Publication
Investigating the direct and indirect effects of a school-based leadership program for primary school students: Rationale and study protocol for the ‘Learning to Lead’ cluster randomised controlled tr
Publisher:
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date:
20-01-2023
DOI:
10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0279661
Abstract: Leadership is a valuable skill that can be taught in school, and which may have benefits within and beyond the classroom. Learning to Lead (L2L) is a student-led, primary school-based leadership program whereby older ‘ peer leaders’ deliver a fundamental movement skills (FMS) program to younger ‘ peers’ within their own school. The aims of the study are to determine the efficacy of a peer-led FMS intervention on: (i) peer leaders’ (aged 10 to 12 years) leadership effectiveness (primary outcome), leadership self-efficacy, well-being, and time on-task in the classroom (ii) peers’ (aged 8 to 10 years) physical activity levels, actual and perceived FMS competency, cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular power, and executive functioning and (iii) teachers’ (referred to as ‘ school ch ions ’) work-related stress and well-being. L2L will be evaluated using a two-arm parallel group cluster randomised controlled trial. Twenty schools located within a two-hour drive of the University of Newcastle, Australia will be recruited. We will recruit 80 students (40 peer leaders and 40 peers ) from each school ( N = 1,600). L2L will be implemented in three phases: Phase 1 – school ch ions’ training via a professional learning workshop Phase 2 – school ch ions’ delivery of leadership lessons to the peer leaders and Phase 3 – peer leaders’ delivery of the FMS program to their younger peers . The FMS program, consisting of 12 x 30-minute lessons, will be delivered over the course of one school term (10 weeks). Study outcomes will be assessed at baseline (between mid-March to June, Terms 1 and 2), intervention end (mid-August to September, Term 3), and follow-up (November to mid-December, Term 4. This trial was prospectively registered on the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) registration number: ACTRN12621000376842.