Co-designing a running/walking programme with adolescent girls using meaningful physical activity and an activist approach
Journal article
Hill, J., Gubby, L., Flemons, O., Foladi, H. and Bound, Mel 2025. Co-designing a running/walking programme with adolescent girls using meaningful physical activity and an activist approach. European Physical Education Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336x251388572
| Authors | Hill, J., Gubby, L., Flemons, O., Foladi, H. and Bound, Mel |
|---|---|
| Abstract | This paper reports the co-design of a run/walk programme with adolescent girls, in collaboration with a UK women's running organisation, This Woman Runs. The objective of this participatory inquiry was to create a meaningful programme for adolescent girls to support engaging regularly in running/walking for 30 minutes. The study employed co-design and participatory methodologies (Enright and O’Sullivan, 2012) and an activist approach pedagogical model (Oliver and Kirk, 2016) to listen and respond to girls’ interests and ideas for meaningful physical activity. Sixteen girls (age 11–13), their physical education (PE) teacher, researchers, and representatives from This Woman Runs participated in four workshops. The workshops facilitated a process of inquiry and discussion around the girls’ interests and needs in learning to run, using written and verbal expressions of what the girls found meaningful in running/walking and other physical activity. These materials were mapped, with the girls’ input, to meaningful PE features (Beni et al., 2017; Kretchmar, 2006). Participants then generated ideas about structure, location, frequency, marketing, and curriculum and listened to each other's experiences in co-designing an accessible programme. The paper presents the outcomes of the inquiry, specifically a 12-week run/walk after-school programme that includes physical and curricular activities to support positive social interactions, feelings of competence, and personally relevant learning. We reflect on how the girls’ knowledge and values about running were supported through the co-design process. Listening to respond, by embedding ongoing inquiry with young people, is crucial for the success and meaningfulness of physical activity interventions. |
| Keywords | Walk-to-run curriculum design; Participatory inquiry; Co-creation; Meaningful physical education; Curriculum design; Student-centred inquiry |
| Year | 2025 |
| Journal | European Physical Education Review |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications |
| ISSN | 1356-336X |
| 1741-2749 | |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336x251388572 |
| Official URL | https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1356336X251388572 |
| Funder | University of Bedfordshire / Research England Participatory Research Fund 2022 |
| Publication dates | |
| Online | 03 Nov 2025 |
| Publication process dates | |
| Deposited | 08 Oct 2025 |
| Accepted | 02 Oct 2025 |
| Accepted author manuscript | License File Access Level Open |
| Output status | Published |
| Additional information | Publications router: Date 2025-11-03 of type 'publication_date' with format 'electronic' included in notification |
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Accepted author manuscript
| Hill et al. Run30 Girls Co-design final clean version.pdf | ||
| License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 | ||
| File access level: Open | ||
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