One year ago last month, the province of Alberta became the first province in Canada to mandate 30 minutes of daily physical activity for all students from kindergarten through grade nine.
The goal, said Alberta Education, was "to help Alberta students adopt healthy lifestyles."
Daily Physical Activity (DPA) is part of a broader Wellness Framework in which the government hopes to lower health care costs through an emphasis on disease and injury prevention.
In public schools here in Calgary, DPA is Tom Parker's baby. As the Calgary Board of Education's (CBE) Specialist for Physical Education and Outdoor Education, Parker was responsible for turning the government's fuzzy mission statement into a curricular fact.
"There have been a few stumbling blocks," Parker admits of the first year of this radical new program. "We've tried to address those as best we can. And I think we are starting to see some very, very positive results."
Chief among the stumbling blocks were those stemming from the sudden manner in which the DPA program was thrust upon the Alberta school system.
Few elementary schools, for example, had any teachers legitimately qualified as Phys. Ed. specialists when DPA was sprung on them in 2005.
So the first major challenge Parker faced was teaching math and social studies teachers how also to become Phys. Ed. teachers.
The second major challenge was finding the time for 30 minutes of DPA in CBE schools.
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Most schools, Parker says, addressed this issue by shaving 30 minutes off of the lunch hour. Some added minutes to the start of the day. But no schools, he insists, took time away from academic studies in order to meet DPA requirements.
So how have parents reacted to the government's new fitness plan for kids?
"For the most part very, very positively," says Parker. "There seems to be a great deal of very, very positive support for this from parents."
Not everything has been sunshine and lollipops though. There has been some resistance.
In some cultures, for example, physical education is not considered appropriate for young ladies. So there have been some passionate discussions on that subject in principals' offices over the past year.
There has also been resistance from parents who don't accept the government's position that DPA is the best way to deal with the issue of childhood obesity.
Many would rather see their children focus on academic studies during school hours and maintain physical education as part of their child's extra-curricular activities.
In cases like these, Parker simply points out that CBE schools have no choice in the matter. The government has mandated 30 minutes of DPA. Anyone who is unhappy with the policy is referred to their MLA.
In spite of these early stumbles and objections though, the DPA program is now firmly established in Calgary schools and entering its second year of existence.
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So the question on my mind is this -- is it working? Surely, with a full year behind us, we should expect to see some evidence that obesity is on the decline amongst Calgary students.
Not so fast, says Parker, reminding everyone that the program was put into place on very short notice just last year. Only now are he and his associates getting caught up and becoming able to develop valid program evaluation tools.
"Some schools are actually doing some testing," Parker says, "and really doing some body fat calliper types of things."
Others are continuing with the more traditional methods of Canada Fitness testing -- charting student progress in a 12-minute run, for example.
"I think it's going to take some time," Parker admits, "but I also think that even just visually, hopefully, with some of these young people, you're going to be able to see some positive gains in a very short time."
But is it enough, I wonder? Is 30 minutes of daily physical activity really enough to have an impact on childhood obesity
rates?
"No," Parker states emphatically. "Fitness Canada recommends that we have one-and-a-half hours of daily fitness and activity for our young people."
DPA takes care of the first 30 minutes, says Parker. "The other hour is the kids' or parents' responsibility. Hopefully moms and dads can pick up the ball and help us out with the other hour."
© Brent Johner. Originally published in the Calgary Herald, October 2006. Reprint rights available.
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