Thank you very much.
I would like to extend my thanks to the members for allowing me to share with you what I think might be one strategy or one model that we have introduced in British Columbia. We hope it may be considered as a solution to the problem that I think we've all agreed has to be addressed, which is obviously why we're all here today.
I'm going to spend the next ten minutes talking to you about Action Schools! BC.
To begin, there's no need to go into the problem, except to say that I think we accept that the culture we live in has never been more conducive to supporting obesity. It is very positive in that regard. Again, I think it's time for solutions, and I'm absolutely thrilled that's what you're all here for.
On the Action Schools! BC model, I brought some handouts, but being naive, they're in English only. I've left them to be translated for you.
The vision of Action Schools! BC is not a program. It's a framework and a model within which there's great diversity. The idea is to integrate physical activity and healthy eating into the fabric of our elementary schools. It's about introducing physical activity and healthy eating into every part of schools, not into only one component of schools.
We define Action Schools! BC as a model on best practices in physical activity and healthy eating, which is designed to assist elementary schools to create individualized action plans. The words I want you to key into are “best practices”. We scoured the world literature, and we brought together resources and a variety of diverse best practices for educators to offer in classrooms and schools. For example, within this framework, a school in the north might have different programs from a school in the downtown east side of Vancouver. It might be very different from other parts of the province or the country. It's a framework of an option of best practices.
The idea is to facilitate what schools are already doing and assist them to customize this model to suit the individual needs of the school or the district. Again, as long as the main components are honoured, which I'll tell you about in a minute, there can be great diversity in what is offered. Again, in northern climates this would look very different from what is in Vancouver.
There are six action zones, and I only have ten minutes. I will rattle them off for you and then focus on one.
Physical education is one zone, and it's a very important zone. Andrea will talk about that in a minute.
The school environment, extracurricular activity, school spirit, family and community, and our type of cornerstone are called “classroom action”. This is quite novel because teachers are provided with the training and resources to offer 15 minutes of physical activity in the classroom, every day of the week, in addition to their physical education. We call this “snacking on physical activity”, as you've heard in the past about snacking on healthy foods. Again, the idea is to offer students 150 minutes of physical activity in each of these action zones, across a variety of choices. This is a very choice-based model.
Teachers are our entry point. We invest in teachers. The Action Schools! BC model in part is to offer every teacher a training workshop. We empower teachers in the best way we can to deliver this model. They are usually generalist teachers, and I believe the generalist teachers probably hated physical education as kids. The idea is to provide them with something they will actually engage in. They're given resources to keep in the classroom, a classroom action bin, and they're again offered training workshops. Support is at the end of a telephone in this model.
You've probably heard about many other models across the country. Programs have been introduced over time, and many of them have been shelved. Often it's due to a lack of resources and, in some cases, it's due to a lack of evidence to support that they work. What's different about this model?
The unique aspect of Action Schools! BC, as I've already mentioned, is that it's a model, not a program. It's non-prescriptive, it's choice-based, and it benefits every child regardless of skill level.
Our thinking is that we don't really need to engage those children already involved in sport. We're more keen on getting those children who would not otherwise be active. We feel the only way to find these kids is through the schools, as we don't often see them at other places.
Delivered by the generalist teacher, there is a huge evaluation component. I will give you just a snapshot of what we found when we evaluated this model.
In British Columbia I felt very fortunate to be in on the ground level, but this represented a unique partnership between the ministries of education, health, tourism, sport, and the arts in collaboration with 2010 Legacies Now, and all of these players came to the table. Again, I am not a politician, but I was absolutely thrilled to see the level of dialogue among these three ministries to make this program a reality in British Columbia. Funding for the model came from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education in partnership with 2010 Legacies Now.
We evaluated this program with the highest level of evidence. We undertook a randomized control trial, and we tried to look at whether the model worked on three levels. In the first instance, we wanted to see whether teachers were providing more opportunities for children to be more active in the classroom. Second, we wanted to see, given those opportunities, whether children did in fact become more active. Third, we wanted to see whether, if they became more active, they became healthier people.
We looked at their levels of physical activity in the action schools versus the non-action schools, and then we looked at whether their bone health was improved, healthy eating was changed, whether their cardiovascular health was improved. We looked at their psycho-social health, and we measured their academic performance because of the interest from the Ministry of Education in that.
Here is what we found. Teachers in the Action Schools! BC schools delivered significantly more physical activity during the school week. It was between 53 and 65 minutes additional physical activity, compared to the non-action schools. That was a significant difference. There were more opportunities being provided. This translated into boys being especially more active every day if they were in an Action Schools! BC school than if they were in a control school. We measured this with pedometers. We saw this in girls as well, to a lesser extent, and that was measured with a questionnaire. So children became more physically active.
Surprising to us, the big winner here was cardiovascular health. You recall that obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular health, so if we can overstep obesity and get right to where the money is, we have actually achieved a lot. Children in the Action Schools! BC schools increased their cardiovascular fitness by 25%--this is significant, it has clinical significance--compared to the children who were not in Action Schools! BC schools. We were thrilled by this. It was a bit surprising.
Academic performance: We really wanted these children to become much more brilliant children, but they didn't. They performed at least as well as the children in the non-action schools. What this means is they were spending less time in curricular activities, more time being physically active and becoming more healthy, and they performed just as well. That is an important finding as well.
To wrap up, in October of 2004, when we began Action Schools! BC, we had 275 registered schools. I think the response is unprecedented, in that we now have over 1,100 schools that have self-identified and registered for this model in the province of B.C. This is over 10,000 teachers. Workshops have been delivered to over 1,000 teachers, and 266,000 children are currently benefiting by this model that is being delivered in their school. We have schools in 100% of school districts around the province that have registered for this model.
I am going to leave you with a few recommendations, if I may.
Our obligation and our responsibility is to invest in evidence-based models. It is good to have a good idea, but it is important to have the evidence that supports that idea. There is accountability in that. We have to know that something works in order to invest. That is my feeling: invest in evaluation.
I tell my research group that there is no shame in not showing an effect, because that allows you to go back in, tweak the model, adjust course, and actually introduce something that is in fact effective. So it's ongoing evaluation, course adjustment, and on we go. Obesity did not happen overnight. We need to make a long-term investment in this. It is going to take a long time to turn this around, and it is going to take absolutely everybody at the table.
As we heard from Kelly, this is a partnership model where not just the schools are involved, but all aspects of our community. The model should cross pre-elementary, middle, and high schools, so students have the opportunity throughout their school careers to engage in these opportunities.
Linked with community-based programs, the evidence suggests that it's larger than the schools. We need to reach out to communities as well. Integration across provinces, and within provinces across initiatives, doesn't happen by itself; there has to be a targeted effort to achieve integration. I encourage that investment.
It's my optimistic but firm belief that Canada really can be a leader in evidence-based programs, practices, and policies. I've spoken around the world, and Action Schools! BC has been acknowledged and is currently being introduced in Australia. I've spoken with groups in South Africa, Scotland, and Ireland. There's a lot of interest internationally. So I think we do have a home-grown model that can be at least entertained and discussed, which might provide some benefit to children in schools.
Thank you very much.