How does a Movement Oriented Games Based Assessment (MOGBA) programme impact upon the movement competence, physical activity levels and self-perceptions of children aged 8-12 years of age?

The delivery of a 9 week MOGBA programme of activities, delivered by the research team (PhD and post-doctoral level) to groups of approx. 20-30 children, aged 8-12 years, in educational settings across four countries (Australia, Ireland, England and USA). Intervention involves: 1. Coach learning session A three hour mixture of theory and practical content involving, designed by the Principle Investigator and lead investigator from each of the clusters (cluster lead) and then delivered by each cluster lead, in-country, to two coaches. The format of the coach learning session will be: (i) the nature of children's movement development, (ii) Rationale, structure and purpose of MOGBA, (iii) Intervention programme of activities, (iv) changing the challenge, (v) differentiating opportunities (vi) assessing and recording movement competence and (vii) using assessment to guide teaching and improve movement competence 2. MOGBA delivery At each cluster, all 14 MOGBA activities, ranging in categories (Stability (S), Object Control (OC) and Locomotion (L)) and complexity of movement (across three phases) will be delivered, with two sessions each week over a 9 week period with each session lasting between 45-60 minutes. One MOGBA activity will last the duration of the session. An extra four sessions have been accounted for within the intervention period to cater for typical disruptions to timetables. The MOGBA activities are: Phase 1: 'Space Invaders 1 (2v1)' (OC), 'T-Time' (S), 'Square Ball' (OC) and 'Raid' (L). Phase 2: 'Space Invaders 2 (3v2) (OC), 'Cornerball' (OC), 'End Zone 1' (S), Kabbadi (S), 'Gateways' (L) and 'Potted Skills Circuit' (L) Phase 3: 'Space Invaders 3 (3v4)' (OC), 'Mat Rounders' (OC), 'End zone 2' (S) and 'Tag' (L) The MOGBA activities are presented as a series of resource cards with the front of the card illustrating the game as well as sections describing 'what you need' (equipment), 'set up like this', 'keep it safe' and 'change the game'. On the reverse of the card, there is an assessment framework that illustrates the movement being assessed and provides criteria for the practitioner to use to score the child's performance 1, 2 or 3, based on initial, developing and mature patterns of movement. The assessment contained on this card has two focal aspects of assessment (i.e. head and legs) and is viewed as an 'initial assessment', which might be used by practitioners with limited experience of movement assessment. The resource also contains an 'introductory section' that explains the nature of children's movement development and the purpose of MOGBA, as well as sections on 'complete assessment' and 'change the challenge'. The 'complete assessment' uses the same scoring method as the initial assessment, with an additional two focal points for the assessment (i.e. head, arms, legs and body) to the initial assessment. 'Change the challenge' provides guidance for practitioners on how to differentiate the activity to meet the diverse needs of children in relation to Gallahue, Osmun & Goodway's (2012) notion of Space, Effort and Relationships. 3. Coach mentoring: Each cluster lead will act as mentors by observing and providing feedback to the coaches delivering MOGBA for the first 3 weeks of the program (3 x 30minutes during the coaches programmed 45-60 minute session). The observation and feedback will be framed by the fidelity observational measure. Mentoring ensures the coaches involved understand the format and purpose of the designed content, and for coaches to observe, undertake, problem solve and trouble shoot more effective practice with an academic partner, in the authentic context of their own coaching sessions. Sample Coaches (n=2) will be trained to deliver MOGBA in each cluster across both randomised intervention and wait-list control groups. Each cluster will contain 8 schools (4 intervention and 4 wait-list control) with each school providing one class of children (n=30) for each of the age ranges (age=7/8 years, 8/9 years, 10/11 years, 11/12 years). Fidelity and adherence All coaches (intervention and control) are observed by a trained assessor at Weeks 3 and 7 of the 9-week intervention, with sessions referenced against content indicators. Sessions are judged by adherence to (1) set-up criteria (2) play the game (3) change the challenge, and (4) assessment of movement, to obtain the percentage of agreement for each of these sets of statements (E.g. lesson agreement with one of four activity based statements = 25% activity agreement). These agreement values are used to indicate: i) if activity delivery at each time point was in line with a movement-based approach, and ii) if the fidelity of the instruction undertaken by the intervention group teachers was in line with the true nature of the intervention. A register of attendance at learning sessions for coaches and at activity sessions for children is maintained to monitor adherence at sessions across the intervention period.