Impact Evaluation "movevo4kids" (Get Active Social Business Award Winner Project 2022)
The winning project of the Get Active Social Business Award (GASBA) 2022 was also evaluated by the NPO Competence Centre, as were all the winning projects of the award: "movevo4kids". movevo4kids is a digital platform that was specially designed for use in the classroom and was used for the first time in 2022. The programme is primarily aimed at schools, teachers and children at primary level. The movevo4kids web application contains animated videos and easy-to-understand instructions for moving educational games. These games and tasks are solved together and are designed to promote the joy of movement, social interaction and a sense of community, among other things. The aim is to provide pupils with entertaining and uncomplicated movement interventions between lessons and to make physical activity fun and motivating. Daily exercise should become an integral part of everyday life, while the movement skills of pupils and teachers are improved. The aim is to counteract children's lack of physical activity and fulfil their need to be more active.
Specifically, a pragmatic impact analysis was used for the evaluation in order to check whether the assumed impacts of the project were actually achieved. At the beginning, the key stakeholders of the project were defined, including the intended impacts. In order to enable an assessment of the achievement of the hypothetical effects and also to ascertain effects that had not yet been considered but had materialised, interviews were conducted with the key stakeholders: the pupils, teachers, schools, clubs and experts.
movevo4kids is proving to be a valuable addition to the children's school lessons. The active breaks ensure an increased awareness of movement, fun and an improved learning and teaching environment. It also promotes social skills and a strong class community, improves the children's interpersonal skills such as empathy and encourages self-organisation within the group and cooperation. An increase in self-confidence has also been observed in some cases: movevo4kids, for example, encourages more reserved children or children with other first languages to actively participate in the activities. Although movevo4kids motivates children to be more active, the effects on physical activity behaviour outside of school could not be clearly determined. In some cases, the programme is perceived as a reward and some children stated that movevo4kids helps to improve their motor skills, but not all of them. While some children were more energised and focused, others felt exhausted after the exercises. Sensitisation to the environment and nature only takes place to a limited extent as part of movevo4kids. Feelings of shame, bullying or significant injuries were not identified as an effect of movevo4kids. Rather, the programme succeeds in focusing on the common good and less on individual achievements.
movevo4kids has various positive effects on teachers. These include increased competence in the use of movement as a pedagogical tool and a broadening of knowledge about the importance of movement for health. Teachers develop an increased awareness of movement and gain easier access to a sound programme that expands their teaching offer and provides new pedagogical tools and repertoires. This leads to more variety in lessons, relieves the burden on support staff and creates a better learning and teaching environment by turning the classroom into a movement and health-promoting learning environment. Some of the effects of movevo4kids include the opportunity to reward pupils and the chance to take on a multiplier role. movevo4kids also has the potential to shorten the preparation time for movement exercises. One possible disadvantage is an increased noise level during the exercises in the classroom. Frustration or excessive demands, e.g. due to technical problems, did not occur, nor were there any signs of peer pressure or increased stress due to noise or disorganisation.
These results, plus some recommendations for action derived from the interviews, can help to further develop movevo4kids effectively.