A total of 852 adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age were evaluated (M = 14.86, SD = 1.67), randomly selected among a population of secondary school and Baccalaureate students. We applied an “ad hoc” questionnaire on sociodemographic data and the Self-Report of Reasons for the Practice of Physical Exercise (AMPEF) and Self-Report of Barriers to the Practice of Physical Exercise (ABPEF) questionnaires. The results obtained show a prevalence of competition, social recognition, and challenge as motivational factors, and fatigue or laziness as barriers to physical exercise among adolescents. With respect to gender, boys show a greater presence of motivations towards doing physical exercise, while girls show more barriers. In conclusion, the motivational factors and barriers interact and support each other for a better predisposition towards physical exercise.

As classrooms become more and more diverse, it is imperative to provide physical education teacher education (PETE) students with opportunities to develop competencies that promote quality education for all students. In this study, PETE students applied a physical education service-learning (SL) program aimed at enhancing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) children’s motor domain and general well-being—objectives that are connected to the third focus of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Traditionally, research on SL has focused on students’ outcomes, and there is a call to examine SL’s effects on service receivers, which is the gap this paper aspires to fill. The aim of this study was to measure the postural control of children with ASD who were involved in a 6-month SL program in comparison to ASD peers in a control group. A quasi-experimental design was used in which a total of 29 children with ASD participated. The results of the experimental group showed a significant improvement in the vestibular pathways, an improvement trend in the somatosensorial and visual pathways and improvements in the dynamic tests. This study provides valuable feedback about how SL programs can benefit ASD children to improve their postural control, thus contributing to the third SDG concerned with well-being promotion.

Active and democratic citizenship promotion has become a critical challenge for higher education, and civic engagement is a fundamental axis not only in education but also in fostering democratic systems. Consequently, teacher educators held a prominent role through their own teaching practices to generate contexts promoting critical thinking, skills and attitudes. The aim of this study was to analyze the learning related to the political dimension developed by pre-service teachers (n = 123) after participating in a Service-Learning program through physical education with children at risk or/and student with educational needs. This research followed a qualitative research approach and we based the analysis of reflective diaries on Gorham’s (2005) categories regarding political learning: Critical political thinking, Interest in politics, Deliberation and Political judgment. The findings show a development in learning such as civic attitudes, critical political thinking, awareness of social justice problems, increased civic compromise and responsibility. The Service-Learning program, therefore, may have been an adequate option to develop pre-service teachers’ learning related to a political perspective. Therefore, these findings let us understand how Service-Learning may foster equity and social justice among future teachers.

Background: Numerous studies have reported a gradual decline in the practice of physical exercise with age, confirming high dropout rates in the adolescent period. The aim of this study was to investigate the motivation or barriers that lead to greater or lesser adherence to physical exercise among children and adolescents. Methods: In this study, 1,081 individuals volunteered to participate [239 children (age: 10.89 ± .66 years) and 842 adolescents (age: 14.9 ± 1.75 years)]. For this purpose, we used the Self-Report on Motivation for Exercising (AMPEF) and Self-Report on Barriers to Exercising (ABPEF) questionnaires. Results: The most significant motivational factors in the practice of physical exercise (in both children and adolescents) are competition, social recognition and challenge (t = -16.02, p < .001), prevention and positive health (t = 5.24, p < .001) and affiliation, fun and well-being (t = -19.54, p < .001), while the barriers focus on fatigue and laziness (t = -13.20, p < .001) and body image and physical-social anxiety (t = -5.71, p < .001). It is also observed that adolescents showed significantly higher motivation than children and greater presence of barriers in the practice of physical exercise. Conclusions: The age is a determining variable to include in preventive and intervention programs for the practice of physical exercise.

Las emociones, la inteligencia emocional y la competencia socioemocional son algunos de los contenidos transversales que podemos desarrollar desde la Educación Física escolar. El juego motor es una fuente de estímulos y vivencias que favorece el desarrollo de las estructuras físicas y cerebrales que el alumnado de Primaria utilizará en su presente y futuro. El objeto de este estudio fue analizar las estrategias utilizadas para la resolución de conflictos tras la puesta en práctica de un programa de intervención denominado “Siente Jugando”, haciendo uso de la metodología Aprendizaje Servicio. La muestra estuvo formada por 93 participantes de Educación Primaria Obligatoria (EPO), de edades comprendidas entre los 6-8 años (41% chicas, 59% chicos) (48% de primer curso y 52% de segundo) y 50 participantes universitarios del segundo curso de Educación Infantil, quienes pusieron en práctica juegos que habían elaborado previamente para desarrollar los contenidos socioemocionales. Cada grupo desarrollaba las 6 emociones básicas y las 5 variables de la competencia (reconocimiento de emociones, autoconcepto, resolución de conflictos, conducta prosocial-altruista y empatía) durante 16 sesiones de 45 minutos (2 sesiones por semana). En los resultados, observamos un aumento significativo en el número de estrategias directas (p≤.000) e indirectas (p≤.000) tras la intervención. Sin embargo, aunque no encontramos diferencias estadísticamente significativas en el número de estrategias agresivas, a efectos prácticos sí observamos una disminución en los mismos, que repercutió en un aumento de aquellas directas e indirectas.