The Bunkeflo project — 20 years of daily physical education

Motor development is a precondition for learning, not a supplement to it. That was the starting point when the Bunkeflo project began in 1999.

How it worked

The Bunkeflo project started at Ängslättskolan in Bunkeflostrand, as a collaboration between the school, local sports clubs and Malmö University. The move was simple enough: daily movement for everyone, and additional structured training for those who needed it.

The academic framework is called MUGI, Motorisk Utveckling som Grund för Inlärning, developed by Ingegerd Ericsson at Malmö University. The name says what the premise was.

What the follow-up showed

That pupils improved their motor skills was expected. What drew most attention was the link with academic outcomes. 96 percent of the intervention group qualified for upper secondary school, against 89 percent of the control group. The difference was driven by the boys, at 96 against 83 percent.

The motor figures are just as striking: in year 9, 93 percent of the intervention group had good motor skills, against 53 percent of the control group.

Transfer value to Norwegian schools

Norwegian schools do not have daily physical education, and that has consequences. Children with motor difficulties get fewer natural chances to practise. The difficulties are also more easily overlooked, since they rarely show up in tests or in the classroom.

Three things from Bunkeflo transfer without changing the timetable: screen systematically rather than guess, prioritise the children who score lowest, and keep going over time. Motor skills are built through repetition over months, not through a finite course.

Sources: Ericsson I. & Karlsson M. (2012), Motorik och skolresultat — en longitudinell interventionsstudie. Ericsson I. (2003), Motorik, koncentrationsförmåga och skolprestationer, Malmö högskola.

MotorikkLab runs a preventive motor skills programme in primary schools, years 1–4. Read about the school programme (in Norwegian) →