Adolescents’ Physical Activity in Education Systems Varying in the Number of Weekly Physical Education Lessons

Abstract

Purpose: School physical activity (SPA) is a significant component of daily PA. We investigated differences in PA between boys and girls in two differing education systems—Poland and the Czech Republic—which have four and two physical education lessons (PELs) per week, respectively. Method: This project was conducted from 2012–2016 at 17 Polish and 23 Czech secondary schools (N = 921; mean age = 16.2 ± 0.7 years). ActiTrainer accelerometers were used to monitor participants’ PA and heart rate during school days. Weekly PA was measured using pedometers. Subjective levels of weekly PA were self-reported on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire–long form. Results: The Polish education system enabled adolescents to meet the recommendations for moderate-to-vigorous PA more likely than did the Czech system. SPA also represented a higher portion of daily PA in the Polish (vs. Czech system); however, the differences in total daily step count between Polish and Czech adolescents were non-significant. SPA accounted for 30–37% of the daily PA (as measured by step count) of Polish girls (23–30% of Czech girls) and 28–39% of Polish boys (25–37% of Czech boys). Conclusions: Participation in PELs was associated with a higher rate of meeting SPA recommendations in both countries. Compared with the Czech Republic, more PELs in the Polish education system was associated with increased daily vigorous PA and a greater portion of SPA in daily PA. Differences in overall daily and weekly moderate-to-vigorous PA between Polish and Czech adolescents were non-significant.