Short classroom workouts boost fitness and focus for NSW students with disability

newy.com.au – A University of Newcastle-led trial of an adapted Burn 2 Learn program in 28 New South Wales secondary schools has found brief classroom exercise breaks improved fitness and confidence for students with disability.

The research responds to long standing concerns that young people with disability are less physically active and more likely to live with chronic health conditions than their peers, and often miss out on large scale health programs. The new findings, published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity on 9 October 2025, point to a model that researchers say is both workable for teachers and sustainable across whole school systems.

The two arm cluster randomised controlled trial followed 255 students aged 15 to 19 with a range of cognitive, physical, behavioural, emotional, intellectual and sensory disabilities, drawn from government, Catholic and independent schools across NSW. Schools were randomly assigned to either the Burn 2 Learn adapted (B2La) program or a wait-list control group, with assessments conducted at the start of the year, after six months and again three months later.

Students’ functional capacity was measured using a six‑minute walk test or six‑minute push test for wheelchair users. On average, those in B2La classes improved by just over 20 metres more than students in control classes at six months, with gains largely maintained at nine months. No adverse events were recorded.

Special education teachers delivered B2La as 10 to 20 minute “activity breaks” during regular learning support lessons two to three times a week. Sessions combined foundational resistance moves such as squats and lunges, aerobic exercises such as shuttle runs or running on the spot, and sport skills like catching, kicking and dribbling, with adaptations for wheelchair users including upper‑body dumbbell work.

Lead investigator Professor David Lubans, from the University of Newcastle’s Global Sport and Movement Collaborative and HMRI’s Active Living and Learning Research program, said teacher demand helped drive the project. “We saw hugely successful results in our original Burn 2 Learn intervention and were approached by local special education teachers,” Professor Lubans said.

“As far as we’re aware, this is the largest study evaluating the effects of a school-based physical activity intervention for youth with disability,” he said. “Although the improvements were modest, our findings are important because the effects were sustained at 9‑months, suggesting that the activity breaks had become part of the school day.”

Researchers reported small but positive effects on lower body muscular endurance, with students in the intervention group managing, on average, about one extra repetition in a 30‑second sit‑to‑stand test compared with controls, and improvements in resistance training skill competence across key exercises. Students’ confidence to take part in high‑intensity interval training also improved, particularly by the nine‑month follow up.

While there was no overall change in measured physical activity across the week or health‑related quality of life, the researchers found girls in the program were significantly less likely to show higher hyperactivity scores at six months than girls in the control group. At the same time, there was a small increase in average body mass index among intervention participants, which the authors suggest may reflect changes in muscle and bone mass as well as fat.

A process evaluation showed teachers delivered just under two sessions a week on average, around 95% of the intended dose, with observations indicating high fidelity to the program model. Heart-rate monitoring suggested the sessions were generally vigorous but did not consistently reach the originally planned high-intensity levels, prompting the authors to note that activity breaks may need to be longer, more frequent or more intense to achieve larger, clinically meaningful health changes.

Professor Lubans said the work was as much about what happens after the bell as during class. “A huge part of this work is improving students’ physical literacy, so they have the confidence, competence, knowledge and motivation to be physically active,” he said. “We shouldn’t assume every child has equal access to a gym or organised sport outside of school, so enhancing students’ exercise confidence and competence is as important as developing their numeracy and literacy skills.”

He said a key innovation was building a model that could be delivered by classroom teachers rather than relying on external providers. “Most school-based physical activity interventions for youth with disability, are small-scale and delivered by external providers rather than classroom teachers. Our approach is unique, time-efficient, and scalable because it involves training special education teachers to deliver the program with minimal support from the research team,” Professor Lubans said.

NSW Department of Education Executive Director, Student Support and Specialist Programs, Dr Sylvia Corish, said the program gave staff practical tools to support learning. “The Burn 2 Learn adapted program demonstrates that even short movement bursts can meaningfully improve students’ health and engagement,” Dr Corish said. “By equipping teachers with practical ways to embed movement, programs like Burn 2 Learn help students with disability build lifelong habits supporting their physical and mental wellbeing.”

HMRI, a partnership between the University of Newcastle, Hunter New England Health and the community, supported the research. In their journal article, the authors conclude special education teachers can be trained to deliver effective physical activity breaks at scale, and say future work will focus on fine‑tuning the balance between intensity, skill development and enjoyment to support lifelong participation in physical activity for young people with disability.