International Journal of Behavioral

Nutrition and Physical Activity

BioMed Central

Open Access

Review

Physical education, school physical activity, school sports and

academic performance
Franois Trudeau*1 and Roy J Shephard2
Address: 1Department of Physical Activity Sciences, Universit du Qubec Trois-Rivires, Trois-Rivires, Quebec, Canada and 2Faculty of Physical
and Health Education, and Dept. of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Email: Franois Trudeau* - francois.trudeau@uqtr.ca; Roy J Shephard - royjshep@shaw.ca
* Corresponding author Equal contributors

Published: 25 February 2008

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2008, 5:10
5868-5-10

doi:10.1186/1479-

Received: 4 September 2007

Accepted: 25 February 2008

This article is available from: http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/5/1/10

2008 Trudeau and Shephard; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract
Background: The purpose of this paper is to review relationships of academic performance and
some of its determinants to participation in school-based physical activities, including physical
education (PE), free school physical activity (PA) and school sports.
Methods: Linkages between academic achievement and involvement in PE, school PA and sport
programmes have been examined, based on a systematic review of currently available literature,
including a comprehensive search of MEDLINE (1966 to 2007), PSYCHINFO (1974 to 2007),
SCHOLAR.GOOGLE.COM, and ERIC databases.
Results: Quasi-experimental data indicate that allocating up to an additional hour per day of
curricular time to PA programmes does not affect the academic performance of primary school
students negatively, even though the time allocated to other subjects usually shows a
corresponding reduction. An additional curricular emphasis on PE may result in small absolute gains
in grade point average (GPA), and such findings strongly suggest a relative increase in performance
per unit of academic teaching time. Further, the overwhelmingly majority of such programmes have
demonstrated an improvement in some measures of physical fitness (PF). Cross-sectional
observations show a positive association between academic performance and PA, but PF does not
seem to show such an association. PA has positive influences on concentration, memory and
classroom behaviour. Data from quasi-experimental studies find support in mechanistic
experiments on cognitive function, pointing to a positive relationship between PA and intellectual
performance.
Conclusion: Given competent providers, PA can be added to the school curriculum by taking time
from other subjects without risk of hindering student academic achievement. On the other hand,
adding time to "academic" or "curricular" subjects by taking time from physical education
programmes does not enhance grades in these subjects and may be detrimental to health.

Background
The purpose of this paper is to review relationships
between physical education (PE), school physical activity

(PA), school sports and academic performance. These

relationships have been the subject of extensive discussion between advocates and skeptics of PE, school PA and
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International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2008, 5:10

school sports programmes. Both elements of this discussion (academic achievement and physical activity) are
independent determinants of a child's health. Our intent
in this article is to assess the effects on academic achievement of school PA programmes (including PE and school
sports), in both elementary and high schools. Previous
reviews have examined relationships between PA and academic achievement. [1-4] Recent research results, echoed
in the media, suggest that such activity may have a positive impact on learning and memory. It is now fairly wellrecognized that PA is associated with the maintenance of
cognitive function in older adults [5] and offers some protection against Alzheimer's disease. [6] Cognitive dysfunctions in older adults is becoming an urgent public health
problem, given the ever-rising average life expectancy and
the associated growth in the proportion of old and very
old individuals in most societies. A positive association
between PA and cognitive health is also suspected in
younger subjects, but is not as well documented in this
age group. Nevertheless, any positive influence of PA on
the cognitive functions of children is important for at least
2 reasons: 1) It is a potential argument for increasing PE
and/or other types of school PA without risk of decreasing
academic progress, and 2) It may offer a way to reduce disruptive behaviour at school and the drop-out from educational programmes. Furthermore, an important byproduct of an increased participation to school PA would
be an enhanced level of physical fitness.

Methods
Search methods
The databases searched included MEDLINE (1966 to
2007),
PSYCHINFO
(1974
to
2007),
SCHOLAR.GOOGLE.COM, and ERIC, as well as the
extensive personal databases of the authors. The reference
lists of the articles thus identified were also consulted to
identify additional potentially-relevant research. Publications in languages other than English were considered
where appropriate. For the purpose of this review, we use
the term academic achievement to encompass academic
success, school performance and all combinations of
these terms.

The outcomes of school PA/PE and academic achievement, success or performance were actual or self-reported
grade point average (GPA) and determinants of GPA that
could potentially be changed by the interventions (concentration, learning, classroom behaviour, engagement in
learning, self-esteem, etc.). The terms physical education,
physical activity and sports are, for the purposes of this
review, restricted to programmes offered within the
school context (i.e. instructional physical education and
extracurricular physical activity, including in-school physical activity programmes, intraschool and intramural
sport).

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Results
Quasi-experimental and longitudinal studies
It is not surprising that no randomized controlled trials
were identified, as they are not practicable in this type of
research setting. Quasi-experimental protocols are usually
indicated when causality cannot be tested by a random
controlled trial in milieux such as the school setting.
Seven quasi-experimental studies were identified (Table
1). Cross-sectional studies were also considered, as well as
experimental or laboratory experiments on the determinants of academic performance (i.e. learning concentration, classroom behaviour, etc.).

The first documented quasi-experimental study relevant

for to this paper was the Vanves (France) investigation;
this involved a small group of schoolchildren tested during the 1950's. [7] Schoolchildren who spent mornings in
the classroom and afternoons doing PE were said to perform better academically than children from a control
class, but no further details were given. [7] Unfortunately,
the specifics of these observations were not described in
peer reviewed journals.
A second quasi-experimental study conducted in the
Trois-Rivires region (Qubec) between 1970 and 1977
involved 546 primary school students; this noted that students involved in an experimental 5 hours of physical
education per week had a higher academic performance
than their control counterparts who were enrolled in the
normal school program for 40 min per week [8]. The supplemental 260 minutes allocated to PE was necessarily
taken from time for other academic teaching (i.e. an average 14% curtailment of academic instruction). Despite
this curricular change, during the last 5 years of primary
school, the overall academic performance of the experimental students improved relative to the controls. During
standardized Provincial examinations, children receiving
the 5 hours/week of PE had higher scores in mathematics,
but lower scores in English (their second language),
despite the fact that 33 minutes were removed from mathematics instruction and none from English. [3]
A 2-year quasi-experimental study followed 759 Californian children in the 5th and 6th grades. [9] Subgroups of
children were taught PE by either a professional physical
educator (n = 178), a trained homeroom teacher (n =
312), or in the normal programme (n = 165). The professional physical educators, the trained teachers, and normal programmes offered, respectively, 80, 65, and 38
minutes per week of PE. As expected, those taught by the
professional physical educators achieved greater fitness
(cardiovascular and muscle endurance). [10] Also, the
groups taught by the professional physical educators and
trained teachers had smaller declines in academic performance despite allocating more time to PE. Four of 8

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Table 1: Quasi-experimental studies examining the influence of sport, physical education or physical activity upon academic
achievement.

Author

Sample

Milieu

Intervention

Outcome measure

Response

Fourestier [7]

Children in final year

of primary school (13
years), 1 class, n = ?

Vanves (Paris)

Overall academic
performance

Enhanced in
experimental group

Shephard et al. [8]

546 children in grades

1 through 6

Trois Rivires,
Qubec

Various sports and

other activities, 13 h/
wk increase for one
year
5 h of specialist physical
education per week for
6 years

Teacher ratings,
Standard Provincial
examination, WISC
tests

Sallis et al. [9]

655 children grades 5

and 6

California

Metropolitan
achievement tests

Dwyer et al. [11]

500 10-year-old
students

South Australia

2742 min additional

physical education per
week for two years
75 min/day of
endurance training

Canadian Achievement
Test (CAT-3)

Enhanced teacher
ratings, Maths but not
English improved in
Provincial exams, 34%
gain on WISC
Non-significant trend to
gains in English,
arithmetic and behaviour
Non-significant trend to
gains in English and
arithmetic at 2-year
follow up
Slight trend to improved
scores

Classroom
assessments and
nationally standardized
achievement scores
Reading skills and
arithmetic skills

No change in academic
performance except in
sub-group who exercised
vigorously
Both improved relative
to controls

Ahamed et al. [13] 287 911 year old

primary students

British Columbia

Coe et al. [14]

214 grade 6 students

Western Michigan,
U.S.A.

Raviv et al. [15]

358 kindergarten and

grade 1 students

Israel

Added 47 min/wk of
varied activities for 16
months
Nominal 55 min/day
(actual 19 min/day)
physical education for
one semester
One-year movement
education program

statistical comparisons disclosed an advantage for students in the experimental groups; one comparison was
advantageous to control students, while the remaining 3
were equal. The group who spent the most time on PE (i.e.
those with a professional physical educator) showed no
negative effects on academic achievement and indeed the
decline of academic results during the 2 years of the intervention was smaller than that observed in the control subjects. [9]
In South Australia, the 500-student SHAPE trial added
1.25 hours per day of endurance fitness training to the
curriculum of 10-year-old primary school students. [11]
Over the first 14 weeks of the study, the experimenatl
group showed gains in physical work capacity and
decreases in body fat relative to controls. Arithmetic and
reading scores were not adversely affected by the substantial reallocation of curricular time in favour of PE. These
physical benefits appeared to be maintained over the succeeding 2 years in a follow-up of 216 participants. These
follow-up evaluations showed (non-significant) trends
for better arithmetic and reading grades in experimental
students, as well as beneficial changes in teachers' ratings
of classroom behaviour. [12]
The 16-month Action School BC! project involved a population of 287 British Columbian primary school children
(4th and 5th years: 911-years olds). PA was delivered by

Scores for reading and

arithmetic

classroom teachers, amounting to 47 minutes more per

week in interventional than in control schools (139 62
vs. 92 45 minutes, P < 0.001). [13] Despite a corresponding decrease in academic time, the academic performance of the experimental group, as measured by the
Canadian Achievement Test, remained unchanged;
indeed, data analysis revealed a trend towards an
enhanced academic performance in the intervention
schools (the average score rising from 1,595 to 1,672
units).
Another interventional study of 6th grade (11 year-old)
students covered a single school term. Fifty-five minutes/
day of PE were included in the curriculum, vs. the same
allocation of time for arts or computer sciences; the two
groups performed equally well in mathematics, sciences
and English. [14] Finally, an intervention in Israel
involved 92 preschool and 266 first grade children. [15]
The experimental manipulation here was a school-based
movement education programme, and children in the
experimental group showed greater reading skills and
arithmetic scores than controls. [15]
Taken together, these quasi-experimental data suggest that
the enriched PE programmes demanded a substantial
reduction in the time allocated for academic tuition. Since
the children achieved at least equally despite the reduced
teaching time, the evidence seems strong that the effi-

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ciency of learning was enhanced. [3] Despite the variety of

programme durations and locations, a common and valuable by-product was a significant increase in various
measures of physical fitness (PF).

middle to upper middle SES categories, a cross-sectional

study of suburban high school seniors (52 girls and 37
boys) found that the more active group had higher GPA.
[21]

Cross-sectional studies
Cross-sectional studies commonly have difficulty in controlling for potential biases, particularly socio-economic
status (SES). SES remains the strongest predictor of academic achievement [16] and is also one of the strongest
predictors of PA participation in children (e.g. in Canada
[17]; Italy [18] and Estonia [19]). Cross-sectional studies
generally indicate a positive association with academic
achievement. Some of these studies did control for confounders such as SES, and still most of them found a positive association between physical activity and academic
achievement (Table 2).

4,690 Hong Kong children from primary 5 to secondary 7

(i.e. grades 5 to 12) completed a pre-validated questionnaire relating their sports and exercise participation to
perceived academic performance. [22] Low correlations
were seen for the whole sample (r = 0.10, P < 0.01; r =
0.17, P < 0.01 for females; r = 0.06, NS for males). GPA
was not a significant correlated with PA participation
when all school bands were confounded; however, the
high band showed a positive link between GPA and PA
participation, whereas students in the low band showed a
negative relationship between PA participation and GPA.
[23] These reports suggest that the relationship between
PA and academic performance is influenced by the type of
students and/or the school that they attend. Deliberate
stratification of students by learning ability is by no
means universal, but we cannot exclude the possibility
that spontaneous, unplanned banding may also influence
the strength of observed relationships.

Positive results on GPA

Nelson and Gordon-Larsen [20] analyzed results from the
US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health;
they observed that adolescents who were active in school
were more likely to have high grades. Even after adjustment for demographics and SES, the risk ratio of higher
grades was 1.20 for mathematics and 1.21 for English
among adolescents who were active at school. Within

Dwyer et al. [24] made a cross-sectional survey of 9000

Australian schoolchildren between the ages of 7 and 15

Table 2: Cross-sectional studies examining the influence of sport, physical education or physical activity upon academic achievement.

Author

Sample

Milieu

Outcome measure

Response

Risk ratio for higher results

1.20 for mathematics and
1.21 for English
Higher GPA

Significant association
Nelson and GordonLarsen [20]

US National Longitudinal
Study of Adolescent Health

USA

Grades

Field et al. [21]

52 girls and 37 boys in

suburban high school
7961 schoolchildren, aged
715 years in 109 schools

USA

GPA

Australia

Rating by the school

principal

Youth Risk Behavior Survey

adolescents

USA

Perception of academic
performance
GPA

Dwyer et al. [24]

Pate et al. [25]

Williams [26]

England

Sigfudsdottir et al. [27]

Iceland

Tremblay et al. [28]

Daley and Ryan [29]

Dollman et al. [30]

Yu et al. [31]

self-reported school
performance
Negative or null outcomes on AA
6,923 grade 6 children
New Brunswick (Canada) GPA and self-esteem
232 boys and girls (1316
England
self-reported PA and GPA
years old)

Primary school children

grades 3, 5 and 7 in 117
schools
333 Chinese preadolescents (aged 812)

school performance
positively associated with PA
in the preceding week
Inverse relation with level of
PA.
positive association between
school sports participation
and AA
r = -0.11 with absenteeism
and r = 0.09 with grades

Australia

Reading and maths scores

Inverse relation PA and AA

No relationship except for
the duration of PA time vs.
marks for English (r = -0.29
to -0.30)
No relation

Hong Kong, China

Examination results and

conduct grades

No relation with AA but

relation with self-esteem

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years (500 in each age/sex stratum drawn from 109

schools, i.e. 10 girls and 10 boys per school). Depending
on the group, a linear regression analysis with good control of confounding variables demonstrated a significant
association between academic achievement and PA (a
combination of lunchtime PA and minutes of PA the preceding week). In all subjects aged 912 years, school performance was positively associated with ratings of PA
during the preceding week. In girls 1015 years old and
boys 815 years old, academic achievement was also positively associated with the estimates of lunchtime PA. The
correlation coefficients between PA and academic
achievement, although low (r = 0.08 to 0.19) were statistically significant, suggesting that PA was contributing to
academic achievement in both boys and girls. Data from
the Youth Risk Behavior Survey likewise showed that a
perception of little or no involvement in PA was associated with a perception of low academic performance. [25]
Another cross-sectional study from England also controlled for SES; this again reported a positive association
between school sports participation and academic
achievement. [26]
Researchers from Iceland designed a study included other
health behaviours. [27] They found small but significantly
positive univariate associations of PA with self-reported
school performance (r = -0.11 with absenteeism and r =
0.09 with grades). When confounders were considered,
these associations were further weakened, but nevertheless remained statistically significant predictors if selected
health behaviours and psychological variables were
included in the prediction model. [27]
Negative or null outcomes on GPA
In 6,923 grade 6 New Brunswick children (age 11 years),
PA showed a weak inverse association with academic
achievement, but a positive association with self-esteem.
[28] A study on 232 English boys and girls (1316 years
old) found no relationship between self-reported PA and
GPA. Moreover, in children aged 13, 14, or 16 years, the
durartion of PA was negatively correlated with marks for
English (r = -0.29 to -0.30). [29] To our knowledge, these
are the only 2 studies to observe negative associations
between PA (but not PE) and academic achievement.

A survey of 117 Australian primary schools found no deterioration of literacy and numeracy results in primary
school grades 3, 5 and 7 when more time was allocated to
PE. [30] SES was the strongest predictor of both literacy
and numeracy scores. A recent analysis of Hong Kong preadolescent boys reported that a high level of PA at school
was associated with high self-esteem, but not with academic achievement. [31]

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Even studies that failed to find a positive relationship

between PA/PE and GPA have generally found no
decrease in academic achievement as a consequence of
increased participation in PA (Table 2). Clearly, the
absence of an elevation in GPA should not be interpreted
as a negative outcome. This is well illustrated by a survey
conducted in Virginia's primary schools. [32] A reduction
in the time allocated for PE (or the arts) did not improve
performance in other subjects like mathematics or reading. Moreover, increasing the time allocated to PE (or the
arts) at the expense of other academic subjects was not
detrimental to test scores in these subjects. [32] Taken
together, these observations suggest that if academic
achievements are maintained while spending less time on
a specific discipline, the intervention has increased academic efficacy.
Effects of PA on elements considered to favour academic
performance
Many factors like classroom behaviour, self-esteem, selfimage, school satisfaction and school connectedness have
been postulated as determinants of academic achievement.
Classroom behaviour
Self-identification as a school athlete vs. a jock is associated with a lower rate of reported misconduct at school
[33], with the exception of binge drinking. [34] In the
American linguistic context, the word "jock" refers to an
individual whose life is oriented toward sport; it is not
necessarily a pejorative term. However, it should not be
confused with the focused and planned life of a typical
athlete.

In the Trois-Rivires study, competencies linked to behaviour were similar overall in the experimental vs. the control group. [35] A German cross-sectional study (CHILT)
compared 12 intervention schools (n = 668) vs. 5 control
schools (n = 218), finding that PF was associated with
concentration in 67 years old children. [36]
Evans et al. [37] reported a lower rate of inappropriate
talking among emotionally, or behaviourally-disturbed
children who were participating in a jogging and football
exercise programme. Furthermore, a meta-analysis on the
effect of exercise prior to classes led to the conclusion that
most exercise interventions significantly reduced disruptive behaviours in disturbed students. [38] These effects
could reflect in part better teacher attitudes towards these
children, as seen in the Trois-Rivires [3] and the Australian [1] quasi-experimental studies.
Other psychosocial effects
Better self-esteem or self-image [20,39] and body image
[40] are commonly associated with high levels of PA.

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Many studies have also linked school sport or PA programmes with other psychosocial outcomes, such as
school satisfaction and school connectedness, regardless
of ethnic group [41]. Both school connectedness and
school satisfaction are factors preventing drop-out from
school. [42]
A recent analysis of data from the National Longitudinal
Study of Adolescent Health [20] found evidence of a positive association between PA and components of mental
health, including self-esteem, emotional well-being, spirituality, and future expectations. When participation in
PA/sports also included parental involvement, the behavioural risk profile became even more positive.
A cross-sectional questionnaire study of 245 Finnish adolescents [43] observed no association between PA level
and school satisfaction and the trend to a weak correlation
between PA level and problems at school was not statistically significant. However, PA was correlated with global
school satisfaction (r = -0.21 for boys) and absence of a
depressive mood state (-0.20 and -0.26 for girls and boys,
respectively).
What are the acute effects of PA on cognitive function?
Many authors have documented the acute effects of PA on
cognitive function. Three recent reviews and/or metaanalyses examined these studies. [44-46] In a meta-analysis of 44 studies, Sibley and Etnier [45] concluded that PA
was positively associated with better cognitive functioning
in children. Some groups, particularly middle school students (grades 68, aged 1113 years) and younger,
seemed to benefit more from PA. Sibley and Etnier [45]
noted that unpublished studies had a higher effect size
than published reports, suggesting that no bias had
occurred from a failure to publish non-significant results.

Brisswalter et al. [44] reviewed published studies into the

effects of exercise on various tasks. They concluded that
the optimal intensity for decisional tasks covered a wide
range (~4080% VO2max). An exercise duration of more
than 20 minutes was most efficient in increasing the performance of perceptual and decisional tasks. [44,46]
Tomporowki [47] suggested an upper limit of 60 minutes
might arise from the adverse effects of dehydration on
cognitive functions.
The literature generally suggests a positive effect of acute
physical exercise on cognition. Other activities, like
involvement in music also have the potential to increase
reading skills, although in this case there is no positive
influence on PF. [48]

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Relationship of PF with academic achievement

What is the effect of a high level of PF on academic performance? Is good cognitive functioning associated with
above average PF? If so, is this a consequence of PF per se,
or of better overall physical health? When analyzed globally, the literature does not indicate any clear linkage
between PF and either academic achievement or intellectual performance. As early as 1969, Railo found no relationship between PF and either of these outcomes. [49]
More recently, Etnier et al. [50] concluded from a metaregression analysis that the empirical literature did not
support a link between cardiovascular PF and academic
achievement. However, this meta-analysis revealed a
weakness in the literature: there was little data on the relationship between PF and academic achievement in
school-aged children. Indeed, only 1 of the 37 studies
identified included this age group.

When the definition of PF includes aspects other than cardiovascular fitness, there seems evidence of positive correlations between various measures of psychomotor
performance, cognitive abilities and academic achievement. [51,52] Psychomotor performance shares many
common neurological mechanisms with cognitive functions.
A 2001 cross-sectional study on California children disclosed a positive relationship between reading and mathematics results (as measured by Stanford Achievement
Test-9) and results on a field test of physical fitness (the
Fitnessgram). Despite a huge sample of students from
grades 5, 7 and 9 (n = 954,000), potential selection biases
were not considered, making it difficult to conclude that
PA was linked to increased academic performance. [53]
When found, any effects of PF were small. Another weak
association between PF and academic achievement was
observed in South Korean children (grades 5, 8, and 11);
in this study, the association was much smaller than that
between academic achievement and regular meal eating.
[54] Dwyer et al. [24] measured muscle fitness in 9,000
Australian students. They found significant but weak associations, ranging from r = -0.10 to -0.19 for running distances of 50 m and 1.6 km, and from r = 0.10 to 0.22 for
sit-ups and standing long jump, respectively.
School sports and academic achievement
The connection between school sports and intellectual
achievement has been a long-standing issue since Davis
and Cooper [55] first reported a positive association
between school sports participation and academic
achievement. It remains the subject of recent investigations. The competitive dimension of most sports introduces particular problems, even in the school context, as
the educational dimension tends to be relegated to a secondary level. The literature comprises mainly cross-sec-

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tional data and the results are more equivocal than for PA;
unfortunately, most of the earlier studies did not control
for biases common to athletic and academic achievements. [56,57]
Data from the longitudinal Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study included 67% African-Americans and 33% European-Americans; it found that
participation in extracurricular PA was a significant predictor of better academic results and of higher academic
expectations. [58] Furthermore, sports participation by
8th grade African-American males resulted in aspirations
to continue their studies toward college, with less likelihood of acting inappropriately in school. [59] In their
female counterparts, sports participation also resulted in
higher aspirations and in a reduction of absenteeism.
Cooper et al. [60] found that even after eliminating confounding factors, extracurricular activities, including
sports and PA were predictors of better academic achievement in 2,200 American high school students. Their conclusion is in line with the point that Marsh made in 1992,
that such activities may have an effect on academic
achievement by increasing motivation and investment in
school. [61] Another study of 11,957 American adolescents found that even after standardization for SES, sports
participation with parental presence was associated with
an increased probability of good grades in English and
mathematics, the Adjusted Relative Risk being 1.23 for
both subjects. [20] Dexter [62] examined the relationship
between sports knowledge, sport performance and academic ability, the last being measured by scores on the
British General Certificate of Secondary Education
(GCSE). They observed a small but significant positive
correlation between sports performance and GCSE score
for both mathematics and English.
Melnick et al. [63] detected no relationship between academic achievement and sports participation in 3,686 African-American and Hispanic students from the "Highschool and Beyond Study". However, sports participation
was associated with a lower drop-out rate. Therefore, they
suggested that if sports participation contributes to academic achievement, it may do so indirectly, by encouraging retention in school. Fisher et al. [64] also observed no
association between sports involvement and self-reported
grades in an ethnic mix of 838 grade 9 to 12 students (predominantly 63% African-American and 27% Hispanic).
Harvard students involved in varsity teams had a slightly
lower GPA than their peers, but reported a higher degree
of satisfaction with their university experience. [65] This
also seemed the case in other institutions examined by
Light. Athletes have more friends and a stronger sense of
belonging to their institution. They are, according to

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Light, "the happiest on campus". Generally, this same

trend is seen among high-school athletes. Students
engaged in extracurricular PAs do not achive different academic scores than their peers, but they feel a greater
engagement with their institution. [66,67] This may
reflect in part the greater attention directed towards these
specific students. Indeed, participants in extracurricular
activities (including sports) have more interactions with
significant adults than non-participants. [66]
Sport is a very complex phenomenon. There are many cultures within school sports, and any effect on academic
achievement is influenced by gender, race, type of sport,
type and level of athletic involvement. White and McTeer
[68] suggested that the status of a given sport may influence its effect on academic achievement. Their results
showed that high-status sports had a positive influence on
English grades but they saw no evidenceof an effect of
such sports on mathematics grades. They suggested that
academic performance was more likely to be affected by
cultural factors in subjective subjects like English than in
mathematics. Any influence of school sports participation
may also differ between girls and boys [33], and between
various ethnic and cultural groups. [69]
In conclusion, the available literature suggests that sport is
more likely to benefit academic achievement if offered in
school rather than in other sport contexts, given the proximity of educational resources and environment. This
may be particularly important for team sports, which
often seem associated with risky behaviours, particularly
binge drinking of alcohol. [70] When sports-involved students identify themselves as athletes rather than jocks,
such risky behaviours seem less prevalent. [67] Greater
academic coaching of school athletes could be a factor
favouring their academic achievement. [67] School sports
should be monitored closely, with the intent of avoiding
a drift away from educational objectives. It appears that
satisfaction with sports vs. satisfaction with school work is
predicted by a differing psychological domain (perceived
ability vs. task orientation). [71] It may be helpful to create an environment where both types of endeavour find
common ground, i.e. school may be the best setting in
which sports can be directed towards task orientation and
skills acquisition, without decreasing the pleasure and satisfaction of being good at sports and PA. As noted in various long-term follow-ups, elite and varsity level athletes
later tend to experience greater educational and labour
market success than non athletes. [34,67,72,73] Current
evidence suggests that this effect may be mediated by
racial group. [74]
Populations with special educational needs
Academic integration of children with various behavioural and developmental problems is a growing trend in

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industrialized countries. The question arises in terms of

their academic achievement. Reviews of exercise programmes for children with learning disabilities [75,76]
have suggested that in order to increase the likelihood of
positive outcomes, such programmes should have a low
student-instructor ratio. Benefits (with the exception of
increased PF) may reflect increased attention toward the
participants.

Exercise and learning mechanisms

Hippocampal LTP is the most credible physiological
explanation for learning and memory in mammals,
including humans. [83] LTP leads to an increase of synaptic efficacy following an increase of synaptic traffic. [83] It
was shown recently that PA favours hippocampal LTP.
[84] Chronic exercise favourably influences the hippocampus through 3 mechanisms:

In hyperactive impulsive children, PA is associated with

global satisfaction in boys and an absence of depressive
emotions in both sexes. [77] An outdoor education programme also decreased behavioural problems in children
with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. [78]

1) Heightened neurogenesis, i.e. an increased formation

of new neurons after chronic PA, as demonstrated in the
adult mouse [85,86],

In children with reading disabilities, a school-based programme of balance and coordination training, throwing,
catching, and stretching produced significant improvements in both reading and semantics. [79] Positive
changes were maintained for at least 18 months following
the programme, reducing the likelihood of a Hawthorne
effect. [80]
Four pupils with emotional and behavioural disorders
were directly studied before and after a 10-week PE intervention. Back in class, there was an increase (13.8%, or a
little more than 23 minutes) in the amount of time spent
focused on the tasks they were supposed to be performing. [81] A 10-week PA intervention in children with
learning disabilities improved classroom behaviour and
the perception of academic competence was increased.
[76] However, a similar outcome was seen in the control
group, indicating that there had been no specific effect
from the programme.
The effects of school PA upon children with learning
problems thus remains an open field for research.
Is the potential beneficial effect of PE, school PA and sport
supported by fundamental research?
The positive association observed between PA and intellectual performance among children in quasi-experimental studies should be supported by mechanistic,
experimental evidence. No one can deny the important
role of neurosciences in the comprehension of academic
achievement. [82] Most research on the relationships
between PA and cognition has centered on the hippocampus, a brain region that mediates memory and learning in
mammals, and on changes in the cerebral circulation. The
hippocampus has an important role in the consolidation
of memory. One major mechanism essential to its functions is long-term potentiation, or LTP. LTP leads to an
enhancement of nervous influx following a first series of
stimuli.

2) Augmented LTP itself, i.e. enhanced neuronal transmission in the hippocampus. Different methods employed to
measure cognitive functions, and scores on these tasks are
well correlated with a better performing hippocampus
[87]. Radial maze learning, i.e. an hippocampal spatial
learning, is increased in both male and female rats exercised by voluntary running. The performance of this task
does not seem to be influenced by changes in fitness of the
animal, as is the case for the Morris water maze. However,
if the water maze is used, it remains possible to control for
an animal's level of fitness. Other studies using the Morris
water maze have also reported improved performance.
[85,88] Exercise has no effect on glutamate receptors in
the hippocampus in aged rats [89], reinforcing the view
that post-receptor mechanisms are responsible for
stronger LTP in active animals. However, this point
remains to be confirmed in the hippocampus of younger
animals,
3) Chronic exercise creates a favourable environment for
LTP by increasing the hippocampal concentrations of
neuroprotective factors like brain-derived neurotrophic
factor (BDNF) [90] and of other growth factors such as
insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), nerve growth factor,
and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2).
The brain concentration of some antioxidants is also
increased in trained animals, thus protecting hippocampal cells from oxidative damage. [91] Radak et al. [92]
studied the acute effects of exercise (2 hours). Oxidative
damage to macromolecules was reduced through an
increase of glutathion synthetase activity and a reduction
in the deleterious, inactivity-related efflux of glutamate
(the neurotransmitter of learning in the hippocampus).
Acute exercise also normalized certain memory functions,
particularly orientation time to novelty and passive avoidance reactions.
To our knowledge, these mechanisms of enhanced learning and memory have never been explored in animals at a
developmental stage corresponding to school-age children. We hypothesize that, given the higher brain plastic-

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International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2008, 5:10

ity of childhood, the changes seen in older brains may

have an even greater magnitude in the developing brain.
The data suggest that the brain structures involved in
learning and memory, although more complex, function
much like skeletal muscle. To enhance function (i.e.
increase memory and learning), periods of stimulation
must be followed by a recovery period when supercompensation can take place, and the new proteins associated
with learning and memory consolidation can be synthesized.

Discussion and Conclusion

Available data suggest that school PA (PE instruction, free
time PA or school sport) could become a consistent component of PA to meet current guidelines for children and
adolescents without impairing academic achievement,
even if curricular time for so-called academic subjects is
curtailed. In his classical work "The Adolescent Society,"
James S. Coleman advanced the concept of a zero-sum
model. [93] This hypothesized that if time was taken from
academic programmes to allow other pursuits, academic
achievement would suffer. This concept may be applicable if time is spent in paid employment while attending
school [94], but it does not seem to apply to extracurricular activities like sports or curricular PE. [95] In contrast,
such activities are likely to increase attachment to school
and self-esteem which are indirect but important factors
in academic achievement.
Parents concerned about decreases in study and homework time may be better advised to question the time their
children spend on TV and computer games rather than the
time that they devote to PE, PA or sports in school.
Indeed, the more children watch TV, the greater the
decline in their academic results. [96] At least one Canadian study found that the time devoted to PA was positively associated with the time that school-aged children
spent in reading. [97] Parents interested in the health and
academic success of their offspring should focus on the
increased prevalence of various metabolic pathologies in
which sedentary behaviour plays a key etiologic role, for
example, obesity and type 2 diabetes, both of which are
beginning at an ever younger age. [98] Such pathologies
have the potential to affect school performance adversely,
although this is an area where more research is needed.
[99] In one recent article, obese 3rd grade girls (8 years
old) did not have poorer academic results after control for
SES, but relative to normal weight girls they exhibited
more displaced behaviours like arguing and fighting, as
well as more depressive symptoms like loneliness and
sadness [100].
Engagement in PE instruction would probably be
increased if grades were allocated for performance in PE,
particularly in high school. The engagement of girls, par-

http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/5/1/10

ticularly, decreases when PE is not considered incalculating their GPA. [101,102] However, between grade 8 and
12, the school drop-out rate for adolescents of both sexes
is reduced by sport participation [103]
Another problem that remains to be resolved, despite a
call for action from the Surgeon General in 1996, is the
heterogeneity in provision of PE [104], extracurricular
sports and other school PA programmes [105], schools
with a low SES being particularly disadvantaged. School
sport would appeal to more students if emphasis was
placed on its educational potential rather than its competitive side. Potential drifting of objectives should be monitored to avoid a subversion of the educational mission
and ensure a maximisation of positive effects such as academic achievement and long term adherence to physical
activity. The current emphasis on a limited range of team
sports should be modified to provide opportunities for
students who are interested in and have the skills relevant
to other sport ventures, thus attracting a wider range of
students.
Many questions remain to be clarified on the relationship
between academic performance, PE, school PA and sports.
However, to paraphrase Eccles et al. [67], "We now know
enough about the kinds of programs likely to have positive effects on children and adolescents' development."
The literature strongly suggests that the academic achievement, physical fitness and health of our children will not
be improved by limiting the time allocated to PE instruction, school PA and sports programmes.

Competing interests
The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors' contributions
Both authors have been involved in the writing of this
manuscript and have read and approved the final text.

Acknowledgements
F. Trudeau is holder of a joint initiative grant from Social Science and
Humanity Research Council/Sport Canada. R. J. Shephard is collaborator on
the same grant.

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