Examining the fidelity of implementation of SKIP Cymru (Successful kinaesthetic instruction for pre-schoolers- Wales) by early childhood teachers in Wales following a programme of professional development

Early childhood is a crucial time to develop fundamental motor skills (FMS) such as throwing, running and kicking (Goodway, J. D., J. C. Ozmun, and D. L. Gallahue. 2019. Understanding Motor Development: Infants, Children, Adolescents, Adults. Jones & Bartlett Learning.). Existing research into the play-based early childhood curricular in Wales found that children were not making progress in learning object control skills (Wainwright, N., J. Goodway, M. Whitehead, A. Williams, and D. Kirk. 2018. “Laying the Foundations for Physical Literacy in Wales: The Contribution of the Foundation Phase to the Development of Physical Literacy.” Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 23 (4): 431–444. https://doi.org/10.1080/17408989.2018.1455819.). This was a concern as object control skill competency is critical to physical activity later in childhood and adolescence (Barnett, L. M., E. Van Beurden, P. J. Morgan, L. O. Brooks, and J. R. Beard. 2009. “Childhood Motor Skill Proficiency as a Predictor of Adolescent Physical Activity.” Journal of Adolescent Health 44 (3): 252–259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.07.004.). Therefore, SKIP (Successful Kinaesthetic Instruction for Pre-schoolers) – Cymru (Welsh word for Wales), a programme of professional development was developed based on the evidence-based work of SKIP by Goodway and colleagues (Goodway, J. D., J. C. Ozmun, and D. L. Gallahue. 2019. Understanding Motor Development: Infants, Children, Adolescents, Adults. Jones & Bartlett Learning.) to address the gaps in teacher knowledge. A limitation of previous SKIP and motor development literature is the lack of evaluation of the teacher’s fidelity to implementation. Ensuring fidelity of implementation (FoI) is a critical indicator of quality intervention programmes. Thus, this study examined the extent to which teachers could implement a 10-week SKIP-Cymru programme with fidelity with ongoing mentoring following a programme of professional development.