Strong Collaboration and Impact in Kenya

August 29, 2023  | By Hannah Gilbert

Students are becoming more active through physical education

We were excited to announce in the spring the official launch of CATCH Kenya, an initiative to bring our evidence-based physical education program, CATCH PE Journeys, to Kenyan schools. Aligned to Kenya’s competency-based curriculum and supporting the country’s national priority on child health, CATCH Kenya will provide resources to help students develop healthy habits related to physical activity and overall wellness.

In collaboration with our local partners at Wellness for Greatness, we hosted during the month of April a series of private professional development trainings in Nairobi for close to 100 Kenyan educators and education officials from 20 schools. Trainings were conducted in order to build the capacity of local teachers to implement CATCH PE Journeys with fidelity.

Since this time, pre-and post-SOFITs were performed in order to assess the impact of teacher training on students’ moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) engagement. The SOFIT tool assesses physical education practices by enabling direct observation and data collection on student activity levels and other class attributes. A total of nine physical education classes were observed in three schools at baseline in April 2023 and again at follow-up in July 2023.

Significant results include:

• Percentage of class time students spent standing still decreased from 56.4% to 38.5% (p<.001)
• Percentage of class time spent walking or moderately active increased from 19.5% to 31.8% (p<.01)
• Percentage of class time spent in vigorous activity increased from 18.2% to 29.3% (p<.01)
• Percentage of class time spent in MVPA increased from 37.7% to 61.1% (p<.001)
• Percentage of class time spent on classroom management decreased from 21.4% to 16.0% (p<.05)
• Percentage of class time spent in game play increased from 12.0% to 29.0% (P<.05)
• Percentage of class time in which the teacher used specific verbal or nonverbal interactions to promote students to engage in physical activity, motor skills, or fitness increased from 9.0% to 27.5% (p<.001)

We look forward to continuing this powerful impact among students along with certifying more local trainers in Kenya to create change on a larger scale. Stay tuned for more updates on CATCH Kenya.