Self-regulation in PE and regular classes

Self-regulation in physical education for children in lower vocational education
Unhealthy lifestyle and lack of exercise are common among high school students, especially in lower pre-vocational education (vmbo). Also, students in this target group smoke and drink more often and have more psychosocial problems. Self-regulation can play an important role in encouraging youth to exercise more and adopt a more healthy lifestyle.
Self-regulation fits in the new definition of health as proposed by the Health Council of the Netherlands. The sport context seems to be a unique context to develop self-regulatory skills, especially for pre-vocational students, since it provides the opportunity to gain experience with goal setting and achievement, and because goals in sport are tangible, short-term and measurable. Authors have stated that skills (like self-regulation) learned in sport-based life skill programs can be transferred to other domains, if this transferrability is taken into account from the beginning. In the Netherlands, some interventions that stimulated the development of self-regulation in a physical education context have been developed, piloted and studied. Initial
results are promising, but the interventions need further development, especially for the target group of pre-vocational students. This research project focuses on further developing an intervention in which self-regulation is stimulated during physical education class and mentor classes in pre-vocational (vmbo) schools.The ultimate goal is to improve the self-regulatory skills of pre-vocational students and thereby contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Sub-objective is to define which aspects of the existing self-regulatory interventions are suitable for pre-vocational students, and if necessary , make adjustments for applying the intervention for this group. The second sub-objective is to define which aspects of the intervention should be adapted to better fit the goal of contributing to a better lifestyle in pre-vocational students.
The intervention will be further developed according to the Intervention Mapping Protocol. End users ( students and teachers) have an important role in giving input for the intervention. The intervention will be implemented, monitored and examined on the effects in four vmbo schools, and crucial success and failure factors by conducting quasi-experimental implementation research. The results will provide input for a final adaptation of the intervention, after which the intervention will be distributed to other vmbo schools.