Practical Implementations of Physically Active Learning in International Comparison: A Systematic Review

Background:
Since the inception of the Health Promoting Schools (HPS) in the 1980s, schools are considered to be an ideal setting to enhance children’s and young people’s physical activity (PA). Today, there is still limited knowledge about the implementation of PA in schools.
Methods:
The PubMed database and Google Scholar were used as data sources for this systematic review. Relevant published literature on the implementation of physically active learning (PAL), movement integration (MI), and classroom movement breaks (CMB) was detected and screened for inclusion in a qualitative synthesis following the PRISMA guidelines.
Results:
From a total of 411 potentially relevant records, 23 studies were included. Practical examples of HPS were extracted from the articles and divided into three settings of the school context (classroom, school, and external setting). Thereby, it was possible to compare models of PA inclusion in schools of different countries and their implementation.
Conclusion:
There are many excellent interventions that include countless of interesting forms of PA for schools. Generally, there is still a lack of organisation and sustainability of HPS in many countries and change in school systems is not yet embedded. Further research needs to consider the structure of the organisation of an HPS and the development of teacher training.