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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Physical Education and Pedagogy
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1550028
This article is part of the Research Topic Building Health Through Physical Activity in Schools - Volume II View all 5 articles
Comparing the impact of 'The Daily Mile TM ' versus a modified version on Irish primary school children's engagement and enjoyment in structured physical activity
Provisionally accepted- Munster Technological University, Cork, Ireland
The repetitive nature of The Daily Mile may affect long-term engagement. This study compared the impact of The Daily Mile with a modified version on engagement and enjoyment of structured physical activity. A ~7-year-old and ~11-year old cohort from six primary schools participated in this study, which primarily evaluated pre-to post-assessment changes within each group. Two schools were assigned to The Daily Mile (n = 102 children; M = 8.81 years, SD = 1.97), two schools to the modified version (n = 87; M = 9.16 years, SD = 2.76), and two schools served as controls (n = 79; M = 10.05 years, SD = 1.9) for 10-weeks. Health assessments conducted included cardiorespiratory fitness (550m Run), fundamental movement skills (Test of Gross Motor Development-2), and health-related quality of life . Accelerometers measured school-based physical activity, while enjoyment was assessed using a modified PACES questionnaire. Post-intervention focus groups (n = 10) included teachers and children. Both the Daily Mile (~7-year-old: p < 0.001; ~11-year-old: p = 0.004) and its modified version (~7-year-old: p < 0.001; ~11-year-old: p < 0.001) had a significant impact on cardiorespiratory fitness. Participation in the modified version led to significant improvements in fundamental movement skills (~7-year-old: p = 0.034; ~11-year-old: p < 0.001), unlike participation in The Daily Mile (~7-year-old: p = 1.000; ~11-year-old: p = 0.807). A significant positive effect on health-related quality of life was attributed to participation in the modified version (p = 0.036), but not to The Daily Mile (p = 0.205).Enjoyment scores were significantly higher for the modified version (4.61 vs 4.43; p = 0.024).Participation in The Daily Mile is associated with improved health outcomes. Nevertheless, modifying the initiative to include greater variety has the potential to offer broader health benefits, longer engagement, and increased enjoyment. Future research should explore the long-term implementation of this modified version in schools.
Keywords: The Daily Mile, The Daily Move, physical activity, Health, enjoyment, engagement, primary school, Children
Received: 22 Dec 2024; Accepted: 06 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hanna, Burns, O'neill and Coughlan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Luke Hanna Hanna, Munster Technological University, Cork, Ireland
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