutterby &Frost, 2002; ; Verstraete et al., 2006; Zask, et al., 2001). School
policies may either enhance this potential or create barriers (Marron, 2008). Clearly
structural changes to the school environment can be successful in encouraging
physical activity levels. In the case of this study, it was a simple change in the type of
uniform worn.
Notes on contributors
Hannah Norrish completed her Bachelor in Health and Physical Education (honours) in 2010.
She was awarded first class honours and the findings from her research project, The Effect of
School Uniform on Incidental Physical Activity among 10-year-old children, provided the basis
of this article. Hannah is now teaching in a country primary school in Western Australia.
Fiona Farringdon is Assistant Dean, Health Sciences and coordinates the Bachelor of
Preventive Health. She has been involved in health education and health promotion for over
twenty five years at the practitioner and academic levels and previously taught at a variety of
secondary and primary schools as a health and physical education teacher for ten years. Her
research interests include the efficacy of school-based health education programmes; reducing
alcohol and other drug related harm for individuals and communities, eating patterns of
adolescents, increasing physical activity levels in children and adolescents and mental health in
adolescents.
Max Bulsara holds the chair in Biostatistics at the University of Notre Dame in Western
Australia. He has been involved in epidemiological studies for over two decades both overseas
and in Australia, and a number of research projects relating to the physical activity, built
environment and health.
Beth Hands has been involved in research involving children and adolescents for two decades.
She is currently the Director of the Institute for Health and Rehabilitation Research at the
University of Notre Dame. She authored the highly regarded Fundamental Movement Skills
Teacher Resource and Play5 Teacher Manual.
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