Background
Methods
Trial design
The Girls Active programme
Data sources
Type of data | Collected from | Timing | No. of Participants |
---|---|---|---|
School details including school environment | Lead teacher, school records, Department of Education school census | Baseline, 7 and 14 months | – |
Training event resources | Documents used at the training i.e. timetable, presentation, handouts | During the training event | – |
Training attendance and evaluation forms | Training deliverer | At the end of the training | 1 training deliverer |
Lead teachers at training | At the end of the initial training day | 7 teachers | |
Lead teachers at training | At the end of the peer review event | 7 teachers | |
Peer leaders | At the end of the peer leader event | 56 girls | |
Interviews | Lead teachers | 7 and 14 months | 10 intervention 8 control at both time-points |
Youth Sport Trust staff members | 7 and 14 months | 3 staff at each time-point | |
The Hub and development coach | 7 and 14 months | 1 staff member from Hub 1 development coach at both time-points | |
Focus groups (intervention schools only) | Peer leaders | 14 months | 46 pupils from 8 schools (range 4–9) |
Subgroups of evaluation sample | 14 months | 58 pupils from 8 schools (range 4–10) | |
A sample of boys | 14 months | 38 pupils from 6 schools (range 2–8) | |
Exit survey | Girls of original sample in all intervention schools | 14 month | 722 pupils |
Feedback forms
Girls Active Lead teacher interviews
Programme delivery and support staff interviews
Pupil focus groups
Exit survey
School environment
Analyses
Main code – level 1 | Sub code – level 2 | Sub code – level 3 |
---|---|---|
Training events | Initial training event | Idea provoking |
Sharing experiences | ||
Lack of implementation timeline | ||
Too flexible | ||
Peer review event | Disappointment at cancellation of first event | |
Sharing experiences | ||
Peer leader event | Enjoyable | |
More time to dedicate to sharing experiences | ||
Ongoing support | YST support | Valuable |
Non-judgemental | ||
Additional ideas | ||
Problem solving | ||
Mentoring came too late in implementation | ||
Resource folder | Ideas for implementation | |
Used at start | ||
Action plan | Time consuming | |
Confusing | ||
Money | Funding tight for schools | |
Want money to last as long as possible | ||
Activities as part of GA | Physical activities | Girls only clubs |
New clubs (short duration) | ||
Taster sessions | ||
Activity days/one-off events | ||
Support activities (not PA) | Loyalty card and prizes (reward schemes) | |
Suggestion box | ||
Changing physical environment | ||
Clothing for peer leaders | ||
Posters | ||
Bulletin board | ||
Surveys/canvassing opinions | ||
Marketing through assembly | ||
Peer leader group | Chose sporty/active/engaged girls | |
Teacher reluctant to delegate | ||
Meetings | Peer leader group | |
Form groups | ||
Peer leaders with head teacher | ||
PE related | Looked at content | |
Uniform review | ||
Barriers/challenges | Logistics | Timetable restrictions |
School buses | ||
Attendance at training days | ||
Cost | ||
Access to gym/space | ||
Providing variety | ||
Creating widespread awareness | ||
Getting peer leaders together | ||
Lack of time | Life gets in the way | |
Takes a lot of time | ||
“competing demands” (wider school commitments) | ||
Wish had dedicated more time for programme | ||
Curriculum | Fit of changes with national curriculum | |
Interpersonal | Peer leaders feel judged | |
Peer leaders feel responsible if can’t deliver what other want | ||
Peer leaders feel pressure to meet diverse needs | ||
Girls feel judged | ||
Fear of losing friends | ||
Attitudes | Gender stereotypes | |
Getting girls to come | ||
Self-conscious | ||
Buy-in from other teachers | Not viewed as priority | |
Organisation | Knowing what to do | |
Lack of timeframe for implementation | ||
Having other teams to play | ||
Cancellations | ||
Equipment | ||
Facilitators | Support | From teachers (Peer leaders) |
Other teachers and senior management (teachers) | ||
External (from YST) | ||
Feeling part of something bigger | ||
Being monitored | ||
What is Girls Active? | Choice | |
Promoting girls activity | Speaking out for girls | |
Encourage girls to do sport | ||
Showing girls can do it | ||
Motivating girls | ||
Getting opinions | ||
Measurement days | Watches (GENEActiv accelerometers) | |
Find out how active girls are | ||
Activities | Loyalty cards | |
Prizes | ||
Fun activities | ||
Sexist | Not all boys play sport – should be given this opportunity too | |
Better kit | ||
Changing girls | Get girls fitter | |
Get girls more active | ||
Build confidence | ||
Change PE | ||
Impact/benefits | Peer leaders | Seeing changes |
Role model | ||
Sense of responsibility | ||
Friendships | ||
Get out of class | ||
Confidence | ||
Learning from other schools | ||
Leadership | ||
Help others | ||
Learning new PA skills | ||
Developing organisation and planning skills | ||
PE | Less moans | |
Talking about health | ||
Choice | ||
None yet | Late started | |
Needs time to see them | ||
Enjoyment | ||
Increase attendance at clubs | New faces at clubs | |
Good opportunity | ||
Boys | Interest from boys |
Results
Engagement with, reach, and dose of the intervention
Training events
Ongoing support (resource folder, action plans, Dropbox, YST visits, hub school, funding)
All schools submitted both their action plans (Table 3). However, four schools did not submit their first action plan, until after the 7 month follow-up evaluation visit (8 months after the initial training). This meant they did not receive their first funding instalment until after the 7 month follow-up evaluation visit. Four schools did not submit their second action plan until the time of the 14 month evaluation visit. Six schools received the first funding by the end of the summer term 2015 (July), 3 months following the initial training day. The second funding instalment was received in January 2016 by six schools and four schools did not receive their instalment until May 2016, around the time of the 14 month evaluation visit. It is evident from these dates that funding in some schools was received late on in the intervention cycle and therefore the schools had limited time/opportunity to spend it as part of the Girls Active programme. Many of the schools did not spend any, or only a very small amount of the funding, during the 14 month programme.“We used a lot at the start, not really at all towards the end” (Teacher; School 2)“It’s probably not been something we’ve really referred a lot to as we’ve gone along but for a starting point it’s definitely something useful” (Teacher; School 3)“At the very start of the project, when you looking at the very first action plan and looking at kind of cases and things...you know, it kind of...okay, what can we do, but other than that, it’s not been used at all … .[I: is there a reason for that?] No … I’ve just got on with what I thought that we should do here and made if school specific to us and generally just not really looked in it” (Teacher; School 6).
School | Mission analysis 1 | Funding 1 | Mission analysis 2 | Funding 2 |
---|---|---|---|---|
School 1 | December 2015 | December 2015 | April 2016 | May 2016 |
School 2 | May 2015 | July 2015 | December 2015 | January 2016 |
School 3 | November 2015 | May 2016 | April 2016 | May 2016 |
School 4 | December 2015 | December 2015 | December 2015 | January 2016 |
School 5 | December 2015 | January 2016 | December 2015 | January 2016 |
School 6 | June 2015 | July 2015 | January 2016 | May 2016 |
School 7 | June 2015 | July 2015 | December 2015 | January 2016 |
School 8 | June 2015 | July 2015 | April 2016 | May 2016 |
School 9 | June 2015 | July 2015 | January 2016 | January 2016 |
School 10 | June 2015 | July 2015 | December 2015 | January 2016 |
Not all schools accessed the phone call support offered by the Hub school. However, all schools had at least one visit, sometimes two, from the YST development coach, although these did not take place until eight - 10 months into the intervention.“I have looked in there a couple of times but no one seems to have put anything in” (Teacher; School 8)“I know there’s the Dropbox, again, it’s trying to get the time to even think about getting into the Dropbox to look” (Teacher; School 6)
Implementation in the school
Support Activities | Physical activities | |
---|---|---|
School 1 | By 7 months: presentation to staff to try and find other members of staff to get involved. By 14 months: peer leaders had held meetings, organised a suggestion box, hoodies, looked at PE content, talked to form groups. | By 7 months: none. By 14 months: None but girls only extra-curricular club and a loyalty card for attendance planned. |
School 2 | By 7 months: teacher recruited another member of staff to assist, peer leader meetings once/week, posters advertising clubs, survey of opinions, looked at after school transport issue, looked at painting changing rooms, peer leaders went to head teacher to explain what they were planning. By 14 months: inspirational posters for changing rooms and every tutor room, PE teacher promotes Girls Active in PE lessons, weekly bulletins. | By 7 months: new clubs (cheerleading, Zumba, dance, basketball) with external coaches delivering these (no longer operating at 14 months). By 14 months: just started a “Healthy Life Club” (once a week, walk/jog/run/talk to music) and an activity loyalty card. |
School 3 | By 7 months: peers leaders launch Girls Active in assembly, questionnaire to girls, girls ‘drop in’ sessions, designed new netball kit. By 14 months: reviewed PE kit policy and petitioned to get changes to the kit but head teacher did not approve changes, meeting between peer leaders and senior leadership team (planned), hoodies for peer leaders (planned next term) | By 7 months: nothing. By 14 months: one-off sport relief event (ninja warrior course in the gym - 200 attendees), non-uniform sports day, yoga, dance and boxercise sessions (with lights turned off so no-one can see them doing it), changing some activities to make them girl friendly (planned next term). |
School 4 | By 7 months: asked girls that weren’t involved in sport what they wanted to do (teacher went round as many classes as possible with pen and paper), feedback from school stakeholder group (boys and girls); ensuring clubs take place indoors (in response to feedback); At 14 months: teacher plans to set up a reward scheme for regular attendance at clubs, plans for the Girls Council to present to Senior Leadership Team. | By 7 months: girls only after school fit club. At 14 months: after school rounders club and dance club. |
School 5 | By 7 months: marketing during form time, assemblies, video displays around school, stand up banners with reminders to be active and where they can access information, designed a club board for the gym using local information on clubs. By 14 months: Nothing else done. | By 7 months: taster and satellite sessions after school. By 14 months: one-off Sports Relief fitness challenge and peer leaders were planning a Zumba party. |
School 6 | By 7 months: nothing. By 14 months: assemblies, meetings, asking people what they wanted, posters/bulletins. | By 7 months: nothing. By 14 months: “Thursday Club” (after school, different activities could be tried, 15–30 attend), peer leaders PE lesson. |
School 7 | By 7 months: external person did a session on marketing, meetings, planning of loyalty scheme. By 14 months: surveys of other pupils, bulletin board, posters, meetings, assembly, introduced loyalty scheme. | By 7 months: already had lots of clubs so decided not to introduce more. By 14 months: one-off taster sessions (~ 25 girls attend) e.g., Zumba, hula, yoga (spread throughout one term), about to run a “Girls Active day” (June 2016) for all girls in the school with lots of tasters sessions and quizzes and prizes e.g., cheerleading, trampolining, Zumba, boxercise. |
School 8 | By 7 months: questionnaire to all girls, changes to PE kit policy, whole school reward initiative. By 14 months: a second whole school reward initiative was being implemented from Easter where students could receive a range of different rewards for participation in any clubs (not just physical ones) e.g., free skipping ropes, footballs, basketballs, cricket stumps, art packs, lunch queue jump. | By 7 and 14 months: no additional physical activities (i.e., clubs) delivered. |
School 9 | By 7 months: peer leader hoodies, assembly to girls, changes to PE kit, meetings, teacher spoke to staff at a CPD event, questionnaire to girls, external badminton player came in and did inspirational talk to 20 girls from years 8 and 9 (those who were not engaged but had influence), weekly challenge to say something positive to someone in their lesson, using staff as role models e.g., if they have done something active display it on the school TV screens. By 14 months: posters and MOODLE pupil online bulletin boards. | By 7 months: dodgeball and gymnastics club (around 30 attendees at each), fitness challenge in form time e.g., plank and wall sit challenge (whole school). By 14 months: reward card scheme, activity day, promotion of existing clubs. |
School 10 | By 7 and 14 months: nothing done. | By 14 months: nothing done. |
I don’t feel like I’ve done it well enough … in hindsight I should have been more proactive in making sure I made the time, too often I thought I need to do that and I’ve not done it. And I know deep down that it will be good and it will work … I don’t think I’ve made as much use of it as I could have done. (Teacher; School 1)
Opinions and experiences of the intervention
Training events
Although the training events were well received, the teachers highlighted some potential issues that could have impacted on implementation of the programme in their own schools. Firstly, the initial training event did not necessarily leave teachers with a clear plan or timeline for next steps for implementation. This was reflected in the quantitative evaluation of the training with 71% of teachers only feeling ‘somewhat confident’ to be able to go back to their school and implement Girls Active.“That training day [initial training event], in my opinion, was really inspiring. I found it really brilliant. I came back really buzzing, can't wait to get things started … … I thought I got loads out of it, this is how we can do this, this is how we can do that, came back and had a really positive meeting with the department” (Teacher; School 8)“[the peer review event was] Useful to share and hear what other people were doing but also quite nice for sharing what we've done as well and other people being interested in it … really good sharing opportunity and appreciated to know that either you are ahead of what other people are doing, or you have helped somebody to be able to get where they are or there are certain things that you are finding difficult” (Teacher; School 7)“they loved the activities and things [at peer leader event], it was good team bonding stuff” (Teacher; School 9)
Secondly, the date for the peer review event had to be changed due to low attendance numbers and this took place two months later than planned. Several teachers expressed their disappointment at this, particularly as they were hoping it would highlight the next steps for implementation.“I didn’t feel, probably when I came back home, and they asked me the next day, oh, so what do we have to do? I kind of felt a bit like, I’m not really sure. I knew why we were doing it, but then I was a bit like, so what do we actually do?” (Teacher; School 9)
Finally, whilst the peer leader event was enjoyable for the leaders and 98% rated the event as ‘very good’ or ‘good’, the teachers felt that more time should have been dedicated to the girls from the different schools sharing ideas and formulating plans for implementation.“It's a shame that that was cancelled because that’s what I was using for the next step” (Teacher; School 8)
“I just think the girls themselves they could have spent a bit more time finding out from each other what they did. They got a lot from it but I don't think they actually got to share their ideas much with each other which I think would have been useful because then for my girls they maybe could have picked up ideas and picked up enthusiasm from what the other girls had done and thought oh that will be a really good idea we could go and do that” (Teacher; School 1)
Ongoing support (resource folder, action plans, Dropbox, YST visits, hub school, funding)
Many of the teachers reported that the first action plan was time consuming to complete and there was a lack of understanding of the sections on the form. The second action plan form was modified in response to the teacher feedback and the teachers found it easier to complete.“So that actually stimulated a lot of conversation about our uniform and kit. There was a lot of examples in there about that” (Teacher; School 3)“I thought the packs were useful, because there were a load of case studies in there, from other schools. So there was a Race 4 Life case study, that we took, that we’re doing, so we’ve applied to be a Race 4 Life school” (Teacher; School 5)“I think that enabled the girls that had taken part as the girls group to actually do everything themselves so therefore I've not...they've come to me and said, shall we do this?” (Teacher; School 7)
Although the teachers spent very little money, they did feel that this aspect was important and were very appreciative of the funding. Teachers felt that because funding within schools for sports and physical activities was tight, they wanted to plan appropriately on how to spend it and to make it stretch across several school terms.“Oh it's taken ages to complete and sometimes we look at it and we go does that really mean that? Yeah it's taken a lot of time to go through” (Teacher; School 2)“I didn’t understand really, what they were asking. So like, so kind of strategies into action, does your plan drive everything you do? What plan? What kind of things do you mean by that?” (Teacher; School 9)“The action plan that they gave us the second time around was a lot easier. A lot easier … ” (Teacher; School 6)
The teachers felt that the support visits conducted by the hub school and the YST development coach were extremely valuable and non-judgemental. They also encouraged them to progress further with implementation of the intervention; for example, through the generation of additional ideas, reinforcement, problem solving, and the thought of having someone monitoring them.“If we can make that money last for a long period of time, then that is, you know, if we are only using a real small portion of it per year, we would make it last maybe two or three years” (Teacher; School 7)“we’ve been very lucky that we’ve got this money through the Girls Active, but we want it to last as long as possible. Once that money has gone, it’s not then sustainable, so we’ve only had one coach in. We’ve only spent a little bit of money, but it means that in September we can get another coach in, so it’s like spreading it out and we can sustain this now for a couple of years” (Teacher; School 6)
However, several teachers highlighted this type of support was needed earlier on in the programme to facilitate the development of ideas and timelines for implementation early on.“She’s been so useful for bouncing ideas off and, kind of, yes, just giving feedback on how perhaps I could have approached something that would have helped me out. It’s just been really useful because she is so casual about it so I haven’t felt judged as well. If I’ve said, oh, no, this hasn’t gone very well or anything, you know, she’s been really good and just that general having someone to feedback to, ask questions to, it’s been really useful” (Teacher; School 5)“She’s someone who you know is monitoring you, without you feeling like you’re being monitored. I feel like she’s supporting, rather than pointing the finger at things that you may not have done. Without her, I’d be left to my own devices, and without being reminded and in contact with these people, I don’t know where that would feature on my to do list” (Teacher; School 8)
“You almost need that support throughout the project to keep you going and to keep the motivation and the self-belief...yeah, you are doing the right thing and I think without that, I don’t think it would work.” (Teacher; School 6)
Implementation in the school
Some teachers reported that they had involved their senior leadership team and that implementation was made easier when the senior leadership team was supportive. Teachers also felt that although, as mentioned previously, the school visits from the YST development coach came too late in the programme, they were extremely useful to progress implementation in terms of clarification on direction, ideas, problem solving and general motivation and support.“We thought it was a brilliant project that our girls would be on-board with this and it was a good thing for the school to be honest” (Teacher; School 2)“Honestly I think Girls Active project is such a good one. I think because anything we can do to get girls involved in PE is so important and I think it’s just the way to do it like getting the girls to do it themselves so that it spreads the word that way; really good” (Teacher; School 5).“It's such a good opportunity that I hope other schools realise what they're having and what they've got” (Teacher; School 7)
However, they did experience numerous challenges during implementation of support and physical activities. These included finding adequate time to dedicate to planning and delivery, lack of engagement from other staff and the senior leadership team, the programme not being viewed as a priority within the school, wider school level commitments (e.g., OFSTED visits, amalgamating schools and increasing school size), and lack of a timeframe for the implementation of elements of the programme. There were also challenges finding time slots for peer leaders to meet, meaning that meetings were often short, and consequently discussions and planning of activities was spread over many weeks.“Just general support really within the department...you know, they’ve all been really supportive of what we’re doing” (Teacher; School 6)“it [the YST visits] definitely, kind of, prompted me just to go, actually I could do this easier this way, so it was just someone clearing my mind really. So it was just, kind of, someone calming, really just to re-set me, my goals, what I want to do, cut it down, do the basics, then build on that. And it massively just really helped me re-evaluate” (Teacher; School 4)
Although the peer leaders felt that it had been a positive and worthwhile experience to be part of Girls Active, some reported feeling pressure at being able to come up with new ideas and deliver on the changes that were requested by their peers. Others reported that being a peer leader had meant that at times they had not been able to do something else.“Just trying to get everything done really, managing your time. It’s an extra project that we took on and it’s just finding those extra bits of time to kind of do it alongside everything else that you’ve on” (Teacher; School 6)“It stalled slightly after that because Ofsted hit in the last week of term in the December so then when we came back in January there was a lot of stuff that we had to implement. I had to put the Girls Active stuff a bit on the back burner” (Teacher; School 1)“I'm not quite sure [our head] appreciates how big it is and how big it can be. I think if she did know, she might be more inclined to give us a bit more time. But, even then, time gets taken off of us like that. She’d say, not today, you can't do that today, you’ve got to do this instead” (Teacher; School 8)“Yes, I haven’t had much backing.. It’s like you’re on your own and you actually haven’t got the support to go anywhere else” (Teacher; School 5)“Just maybe give a bit of a timeframe because that’s the only trouble, you find that it’s not necessarily the priority” (Teacher; School 6)“We [peer leader meetings] meet usually once a week, it's during registration. We have had an hour's meeting as well which … The AM registration time is very short, so to try and ram everything in and to find out what we need to know is really quite short” (Teacher; School 2)
“some of them [girls] like they're desperate to get improvements and they want changes in the school and I think they're relying on us because they know we've been like asking people and like going to the principal and trying to like get these things to happen” (Peer leader; School 3)
“I think there’s been some things that you’ve had to sacrifice and things but I don’t think it’s been anything really hard at all … Like clubs and things that you might have normally been going but you thought, actually I’m not going to do that because I’m doing this” (Peer leader, School 5)
Impact of the intervention
Girls Active particularly encourages the engagement of inactive girls and some of the teachers reported that the sports and activity clubs were attracting a small number of girls who previously had not attended.“the first time we did swimming was in the first week of this term and there were 18 students. Last week there were 43 … . I've never seen some of the girls in year eight before, now I know who they are because they're regularly coming to clubs … Why have you started to come to swimming club? I want to go to Planet Bounce [talking about logging activities and the potential for pupils to win a free trip to Planet Bounce]” (Teacher; School 8)“And we’ve now got dodgeball on the extra-curriculum, and the amount of people that come to those clubs is fantastic. We’ve got 30, which is just brilliant, and the same with gymnastics. We don’t normally get that much attendance on after-school” (Teacher; School 9)
“actually I've seen girls, the ones that haven't necessarily come to a club before, we've then seen that they have come to that and gone, oh it's actually all right, and then gone to something different” (Teacher; School 7)
“with the likes of the dodgeball and those kind of activities I’ve seen quite a few new faces” (Teacher; School 9)
The teachers felt that impact would continue to build as implementation increased into the coming school terms and once the programme influenced the whole school ethos to a greater extent.“the ones that came to the club, they are...I can think off hand, probably three or four that don’t come to any club at all” (Teacher; School 2)
“If we were in a job that we needed to organise or plan something or make our own ideas it kind of helps because we’ve had practise putting stuff together and like resolving problems that we’ve faced” (Peer Leader; School 3)
Some girls and peer leaders felt that their enjoyment of PE, sports and physical activity had increased as a consequence of teachers allowing them to have an opinion/voice on what is offered and how it is offered.“It makes you feel good about yourself because you have responsibility, have responsibilities, they can help you feel confident” (Peer leader; School 5)
In the exit survey 46% of girls reported liking physical activity a bit or a lot more and 45% reported liking sport and PE a bit or a lot more, which reinforced these feelings.“The PE teachers give us a choice of what we want to do in PE rather than telling us what we’ve got to do. It makes us enjoy PE more because it’s doing something that we want to do rather than being… Forced to do it” (Girls Subgroup, School 4)
“Why do the girls...can I wear one of those? so I have explained to a couple of boys the reasons behind why we are doing the Girls Active and why the driving is towards girls” (Teacher; School 7)
“A lot of the boys have made comment that they weren’t allowed to be involved in it. They wanted to be involved in something and why are the clubs only for girls, why is there more girl clubs than boys” (Teacher, School 4)
A couple of the teachers did suggest that the increase in girls’ clubs had impacted on boys in a negative way as they were unable to access the facilities while the girls were using them.“[What is girls active?] Sexist. Because why don’t boys get the opportunity, because there are some boys that don’t play sport and there are some girls that play sport, so I don’t see why it should be different for girls? Yeah, it’s good to get girls, like, active, but, like I say, it’s the boys as well that need to be active as well, it’s not, like, girls are just going to change the world by doing sport” (Boys focus group; School 7)
“they’ve lost some of their time that they’ve been out on the pitches” (Teacher; School 3)