Today’s children spend around 7–8 h a day in sitting (sedentary) behaviours [1]. This is despite current guidelines recommending children to minimise their sedentary time and engage in 60 min or more of moderate or vigorous physical activity (MVPA) [2]. A recent English study found only 24 % of children met these MVPA guidelines, including 19 % girls and 29 % boys [3]. Evidence has shown sedentary behaviour in children to have negative effects on cognitive performance [4] and poorer mental health [5]. With physical activity (PA) [6] and sedentary behaviour (SB) found to track from childhood into adulthood [7], it is clear that both good and bad habits developed in childhood are likely to persist into adulthood. Hence, early intervention to reduce SB and increase PA is imperative [8].

Schools provide an ideal environment to improve children’s PA, as they allow frequent access to children in an inclusive way and over regular periods of time [9]. A wide range of interventions have improved PA across the school day, including active travel [10], playtime [11, 12] and after-school activity [13]. Research has found that school-based PA can improve [14] or not compromise children’s academic performance [15].

Teachers consistently report a lack of time as a barrier for PA interventions [16, 17]. Multiple demands for academic, physical and social outcomes are present in schools [18], often making it challenging for teachers to integrate PA into their busy curriculum [19]. As such, current research is investigating the potential of ‘physically active lessons’: integrating movement within curriculum teaching [20]. Examples of programmes include Physical Activity Across the Curriculum [21] and Take 10! [22]: integrating short-bursts of movement into Maths and English teaching. Increases in PA and educational outcomes have been found with physically active lesson programmes [20, 21]. These findings along with neurological evidence finding positive associations between PA and mental function in children [23], provide strong support for the inclusion of regular, physically active lessons in typical teaching.

Despite evident positive effects of school PA interventions, implementation rates are relatively low [17, 21]. Previous qualitative interviews and process evaluation research has uncovered facilitators and barriers effecting the implementation of school-based PA interventions [17, 24, 25]. The most commonly cited barrier is lack of time: with teachers perceiving PA interventions as difficult to fit in around academic demands [16, 17, 26]. Additional school-level barriers include lack of space for PA, safety concerns, high staff turnover and curriculum clashes with PA interventions [27, 28]. Child and teacher interest towards PA and the intervention itself have also been shown to be important mediators of PA intervention behaviour change [29]: with greater intervention enthusiasm likely in those already active [16, 27, 28, 30]. In order to maximise implementation, it is essential that institutional and individual barriers at all stages of intervention are anticipated and accounted for [31] pilot work and collaborative development between researchers and teachers can help identify potential barriers and minimise attrition for newly developed interventions [32].

Virtual Field Trips (VFTs) may be a viable format of physically active lesson. Originally developed as sedentary, computer-based activities for university teaching [33], VFTs allow individuals or classes to explore virtual maps and landmarks alongside educational content and media [34]. A recent feasibility study tested 10-min VFT sessions in primary schools [35]. These use interactive whiteboards, a pervasive form of classroom technology found in over 70 % of UK classrooms [36]. Via Google Earth-based software, these sessions allow pupils to simulate movements around the world featuring questions and information included according to teaching objectives. Pupils stand throughout these VFT sessions and complete on-the-spot movements simulating actions at or travelling to different locations. This feasibility study showed significantly increased light, moderate and vigorous activity in an active VFT session compared to a sedentary version [35]. Although the study enabled practical VFTs considerations to be identified and addressed in future work, it did not allow documentation of perceived barriers and facilitators to VFT use in teachers and pupils. A qualitative study was hence devised to evaluate the appropriateness, strengths and weaknesses of VFTs in teacher and pupil populations prior to larger-scale intervention work [37, 38].

This study aimed to: (1) assess current physically active lesson teaching practices, (2) assess teacher attitudes towards physically active VFTs after a sample session and (3) investigate pupil attitudes of physically active VFTs after a sample session. The research questions for this study were: (1) To what extent are physically active lessons present in UK teaching practice? (2) What are the perceptions of teachers towards VFTs as physically active lessons? (3) What are the perceptions of pupils towards VFTs as physically active lessons?

Themes are organised according to each research aim and presented in order of diminishing prevalence.

A range of evidence from qualitative interviews and process evaluation work exists evaluating the efficacy of school-based PA interventions. This study extended previous pilot work which trialled VFT technology and outcome measurements, by assessing teachers and pupils perceptions towards physically active VFTs. Despite there being little empirical evidence in the UK [20], teachers reported common use of physically active lessons in their own practice. A range of factors facilitating VFT use were identified. Teachers praised VFTs as inclusive learning tools due to their innate combination of kinaesthetic, audio and visual elements. They also provided a broad range of suggestions for potential VFT sessions, showing big scope for integration across the curriculum. Both teachers and pupils identified a potential for active VFTs to enable challenges between classmates: encouraging pupils to compete and be more active in sessions. This desire for competitiveness in VFT sessions contradicts previous research, finding increased overall PA enjoyment when rivalry is not involved [47].

Various important barriers were identified. Firstly, as with previous school-based PA intervention research; teachers saw a lack of teaching time as a potential barrier for VFT use [16, 17]. To maximise recruitment and fidelity in future research, teacher training must stress research showing increased PA in schools to not compromise academic achievement [15]. VFT interventions must be presented and acceptable to multiple stakeholders such as the head-teacher, teachers, parents and governors [18] to maximise uptake and minimise disruption.

Secondly, although VFTs were described by the researcher as ready-made sessions, some warned of potential resistance in teachers less confident in using technology. This may produce a biased sample as such teachers may hence be less likely to participate in VFT interventions or less likely to complete them as intended. Full training will be provided in future intervention work but this may still be insufficient to encourage some teachers of the merits of active VFTs. Some teachers also queried the use of technology to improve sedentary behaviour, as they described this as the result of children’s increasingly technological lives. It seems a cyclical relationship between technology and activity is observed by these interviewees, which may again prevent VFTs being implemented. These considerations of VFT use replicate the Technology Acceptance Model [48, 49]. Under this model, teachers that perceive VFT technology as useful, easy to use and worthwhile will be more likely to use them. It will hence be necessary in future work to maximise these perceptions in teachers by stressing the practical benefits of VFT technology to teachers, such as its quick set-up time and multi-modal functionality. Finally, teachers predicted a potentially short novelty factor for VFTs. By integrating a variety of media, locations and movements into future VFT programmes, it is hoped that pupil’s perceived enjoyment and novelty will persist. Longitudinal VFT study will assess if these perceptions of novelty remain during regular sessions and whether children become more attuned to being active during VFT sessions.

Methodologies used have some limitations. Firstly, there is mixed evidence for holding child focus groups in school settings and using existing class relationships. Pupils may have been positively prompted to answer to the best of their ability as with typical teaching, or may have conversely felt distracted by existing peer relationships or repressed by school expectations of adult-child hierarchies [50]. Secondly, there are specific issues within teacher methodology used. Interviews were held in a variety of locations, as chosen by each participant to maximise recruitment. As these were held during the school holidays, some were held in the interviewee’s home. This may have led to differences in perceived trust or comfort in the interviewee, compared to more neutral environments [51]. Also, the use of convenience sampling to gain teacher participants via personal contacts and social media approaches may have biased responses. Two teachers taught secondary school age pupils to provide insight into teaching considerations for this age-group, although no secondary aged pupils were interviewed. Finally, teachers took part in a demonstration VFT session with the interviewer. However, use of a VFT by teachers themselves in an actual lesson may have prompted different responses. Future longitudinal intervention work will include a full process evaluation using teacher and pupil data, to enable deep assessment of VFT facilitators and barriers.

This study provides valuable insight into the perceptions of teachers and pupils of physically active lessons generally, as well as novel Virtual Field Trips as active lessons. Potential VFT barriers identified here will need to be addressed in future longitudinal work during recruitment, training and intervention development. It is clear from this study that although teachers and pupils are receptive to physically activity lessons; the use of classroom technology for interventions must be made transparent and efficacious for maximal uptake.