Participants

A qualitative methodology was followed by taking the closest social referents of Primary Education pupils aged between 9 and 12 years as the study reference framework. Thus the study involved teachers from different subject areas between grades 4 and 6 grade of Primary Education and schoolchildren’s family members at these same education levels (Table 1), which correspond to these age groups. A convenience sampling process [29, 30] was used to set up the sample, which took into account the following variables: gender and parental role (woman-mother/man-father); the grade in which teachers work or, in the case of family member, that in which schoolchildren study (grades 4, 5 and 6); type of education institution (Public/Private). Participants were informed of the study objectives and voluntarily agreed to participate after having verified that they met the inclusion criteria.

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Table 1. Participants.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275196.t001

There were 19 participants in the Teacher category (average age 40.47±10.80 years): 11 men (58.89%) and 8 women (41.11%); 8 (41.11%) belonged to Public and 11 (58.89) to Private schools. Finally, 7 (36.84%) taught grade 4, 6 (31.57%) grade 5 and the last 6 (31.57%) grade 6. There were 38 participants in the family members category (42.50±2.83 years), 21 women (55.26%) and 17 men (44.73%). Concerning the ownership of the education centre, participants were equally divided between Public and Private centers (n = 19, 50% in each group). According to courses, 14 family members (36.84%) belonged to grade 4, 13 (26.31%) to grade 5 and 11 (28.94%) to grade 6. No statistically significant differences (p>0.05) were found in the distribution of the variables used for sampling.

Ethics

This study was appraised favorably by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Aragón (Spain) in its Minutes N.: 14/2020. Participation in the study was voluntary and based on written informed consent for both family members and teachers.

Data collection procedure

The presented qualitative data were collected between November 2020 and January 2021, which coincided with the end of the first trimester and the start of the second trimester of academic year 2020/2021. The data collection process was carried out in the same way and by the same researcher. An email was first sent with an invitation to participate in the study. Next a Google Forms link was forwarded with informed consent and to request data to identify the sample.

A qualitative and interpretative approach, and discussion group techniques and individual semistructured interviews [31], were chosen to meet the study objective. Regarding structure, both techniques included a series of questions about the motor, social, cognitive and psycho-social domains that shape a more global MC concept [32, 33]. Having reviewed the previous literature, a three-level system of categories (dimensions, categories, indicators) was generated (S1 File) based on the four variables mentioned above. This classification tree, together with its definitions, was reviewed by an external person to the study, an expert in qualitative methodology and with a professional background related to the Physical Education (PE) area. Having configured the definitive system of categories, an initial script of questions was designed to conduct interviews with family members and discussion groups with teachers. Once again, the work of the external consultant was required, who made appreciations such as changes in the order of questions or nuances in the wording of some of them. Finally, 10 open questions were designed for both the discussion groups and semistructured interviews, and were employed for both teachers and family members. This consisted in answering questions like: “With what type of emotional barriers or difficulties does a child come across when performing motor actions in his/her context?” or “What motor capacities do you think are more related to children moving well while performing physical activities? Why?” (S2 File).

With family members, individual semistructured interviews were held to ensure that encounters were flexible and dynamic, during which emerging themes were expected that would have to be explored. Interviews were conducted using Microsoft Skype and Google Meet, and their average duration was 25 min. For teachers, the discussion group technique was chosen to collect data because it allows their perceptions based mainly on their training, their teaching style and their social action context to be ascertained and combined [34–36]. Discussion groups were conducted using Google Meet. Their average duration was 40 min. Focus groups were formed randomly by taking into account educational centre ownership criteria (public/private) and the grade in which the teachers worked. In all cases (interviews and focus groups), the study objectives were recalled by verbally confirming the consent of participants to be involved in it.

This data collection strategy for both groups allowed the views of the different groups participating in the study to be compared or triangulated. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist with further details of the qualitative design is included in the (S3 File).

Analyses

A content analysis of the reported responses was deductively carried out. The initial category tree was constructed following a deductive logic [37, 38] based on previous literature. Version 12 Plus of the Nvivo software was used to do the analysis (https://www.qsrinternational.com/nvivo/home).

A concordance analysis was performed of the two researchers regarding interviews (n = 9, 23.68%) and discussion groups (n = 1, 25.00%). No emerging categories appeared in this first analysis. The obtained Kappa coefficient was k = .90. A second intrapersonal concordance analysis was performed. A coefficient of k = .88 was obtained, which allowed the analysis to be completed by only one researcher.

The study dimensions are defined below (the operational definitions of the information units forming the main classification tree are found in S1 File):

• The main point of interest of the motor level lies in the physical capacities (both conditional and perceptive-motor), and the basic and specific motor skills, which social referents believe to be more related to good motor capacity when schoolchildren perform motor actions
• The cognitive level refers to the self-perception motor construct that focuses on knowing what social referents believe is the self-perception type of MC that is more linked with motor-competent schoolchildren; it is either perception based on motor actions for which only the body is used or that which requires using mobile objects to perform it
• The affective-emotional level centers mostly on knowing social referents’ perception of the psychosocial implications in schoolchildren’s MC concept by bearing in mind the attitudes and feelings that they display while developing MC in various contexts
• The social level focuses mainly on knowing the social support of the people close to schoolchildren to help them to perform physical activity, plus the presence of models and programs that promote performing physical activity to, thus, contemplate contexts in which pupils can interact with the environment and their peers by practicing physical activity

Motor level

In category 1.1 Coordination and balance, both family members and teachers refer to these capacities being more related to the motor dimension of the MC concept. They stress that this type of capacities allows pupils to fluently perform quality overall motor execution: I think that good motor performance is related mainly to coordination because I consider coordination to be the cogs that enable other capacities to work properly (FAM 15). Teachers point out the importance of bearing in mind the perceptive nature of this capacity when contemplating internal and external stimuli:

That’s not all because, on the other hand, to well coordinate movements, or to combine movements with others with plasticity, it is necessary to consider the exterior stimuli that do not form part of our body so our body can do what we really want it to do (MAE 04).

Both agents also emphasize the importance of perceptive motor capacities, such as coordination and balance, for the complex psycho-sensorial adjustments required when applying neuromuscular skills: I think that balance is basic to move well both statically and while moving because balance allows the body to be erected and to adopt an optimum position to perform movement (MAE 02).

Balance and coordination are also important. I think that by knowing how to stay balanced while moving demonstrates having much control over your body, your muscles, which means you can move well in a coordinated manner (FAM 10).

In category 1.2 Physical capacities, family members believe that conditional capacities like speed or strength are related to good motor performance in the past: I don’t know how to explain it well, but it might be somewhat cultural because good movements have always been related to those who move quickly and strongly (FAM 36).

Although teachers prioritize perceptive motor capacities over physical motor capacities, they also indicate the need to bear in mind certain capacities like strength, speed or resistance as determining factors of condition and physical activity:

These capacities help a child to more fluently perform individual motor actions by following a suitable technique. This is the first step or basis to move well in any physical activity that children wish to perform (MAE 15).

The results obtained in Category 1.3 Basic and specific motor skills reveal that both teachers and family members understand skills as a very specific factor that is performed through learning and training. They point out that previous capacities are needed to develop them: Because they allow children to apply these capacities that they master and to perform movements and skills well as a result (FAM 32).

From my own training, to be able to handle objects, a general motor basis is first needed, which is provided by basic physical capacities or coordination, and these show good general movement. Then come more specific things like using objects, which do not necessarily involve making good movements (MAE 17).

Both social referents coincide in the fact that the specific motor skills required to use objects are more related to a competent child from the motor point of view: Well, let’s see. I think that the skills you need to control objects like balls need more performance, or at least those more competent skills can be better handled (FAM 33).

Cognitive level

Category 2.1 Perceived motor skill refers to how good motor MC is perceived in the motor conducts that require using an object and those requiring only the body being employed by bearing in mind that better perceiving MC implies more motor performance possibilities. In line with this, teachers are the social referents who report a closer link between the motor and cognitive domains when demonstrating motor performance:

Actually objects are only a tool. What’s really important is knowing your body and how to control it. Having a good self-concept is also very useful, but tends to develop later (MAE 16).

Family members and teachers also coincide in MC self-perception being more related to more complex skills requiring the use of objects. Both agents point out that the number of variables to take into account when using an object implies a higher degree of physical and cognitive complexity:

I think that using objects involves a higher degree of complexity, and needs the synergy between the mind and body to be greater with more awareness to coordinate more muscles and must, therefore, provide more responses (FAM 37).

Performing actions while using objects is more related to good movement because the involved cognitive capacity is greater as more variables must be taken into account. Good movement and also using an object involve a higher level, more difficulties and many other things (MAE 10).

Family members consider that using objects increases the degree of competence thanks to positive horizontal transfer, and in such a way that former learning about using objects facilitates learning to use other objects in similar contexts: If you know how to control your body well, you can then play many sports where you have to use objects. Otherwise, it’s very difficult (FAM 31). Teachers also refer to the importance of learning additional, superior or more complex contents to use the same object toward better motor performance:

In my case, I think using objects helps to perform movement; I mean, the object helps movement to improve. So performing movements is beneficial. I also think that using an object shows that more training has been done. Therefore, movement is better and more complex (MAE 13).

Affective-emotional level

Regarding this domain, teachers and family members also refer to the need to bear in mind the emotional-affective domain as part of developing MC: I would go as far to say that the performance level improves, and very much so, in motivated students with high self-esteem and good self-concept (MAE 06).

I think that self-concept helps you to see yourself in a good light, but from a cognitive point of view, and self-esteem from your own emotional point of view, but also with others. This allows what is social and what is personal to be joined, which is important because both things are present when you practice physical activity (FAM 03).

In Category 3.1 Self-esteem, perceiving the importance of this psychosocial variable is very marked, and impacts relevant development aspects like being predisposed to motor learning or social relationships with peers:

I think it can have a positive effect. I mean, we always talk about it having a negative effect, but it can also be positive. I think that it can allow students to enjoy emotional well-being because they have their own people around them in a stable friendly environment (MAE 18).

Family members mainly attach more importance to characteristics in the context, and feel that those settings with a very low level of uncertainty, and knowing the people and the activity to be done, favor self-esteem: It has a positive effect because children in a well-known setting can feel more accepted and more certainty when practising exercise, and they are set no limits (FAM 05).

As for Category 3.2 Anxiety, too much peer competition is a factor that is perceived more as possibly encouraging nervous conducts and high anxiety levels when performing motor conduct: Yes, children sometimes feel pressure from their classmates, who expect or demand certain things being done. If children don’t know how to do these things, they become nervous, or even paralyzed (MAE 09). Here both teachers and family members point out that if these children feel ashamed or afraid is due to social pressure from peer groups, which results in worse motor performance: If a relationship with classmates is bad, we think that they will laugh at us for failing. So performing activity with them will be like carrying a heavy burden, and it will require making more effort (FAM 08).

That, plus the emotional barrier of thinking about what classmates will think, thinking that you are going to fail, knowing that everyone will see you and might laugh at you, or being afraid of not rising to their expectations, or comparing yourself to them and then doing things worse than they do (MAE 02).

So like the self-esteem variable, family members are the main referents who understand the need for a known setting in which schoolchildren can positively develop from the emotional-motor point of view: In relation to this, and as I previously mentioned, I think that self-esteem is very important in our relation to the activity and the setting (FAM 08). Most family members show that anxiety and competition levels are on the increase and might trigger negative conducts:

Having plenty of commonsense when they are very young is very important. As they grow older, there are more anxieties to outline and demonstrate. This leads to anger, bad conducts or more competitive conducts, which imply nothing positive (FAM 06).

Although teachers coincide with family members’ perception, they also focus mainly on anxiety and motor performance because the motor level mostly triggers the nervous conducts that come into play while practising physical activity or not: However, I think that a child who does not master these exercises will feel ashamed and afraid (MAE 03).

Some agents also demand the need to jointly consider anxiety and self-esteem with cognitive variables to more globally understand students’ MC by indicating causal relations among variables:

I put myself in their place. Any child with poor motor performance can have low self-concept, and can also poorly perform in the motor domain, and his or her self-esteem can be low in these situations. So they feel more anxiety (FAM 19).

Another of the constructs to bear in mind in the affective-emotional domain is commitment to learning in both curricular and extracurricular terms (Category 3.3. Commitment to learning). Schoolchildren of prepuberty age are generally well disposed to motor learning during school hours and while performing out-of-school activities.

The participants’ perception is due mostly to the experience-type nature of the PE and practicing sports area in general. Learning by playful means and tools like games or sports allows schoolchildren to continue to practice them. Thus they entail physical, cognitive and favorable behavioral predisposition:

Spending so much learning time in class, and these hours increasing as they move from one course to the next, performing any dynamic activity, especially during school hours, mean that motivation and fun will play an extremely important role in student learning (FAM 11).

They also point out the importance of group feeling when showing a positive attitude to learning because they outline a common project with their classmates and friends in which they feel responsible for and the shared members of: I think that implication is greater in these cases because the pleasure of moving is joined to competition and being in a small peers group in which they share objectives and experiences (MAE 08).

Social level

About Category 4.1 Promoting agents in the family and friendships, both family members and teachers coincide in mothers and fathers being the main agents who promote schoolchildren performing physical activity. This aspect has to do with them being mainly responsible for putting their child’s name down to go to organizations or clubs where some kind of physical activity is practiced, and encourage them to participate: I think that family members shoulder much responsibility and must encourage young children to practice physical activity (FAM 37).

Let’s see. Parents must basically encourage this because, clearly without family support, it’s not possible for a child to practice some type of physical activity, especially when the child is in a young development stage. All this involves parents making an effort and getting involved (MAE 14).

Family members also state that the family context must be the first setting in which models based on healthy habits have to appear. It must be a positive setting in which children are able to acquire a series of knowledge and attitudes from early ages:

If parents live a sedentary lifestyle and barely move, they will transmit this to their child. But if they are active and practice sport, from a very young age they will transmit the idea that sport is healthy and good for social relationships (FAM 08).

At school (Category 4.2 Promoting agents in the school environment), both teachers and management teams are responsible for promoting physical activity during school hours, improvement plans and the creation of spaces in education centers to supplement such promotion in the family context: Working alongside teachers from schools is also essential because many family members do not know certain aspects of the evolutionary development or maturity related to physical activity (FAM 09).

PE teachers also play a key role given the nature of the knowledge area that they teach, where social, cognitive and motor contents merge: Having teachers who get involved, are aware and ready to work these PE contents by taking into account age, the context and suitable materials is very important (FAM 07).

Bearing in mind other social contexts, like sport clubs or physical activities not practiced at school (Category 4.3 Promoting agents outside school), the participants point out that both trainers and monitors are the agents who least influence the promotion of physical activity because of the competitive nature with which they face out-of-school activities: In contrast, clubs and sports organizations do not see this in the same way; they focus on the obtained result (MAE 08).

But monitors and trainers sometimes also take out-of-school activities as competitive. It’s fine to compete at times and, obviously, all sports have their competitive side, but I think that they should steer sport more toward the social benefits you mention (FAM 15).

Finally, the results obtained in Category 4.4 Promoting agents in the institutional domain evidence the need to increase the number of resources and economic investment to create opportunities in the public area so that schoolchildren can practice physical activity: Institutions must facilitate opportunities and more public spaces so everyone feels they participate (MAE 15).

Family members also identify the need to resort to a private area to the detriment of the public area so that schoolchildren can perform physical activity: Although public institutions also back the benefits of sport and food, they don’t have many offers. You must almost always go to a private center if you’re looking for a quality sport service (FAM 13). Family members also stress the need to update and revise education laws in school hours terms: Starting with education lawmakers, bearing in mind that they need to be included in the curriculum, as well as a suitable number of hours to carry them out (MAE 07).

Table 3 shows all the quotations used in the interpretative analysis.

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Table 3. Quotations used in the interpretative analysis.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275196.t003