The benefits of physical assessments are well established and their adoption is proving increasingly popular:
UKActive has called for routine testing of children’s fitness, in the same way as subjects like Maths and English
The Sports Think Tank Sector Survey from 2015 showed that 61% of the sector believe that the government should record the fitness levels of children in schools
Sport England’s previous strategy called for better evaluation and data collection across the sport and physical activity sector
Use of physical assessment as a tool to promote health promotion is well recognised. An example is Liverpool’s SportLinx Programme which was delivered in partnership with Liverpool Moores University, the Schools Sports Partnership and Liverpool Primary Care Trust
The value of physical assessment as a tool to promote health promotion has been recognised in a number of sectors, including the health sector, the education sector and government.
The report of Chief Medical Officer for England in 2010 advocated comprehensive physical assessment in schools and recognised that the monitoring of physical assessment in young people is recognised as an important component of public health surveillance
The previous government strategy “Be Active, Be Healthy�? emphasized the part that objective physical assessment could play in observing trends: by analysing data by region, school and age group, structured interventions could be appropriately targeted and educational curricula could be modified
Evidence from school children participating in physical assessment in the US has shown that awards achieved based on fitness tests are positively associated with intrinsic motivation and future intention to participate.
