© dpa
According to the education administration, many primary school children in Berlin need better support with regard to sports and exercise.
The "Berlin has Talent" programme, a joint initiative of the Senate and the Landessportbund (State Sports Association), is designed to help. The Institute for Sports Science at Humboldt University (HU) will be responsible for the scientific support, as Senator for Education Katharina Günther-Wünsch (CDU) announced on Wednesday.
From her point of view, this is not only about health prevention, talent search and the promotion of sporting talents: Children who get enough exercise are also more concentrated and perform better, said the education senator. The programme to promote physical activity among primary school children is therefore explicitly aimed at all children.
The basis for the support services is the so-called German Motor Skills Test (DMT), which is used annually to assess children's ability to move in the third grade at around 300 schools in Berlin. Since the start of the initiative in 2011, about 100,000 children have been tested. Following the test, the participants receive recommendations for more exercise and suitable sports activities, but also vouchers for trial training in sports clubs or the offer to participate in the good 280 physical activity support groups at Berlin schools. Every year, around 1500 children also take part in sports festivals called Talentiades.
"The data from the school year 2020/2021 that we have evaluated shows that the students have made a step forward," Günther-Wünsch said. "But at the same time there is a wider achievement gap." The Executive Director of the Institute for Sports Science at HU, Bernd Wolfarth, also sees a need for action. He pointed out the connection between too little exercise and low fitness and warned that there could also be effects on the psyche.