Long COVID, where symptoms persist after recovering from COVID-19, can affect cognitive functions like language. However, little is known about its impact on children’s language skills, especially across different school levels. This study investigated the impact of long COVID on language proficiency among 1244 children (Asian; 53.5% boys) from kindergartens (N = 408, Mage = 4.42 ± 1.26 years), primary schools (N = 547, Mage = 9.69 ± 1.96 years), and secondary schools (N = 289, Mage = 14.97 ± 1.85 years) in Hong Kong. Language proficiency was assessed using the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q), which measured speaking, listening, reading, and writing in both Chinese and English. Participants were categorized into three groups: long COVID, recovered from COVID-19, and no history of COVID-19. One-way and two-way ANOVAs were used to analyze the differences in language proficiency across these groups and school levels. Children with long COVID symptoms exhibited significantly lower overall language proficiency, particularly in speaking and listening, compared to those in the recovered and no-COVID groups. The effect was more pronounced among primary and secondary students, with secondary school students showing the most substantial deficits. No significant differences were found between the recovered and no-COVID groups. The results suggest that long COVID might have detrimental effects on children’s linguistic proficiency. The language development of older students who suffered from long COVID could benefit from receiving targeted educational and therapeutic interventions. Copyright © 2025 by the authors.

Objective: Physical activity (PA) is critical for healthy development in preschoolers, with long-lasting benefits that can affect later life. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that children aged 5–17 years should engage in 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous PA per day. However, physical inactivity in children is on the rise globally, with declines in PA starting at the age of 4 years. Increasing PA during early childhood is important to delay adiposity rebound, promote behavioral changes, improve physical fitness, and facilitate future PA engagement. However, limited evidence has been established on the effects of school-based PA interventions on preschoolers. This study examines the effects and sustainability of a preschool-based PA intervention on increasing PA, improving physical fitness and health in preschoolers, with the exercise dose benchmarked to the WHO PA guidelines. Methods: This assessor-blinded, two-arm cluster randomized controlled trial will include 3300 preschoolers (aged 5–6 years) from 110 kindergartens in Hong Kong, China. Kindergartens will be randomized into intervention and control groups in a 1:1 ratio. The control kindergartens will continue their usual curriculum of ∼2.5 h PA/week, whereas preschoolers in the intervention kindergartens will engage in an additional 75-min game-based PA class twice per week (extra 2.5 h PA/week) over the preschool year. This multi-component intervention will also target parents, teachers, and the kindergarten environment to further encourage PA in preschoolers and their families. Objectively measured PA, cardiorespiratory fitness and other physical fitness components (muscle strength and power, agility, balance, flexibility, body composition), and psychological health will be examined at the start (0 month) and end (10 months) of the preschool year. Maintenance effects will be assessed after preschoolers’ transition into primary school (16 months). Generalized estimating equations or other appropriate

This study aimed to (1) investigate the provision of physical activities in Hong Kong kindergartens across different grade levels and (2) examine the availability and utilization of venues in or near kindergartens for physical activities. We surveyed 526 hong Kong kindergarten teachers. Descriptive statistics and parametric statistical techniques (e.g. one-way ANOVA) were employed. Participants across all three grade levels reported implementing physical activities relatively infrequently (M = 2.47), with higher provision of unstructured physical activities involving low degrees of physical exertion and risk. However, K3 teachers (M = 2.55, SD =.45) were found to provide more physical activities than K1 teachers (M = 2.43, SD =.47, p =.033) and K2 teachers (M = 2.42, SD =.42, p =.030). Indoor venues were more commonly reported in or near kindergartens and were more frequently utilized for physical activities. In contrast, the availability and utilization of outdoor venues were limited. The results highlight the distance between internationally accepted physical activity guidelines and actual practices in Hong Kong kindergartens. We conclude that the limited opportunities for physical activities may not be enough for children to develop themselves optimally. Offering longer kindergarten programs and a wider range of easily accessible venues for physical activities would be vital to improving this situation. Copyright © 2024 Childhood Education International.

Fundamental movement skills (FMSs) are essential building blocks for children’s physical development and future participation in physical activities. While early childhood curriculum frameworks recognize the importance of teaching FMSs, little research has been conducted to explore actual teaching practices in center-based programs and their variations across different grade levels. The goals of this study were to investigate (1) the frequency of a variety of FMSs in the physical activities conducted by Hong Kong kindergarten teachers, (2) the association among these FMSs based on the frequency of use in the classroom, and (3) potential differences in FMSs across the three grade levels of kindergarten education in Hong Kong. The participants were 526 kindergarten teachers. Descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, and parametric statistical techniques (e.g., one-way ANOVA) were employed to analyze their responses to a survey, in which we asked teachers to report the frequency with which FMSs are involved in their classroom physical activities. Overall, we found that the participants practiced an imbalanced set of FMSs in classrooms. K3 teachers were found to incorporate a wider variety of FMSs into their physical activities compared to K1 and K2 teachers. Through principal component analysis, seven components of activities were identified. K3 teachers were found to implement more activities involving springing, object manipulation, uneven locomotor movements, and agility and coordination. We concluded that there is a need to provide structured opportunities for teachers to better facilitate children’s FMS acquisition. Offering more explicit guidelines and further professional development for teachers is crucial to enhancing this situation. Copyright © 2024 by the authors.

Introduction: This study aimed to develop the Healthy Eating Report Card for Pre-school Children in Hong Kong for evaluating the prevalence of healthy eating behaviours and favourable family home food environments (FHFEs) among pre-school children in Hong Kong. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 538 parent-child dyads from eight kindergartens in Hong Kong were recruited. Parents or guardians completed a questionnaire comprising Report Card items. The Report Card included two indicators of Children’s Eating Behaviours (ie, Children’s Dietary Patterns and Children’s Mealtime Behaviours) and three indicators of FHFEs (ie, Parental Food Choices and Preparation, Avoidance of Unhealthy Foods, and Family Mealtime Environments). Each indicator and its specific items were assigned a letter grade representing the percentage of participants achieving the predefined benchmarks. The grades were defined as A (≥80%, Excellent); B (60%-79%, Good); C (40%-59%, Fair); D (20%-39%, Poor); and F (<20%, Very poor). Plus (+) and minus (-) signs were used to indicate the upper or lower 5% of each grade. Results: Overall, Children’s Eating Behaviours were classified as Fair (average grade of ‘C’), whereas FHFEs were classified as Good (average grade of ‘B’). The sub-grades ranged from ‘C’ to ‘A-’, as follows: Children’s Dietary Patterns, ‘C+’; Children’s Mealtime Behaviours, ‘C’; Parental Food Choices and Preparation, ‘C+’; Avoidance of Unhealthy Foods, ‘B’; and Family Mealtime Environments, ‘A-’. Conclusion: The findings highlight areas for improvement in healthy eating among children. The Healthy Eating Report Card could offer novel insights into intervention tools that promote healthy eating. Copyright © 2024 Hong Kong Academy of Medicine.

Research Findings: Early childhood educators’ own disposition has been suggested to contribute to their ability to promote physical literacy (PL) in young children. There is currently limited evidence of educators’ own PL, and studies have not explored how PL relates to teaching knowledge and behaviors in the early childhood education (ECE) context. This current study examined the relationships of teachers’ perceived PL with their self-efficacy and perceived professional competence in relation to promoting physical activities in ECE settings. A total of 338 early childhood educators from Hong Kong responded to an online survey that consisted of the Perceived Physical Literacy Inventory (PPLI), Chinese version of the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (C-TSE(R)), and Teachers’ Professional Competence (TPC) questionnaire. The findings revealed that educators’ perceived PL is moderately associated with self-efficacy and professional competence when conducting physical activities in ECE contexts. The PL attributes of self-expression and communication, and knowledge and understanding were significant predictors of educators’ self-efficacy in classroom management and teaching strategies, as well as their professional knowledge and attitudes. Practice or Policy: The findings suggest that ECE teachers’ training should consider aspects of their own PL to enable their self-efficacy and perceived competence for conducting physical activities in ECE settings and thereby promote the PL of young children. Copyright © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

In Hong Kong, the Education Bureau (EDB) is responsible for the quality assurance of kindergarten education services. EDB inspectors regularly conduct school visits to monitor kindergartens’ performance and publish a Quality Review (QR) report for each kindergarten. Given the limited research on pedagogical practices pertaining to physical activities in Hong Kong kindergartens, the current study analyzes the content concerning this learning area in the QR reports. We analyzed 164 QR reports (published between 2017 and 2020) according to four analytic dimensions: (1) Overall presence of content pertaining to physical activities; (2) References to specific forms of physical activities; (3) Positive feedback; and (4) Negative feedback and recommendations. The presence of physical activities in the QR reports was found to be low (5% on average). EDB inspectors alluded to physical activities generically, not specifying the motor skill(s) at hand. Both positive and negative feedback focused primarily on matters pertaining to the time of exposure to physical activities and teachers’ pedagogical quality. Our evidence suggests the existence of potential gaps between Hong Kong’s kindergarten policies and actual physical activity practices. Further professional development seems necessary to strengthen both teachers’ pedagogies and inspectors’ understandings of physical activities. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

The current study aimed to predict secondary school students’ motivation toward sport injury prevention in “in‐school” and “out‐of‐school” contexts, and their sport injury prevention behavior at 3‐month follow‐up using the trans‐contextual model (TCM). Hong Kong secondary school students (N = 1566; mean age = 13.34 years, range = 11 to 19; female = 49.42%) were recruited. Participants were asked to complete a survey comprising previously validated scales measuring TCM constructs at baseline and a measure of sport injury prevention behavior at follow‐up three months later. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the hypothesized paths among TCM constructs. A SEM specifying hypothesized paths among TCM variables showed acceptable fit with the data (χ²(29) = 418.55, CFI = .93, TLI = .90, and RMSEA = .09, 90% CI [.09, .10], and SRMR = .05). Findings supported tenets of the TCM: the effects of perceived autonomy support from PE teachers on in‐school autonomous motivation toward injury prevention, the trans‐contextual relationship between students' “in‐school” and “out‐of‐school” autonomous motivation toward injury prevention, and the effects of autonomous motivation toward injury prevention on social cognitive variables and subsequent sport injury prevention behaviors. Results supported the tenets proposed within the TCM in predicting students' “in‐school” and “out‐of‐school” autonomous motivation toward sport injury prevention. Findings underscore the potential importance of autonomy support from PE teachers in facilitating students’ sport injury prevention behaviors. Further longitudinal and intervention research is warranted to establish temporal and causal effects of TCM variables in sport injury prevention. Copyright © 2020 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.