A flurry of research over recent months has raised alarm bells about the lack of activity among primary aged children.

Researchers from Essex University in the UK discovered that fitness levels are declining at a rate of 0.95 per cent annually, despite the fact that schoolchildren have a lower BMI than their predecessors, suggesting inactive lifestyles are having a greater impact on fitness than obesity.

Meanwhile ukactive’s recent Generation Inactive report showed that only half of seven-year-olds are meeting recommended physical activity guidelines of 60 minutes a day. To make matters worse, only 43 per cent of schools surveyed recorded the length of time children spent being physically active in PE lessons.

Based on its findings, ukactive has made a number of recommendations, including calling for primary schools to test pupils’ fitness in the same way that they test English and mathematics, to make sure that all children are meeting basic fitness guidelines.

This is a move that’s wholeheartedly welcomed by Doug Werner, who credits his daughter Abbie’s health to school fitness testing. Werner wrote the book Abbie Gets Fit about her journey to fitness through walking: he says that, although Abbie was definitely not overweight, her shy nature meant she stood on the sidelines during games, resulting in low activity and fitness levels.

The FitnessGram test is now the official test for the President’s Council and is being rolled out at schools across the US. Should the same be happening in the UK? And if schoolchildren are to be fitness tested, who should be doing it – is there a role for the fitness industry? We ask the experts….