The aim of this presentation is to discuss and share how we at Edge Hill University have worked differently with schools, the outcomes this has led to, and why the project feels different to traditional research projects. The partnership between the University and Together an Active Future (Sport England’s Local Delivery Pilot for Pennine Lancashire) is structured on having an embedded researcher (outsider) who works closely with the Active Schools lead (alongsider) and the middle leader (insider). Middle leaders are schoolteachers who have undertaken a skills development opportunity that invests in their personal and professional development, whilst supporting them to lead positive change across their own school. This structure (outsider-alongsider-insider) has been central to the planning, delivery, and dissemination of meaningful child-level research outputs within a whole-system approach to physical activity.

By working alongside middle leaders, the research team has experienced a higher response in return of consent and participation in the research, disseminated meaningful outputs in formats and language that is useable and digestible for all school stakeholders, and enabled distributed and collective leadership whereby middle leaders are administrating some of the research themselves. Schools are complex, dynamic systems which require a different approach to embedding physical activity across the school day.

The development of emotional intelligence competencies during childhood can act as a prophylactic strategy for reducing mental health problems. Limited evidence has demonstrated strong positive associations between emotional intelligence and motor competence in children. At present no interventions using gamification (using game-design elements in non-game contexts) in PE to specifically address emotional intelligence and motor competence have been designed. This paper describes the process of developing a gamified movement skill intervention that was coproduced with key stakeholders with the intent of improving children’s (aged 9-10 years old) emotional intelligence through the development of motor competence. A total f 91 children and four classroom teachers, from three primary schools, participated in a series of eight co-production workshops. Creative methods, such as write and draw, and mind mapping were used to capture children’s ideas. The results of the intervention development process provided the following thematic outcomes: specifically, children cited;1)movement and social skills development, 2) preferences in PE, and 3) development of the interventions. These findings demonstrate ow three school specific gamified movement interventions were developed with key stakeholders. This is a novel direction, and a workable framework for researchers wanting to co-produce interventions with child and school stakeholders.

Future School of Comprehensive Well-being (SchoolWell) is a multidisciplinary research consortium of six universities in Finland. The main goal of the project is to influence on the heart of the Finnish comprehensive school, the everyday pedagogical action, and to create solutions to support comprehensive wellbeing and learning, together with the children, adolescents and the adults working with them. Research project lasts six years from 2022 to 2028 and is funded by the Strategic Research Council (SRC). Previously most intervention studies have adopted a single ingredient focus, addressing physical, mental or social wellbeing, resulting in limited understanding of comprehensive wellbeing, and therefore having insufficient means to promote it. The interventions targeted at promoting wellbeing have rarely been ingrained organically into the basic socio-pedagogical practices of schools, meaning that they typically become unsustainable after the special project status ends. SchoolWell project will undertake multimethod interactive intervention study. The project will contribute to the scientific renewal in the field of wellbeing research and research-based solutions for proactively enhancing equal comprehensive wellbeing at school 1) by building a novel comprehensive multidisciplinary framework, including physical, mental and socio-pedagogical dimensions of wellbeing, 2) by creating an arsenal of measures for studying it, 3) by identifying the wellbeing equality gaps, and 4) by creating effective means and supporting materials to enhance comprehensive wellbeing and learning, ingrained in the basic socio-pedagogical practices of the school. The content for the multimethod school intervention will be prepared with school staff in spring 2024, and the intervention will begin among 5th and 8th graders in autumn 2024. Among the other components, intervention will include physical activity in the forms of active breaks and physically active learning implemented by classroom teachers and subject teachers, and activities implemented by physical education teachers. Conference presentation will update the status of SchoolWell project.

Physical inactivity poses a global pandemic, particularly affecting girls and women. Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) advocate for schools to play a strategic role in addressing this issue. In Chile, despite public and private initiatives focusing on raising awareness about diet and physical activity, notable success remains elusive. This project is anchored in a qualitative epistemology and a theoretical-methodological framework connected to the socio-ecological model and the perspectives of new materialisms. It engages in a dialogue with emerging viewpoints in Public Policy and body practices. The project seeks to comprehend the socio-ecological structures that public and private schools in Chile establish to combat physical inactivity. The preliminary findings reveal three crucial aspects. Firstly, cross-sectoral collaboration and multilevel governance stand out as pivotal elements in developing an effective whole-school intervention. Secondly, a whole-school intervention must be locally relevant for various stakeholders, including students, families, teachers, non-teaching staff, administrators, workers, organizations, and the community. Thirdly, policy should reconsider concepts aimed at promoting physical activity in schools. In this context, the incorporation of body practices, new materialism, and the ecological model offers a more integrative and democratic approach to fostering physical activity. In conclusion, a comprehensive whole-school intervention to enhance physical activity underscores the necessity for policy considerations that encompass the intricate interplay of institutional, local, and personal aspects of physical activity.