Flemish children sit down for more than 8 hours a day on average, which is not good for their health. Half of that time is spent during school hours. With our Vital Schools project, we are tackling this problem head-on. The actions take place during the lessons so that we appeal to all children.
We work from different angles. First of all, we work with all parties on raising awareness of the need to sit still less and move around more. Then, in co-creation, we develop practical examples that originate from the children and the teachers themselves. We help with inspiration and support. A first approach is to physically adapt the space in which they learn. We provide a healthy mix of dynamic sitting, standing and moving and teach them how to deal with this. In addition, we create active forms of work in many different learning areas: mathematics, language, music education, science, etc. We focus on the problems and stumbling blocks experienced by teachers and pupils in these practical examples. In this way, we have already provided several solutions for each problem.
For each practical example, we make an inspiring video and file with all the details. In this way we were able to develop more than 100 examples of good practice in one year's time.
The Vital Schools research group works closely with the largest health organisations in Flanders such as Moev.be and Gezondleven.be. This way, many schools find their way to the practical examples and get inspired by this way of teaching.
Take a look at one of the many practical examples on our website Vitalschools.be and get inspired by the variety of possibilities. Feel free to share your experiences because we love to learn every day!
