Basic motor competencies of preschoolers: construct, assessment and determinants

Basic motor competencies (BMC) are functional performance dispositions and guarantee that children are qualified to participate in sports and exercise. Therefore, support for BMC plays an important role in preschool. For physical education, assessing BMC requires test instruments that are valid and at the same time practicable for classroom use. In this article we present the operationalization of BMC for 4‑ to 6‑year-old preschoolers (Motorische Basiskompetenzen im Kindergarten [MOBAK-KG]). In a validation study (N = 403 children; 46% girls; M = 5.69 years, SD = 0.56), we tested the factorial validity of the MOBAK-KG test instrument and identified correlations with the determinants age and gender. By means of confirmatory factor analysis with eight MOBAK-KG test items, we were able to confirm a two-factor structure with the factors object movement and self-movement (CFI = 0.98; RMSEA = 0.044) that we had found in previous studies for the analogously constructed MOBAK test instruments for primary school. We were also able to show that a single-factor structure of BMC is statistically admissible at this age as well (CFI = 0.96; RMSEA = 0.053). Integrating the covariates gender and age in the two-factorial model revealed differences in BMC based on gender (boys performed better on object movement, girls better on self-movement) and age (older children achieved higher values on object movement and self-movement than the younger ones). Finally, we calculated gender- and age-specific standard values for the standardization of the MOBAK-KG test instrument. The MOBAK-KG test instrument provides opportunities for pedagogical diagnostics as well as for the evaluation of physical education lessons. Thus, the MOBAK-KG test instrument helps preschool teachers to reliably assess the (individual) levels of motor performances in class.