35 Jurak, G., Kovač, M., & Strel, J. (2002). How Slovene primary school pupils spend their summer holidays KinSI 8(2), 35–43 HOW SLOVENE PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS SPEND THEIR SUMMER HOLIDAYS PREŽIVLJANJE POLETNIH POČITNIC SLOVENSKIH OSNOVNOŠOLCEV Gregor Jurak Marjeta Kovač Janko Strel Abstract The purpose of the research was to analyse how Slove- ne primary school pupils spend their summer holidays. The analysis included 7,344 Slovene primary school pu- pils and was based on a questionnaire completed by children at home. The data were analysed by means of the calculation of Pearson’s χ 2 coefficient, Spearman’s correlation coefficient and the discriminant analysis. It has been established that during the summer holidays the Slovene primary school pupils are more active as far as sport is concerned than a few years ago; as regards other aspects, they spend their summer holidays in a more healthy way as well. Their organized and unorga- nized sports activities during this period of time are mostly affected by the sports activity of their parents. The analysis of the sports activities primary school pupils take part in during the summer holidays shows that they mostly engage in the following activities: cycling, swim- ming, playing football and roller skating. There are dif- ferences between the sexes, since boys prefer team sports, whereas girls prefer individual sports activities, with less physical contact and requiring less muscular exertion. Pupils would like to take part in sports activities in the school gym during the summer holidays. We therefore propose a national project which would enable the use of school gyms during summer holidays. Key words: pupils, primary school, sports activity, sum- mer holidays, free time Contact address: University of Ljubljana Faculty of Sport Gortanova 22 SI – 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia Tel.: +386 1 5207737 Fax.: +386 1 5207730 E-mail: Gregor.Jurak@sp.uni-lj.si Izvleček Namen raziskave je bil analizirati način preživljanja po- letnih počitnic slovenskih osnovnošolcev. V raziskavo je bilo vključenih 7344 učencev slovenskih osnovnih šol. Za analizo smo uporabili vprašalnik, ki so ga učenci iz- polnjevali doma. Podatke smo analizirali z izračunom Pearsonovega χ 2 koeficienta, Spearmanovega koefi- cienta ranga korelacije in diskriminantno analizo. Ugotavljamo, da so slovenski osnovnošolci med polet- nimi počitnicami bolj športno dejavni kot pred leti; tudi sicer preživljajo poletne počitnice bolj zdravo. Na nji- hovo športno organizirano in neorganizirano udejstvo- vanje v tem času najbolj vpliva športna dejavnost njiho- vih staršev. Analiza športnih dejavnosti, s katerimi so se ukvarjali med poletnimi počitnicami, kaže, da osnovnošolci naj- več kolesarijo, plavajo, igrajo nogomet in rolajo. Pri tem obstajajo razlike med spoloma, saj fantje izbirajo več ekipnih športnih iger, dekleta pa več individualnih šport- nih dejavnosti, kjer je manj medsebojnih dotikov in ki zahtevajo manjši obseg mišičnega naprezanja. Učenci si med poletnimi počitnicami želijo športnega udejstvovanja v šolski telovadnici, zato predlagamo na- cionalni projekt aktiviranja šolskih telovadnic v počitniš- kem času. Ključne besede: učenci, osnovna šola, športna dejavnost, poletne počitnice, prosti čas (Received: 22. 2. 2002 – Accepted: 10. 12. 2002) 36 Jurak, G., Kovač, M., & Strel, J. (2002). How Slovene primary school pupils spend their summer holidays KinSI 8(2), 35–43 INTRODUCTION Summer holidays are very important for the overall development of pupils and their preparation for a new school year, since in this period the children and the youth are much less burdened with lear- ning and consequently they have more free time. The effects of the achievements of the civilization and modern society are also reflected in the ways holidays are spent. These effects are varied and un- foreseeable, both positive and negative. The inten- sive development of industrial society and a plura- list civilization bring about strong negative pedagogic and functional effects which are also reflected in how children and youth spend their summer holidays. The result is that summer holi- days can represent a critical period from the point of view of health, since children spend more time in front of the TV set and computer screen, while more rarely they take part in systematic sports ac- tivities (Novak et al., 1991; Štihec, Karpljuk, Videm- šek, & Kondrič, 2000; Štihec, & Strel, 1998). Strel, Novak, Pisanski, Mesarič, & Štihec (1993) establish that motor abilities of pupils diminish during the summer holidays. This is not surprising, if we take into account that within the educational system the compulsory and elective sports programmes ac- count for a half of all sports activities (Strel et al., 1997), since one cannot expect that all children and their parents will place sport on such a high place in their value system so that they would practice it regularly even in their free time. In primary school, children are most active in sport. Up to the age of 12 their sports activity increases, whereas it decreases after the age of 14 (Brettschei- der, & Sack, 1996; Laakso, Telama, & Yang, 1996; Russel, Allen, & Wilson, 1996; Sisjord, & Skirstad, 1996; Wenkel, & Mummery, 1996) as a result of physical and mental changes in adolescence. La- tely, new but not yet controlled factors of youth so- cialization in modern affluent and hedonistic socie- ties have appeared, causing a series of educational problems. The intrusive abundance of mass media and information technology provides a simple and immediate satisfaction as well as encourages chil- dren and the youth to choose the activities where they mainly sit; increasingly, they choose fewer sports activities (Novak et al., 1991; Kršnjakova, & Pavlovičova, 1995). This study aims at analysing how Slovene primary school pupils spend their summer holidays and at establishing the influence of some factors on their sports activity during the holidays. METHODS Subject sample The subject sample comprises 7344 pupils (45.2% of boys and 54.8% of girls) aged from 7 to 15 and attending Slovene primary schools. The sample co- vers all Slovene regions. The subjects were chosen at random and they took part in the research on a voluntary basis. The subjects’ parents gave their written consent, enabling us to use the data collec- ted for research purposes. Variable sample To establish the aims we used a questionnaire pre- pared on the basis of the questionnaire by Strel et al. (1993) with closed and open-ended answers. The children completed the questionnaire at home, the younger ones with the help of their parents. The list of the schools included and the questionnaire are available from the authors. The following are the variables that will be dealt with in the continuation. EDUMOTH Mother’s education EDUFATH Father’s education OPINPE Opinion about physical education PEMARK Physical education mark ORGACTIV Participation in organized activities during holidays ACTIVFREQ Frequency of sports activities during holidays HOMESPENT Time during summer holidays spent at home CONTR7OUT Possible parents’ contribution for a 7-day organized sports participation outside place of residence BROTHSIST Number of brothers and sisters SCHOOLORG Desired forms of school sports activities during ho- lidays GENDER Gender SPORT Sports events children took part in SPORTMOTH Frequency of mother’s participation in sports activi- ties SPORTFATH Frequency of father’s participation in sports activi- ties AGE Age COMPUT_HRS Number of hours of work on computer TV_HRS Number of hours of watching TV BEDTIME Time of going to bed GETUPTIME Getting-up time DAYOBLHRS Daily work obligations SCHOOLMARKMarks at school LIKEPE Pupil’s rating of sports education in the previous school year 37 Jurak, G., Kovač, M., & Strel, J. (2002). How Slovene primary school pupils spend their summer holidays KinSI 8(2), 35–43 Data analysis Basic statistics were calculated by standard proce- dures, which produced data on the distribution of the variables used. The characteristics of differen- ces in individual variables between the sexes were established with the calculation of Pearson’s χ 2 coefficient. The connection between the individual variables was established with the calculation of Spearman’s correlation coefficient and Pearson’s χ 2 coefficient. The discriminant analysis was used to establish the differences between the individual groups of pupils concerning the extent of participa- tion in sports activities during the summer holidays. All the hypotheses were analysed at 5% alpha error level. RESULTS It was established that 85% of primary school pu- pils spend a month or several days of their summer holidays at home. There are only 6.6% of primary school pupils who spend the entire summer holi- days at home, which is about 3% less than establis- hed by Strel et al. (1993) some years ago. The most frequent destination of Slovenes to spend their summer holidays outside their place of residence is the Adriatic coast, where the political situation is now stable, the national GDP is higher (Gibanje bruto domačega proizvoda, 2000), which results in Slovene families’ better financial standing, enab- ling them to spend their summer holidays outside their place of residence. The daily rhythm of primary school pupils during the summer holidays differs from that established some years ago. They go to bed at a quarter past ten (mean 22:14 ± 56 min) and get up at around nine (mean 8:48 ± 1’06 min). The comparison with the data gathered by Strel et al. (1993) shows that primary school pupils go to bed earlier now than they used to, which is probably due to the fact that they spend less time watching TV. It was establis- hed that they sleep long enough (mean 10:34 ± 1’06 min) in terms of their developmental needs. On average, children have one hour and forty mi- nutes’ work obligations a day (± 1’34 min), which is an hour and a half less than some years ago (Strel et al., 1993). The reasons for fewer work obligations lie in the following facts: parents organize their chil- dren’s holiday time to a lesser extent, everyday hou- sehold activities are increasingly automated and fa- milies are less numerous. The result is that 45% of primary school pupils have a whole day off during their summer holidays, whereas 30% have the after- noon off. The variety of free-time activities and fashion trends dictate a slightly different way of how primary school pupils spend their summer holidays today in comparison to some years ago. Today, children watch less TV (mean 2h 30 min ± 1h 34 min), sin- ce several other pastime activities, such as compu- ter games and the Internet (mean 57 min ± 1h 12 min) are available, and so are some fashion sports (roller skating, skate boarding etc.). More than a half of primary school pupils do not take part in any organized activity during the sum- mer holidays. Most of them (i.e. around 40%) take part in organized sports activities. Sports program- mes in which they engage during the summer ho- lidays most frequently include swimming, football, cycling, roller skating, basketball, tennis and moun- taineering. Similar to other countries (Brettschei- der, & Sack, 1996; De Knop, Vanreusel, Theeboom, & Wittock, 1996; Laakso, Telama, & Yang, 1996; Wankel, & Mummery, 1996) boys take part in sports programmes more frequently in Slovenia as well (p<.000). These boys account for 25.5%, whe- reas the girls taking part in sports programmes ac- count for 14.3%. These results may be explained by a different structure of interests of boys and girls (Pavlikova, 1995). In comparison to the data collected some years ago (Strel et al., 1993) the present results show that there are more primary school pupils taking part in sports activities during the summer holidays now (Figure 1), however, the trend for pupils to partici- pate in sports activities goes in two directions. Figure 1: Comparison of the frequency of sports activities of pri- mary school pupils during the holidays with research carried out by Strel et al. (1993) 38 Jurak, G., Kovač, M., & Strel, J. (2002). How Slovene primary school pupils spend their summer holidays KinSI 8(2), 35–43 1. The proportion of primary school pupils not ta- king part in any sport during the holidays de- creases (in 2000 only 7.7%, whereas eight years ago 11.2%). 2. Among those who engage in sports activities the proportion of those participating in a sport several times a week during the holidays decrea- ses. We believe that the decrease in pupils not taking part in any sport during their summer holidays is the consequence of pupils’ better knowledge of sports gained in the framework of planned school physical education in the past years, the variety and a good organization of extracurricular sports acti- vities as well as the emergence of new sports that are very popular among the young today (roller skating, skate boarding). The downward trend in the frequency of sports of children engaging in sports several times a week is probably the consequence of a wide range of other free-time activities, in which primary school pupils participate during their holidays besides sport. A survey of the answers by sex shows that during the holidays boys take part in sport more often than girls (p<.000), which supports the findings of vari- ous authors (Brettscheider, & Sack, 1996; De Knop et al., 1996; Laakso, Telama, & Yang, 1996; Macias- zek, 1995; Wankel, & Mummery, 1996; White, & Rowe, 1996). We tried to explain the frequency of primary school pupils engaging in sports activities during the sum- mer holidays based on a discriminant analysis. Our aim was to find out whether four groups of test sub- jects, defined according to the frequency of their sports activities during the holidays, can generally be distinguished and which variables define best the function of the differentiation. The results showed that the discussed variables mu- tually distinguish between separate groups, since the first two discriminant functions are statistically significant (Table 1). Both statistically significant functions together explain 98.6% of the entire va- riance. The discriminant structure matrix shows how the chosen variables are projected on the discriminant function (Table 2). The formation of the first discri- minant function is mostly affected by the following: both parents regularly engage in sports, the pupil likes sports education very much, the pupil has a good opinion about sports education in the past school year, the pupil watches the TV very little, high education of the mother, shorter period of time spent by children at home during the summer holidays and a greater number of hours dedicated to computer activities. It has been proved several times that the parents’ participation in sports exerts a positive influence on their children’s participation in sports (Draguti- nović, 1986; Hošek, 1987), which was confirmed by our research as well (.197-.205; p<.001). There- fore, it is not surprising that this is the most impor- tant factor influencing the distinction between the Table 1: Canonical discriminant functions of differentiation of groups of primary school pupils as regards the frequency of sports participation Function λ % of var. cum. % can. corr. Wilks'λχ 2 df sig. 1 .146 90.5 90.5 .357 .860 1109.256 51 .000 2 .013 8.2 98.6 .114 .985 112.006 32 .000 3 .002 1.4 100.0 .047 .998 15.996 15 .382 Table 2: Discriminant structure matrix of discriminant func- tions of groups of primary school pupils as regards the fre- quency of sports participation Function Variable 1 2 3 SPORTFATH .587 -.221 -.187 SPORTMOTH .558 -.205 .205 LIKEPE -.532 -.045 -.282 OPINPE -.485 -.114 .065 TV_HRS .380 .332 .032 EDUMOTH .279 -.240 .012 HOMESPENT .245 .228 -.061 COMPUT_HRS -.123 .096 -.065 SCHOOLMARK -.133 .542 .149 CONTR7OUT .283 -.441 -.094 AGE -.084 -.204 -.140 BROTHSIST -.086 .180 .113 EDUFATH .241 -.354 .450 BEDTIME .101 .073 -.376 PEMARK -.139 .056 .285 DAYOBLHRS -.023 -.110 -.157 GETUPTIME -.001 -.097 -.139 39 Jurak, G., Kovač, M., & Strel, J. (2002). How Slovene primary school pupils spend their summer holidays KinSI 8(2), 35–43 groups. Its influence also reflects in parents’ readi- ness to provide financial (sports activities and equipment costs) and logistic support (transport to the venue of sports activities), which directly and extensively influences the organized sports activi- ties. The fact that children like sports education very much and that they have a good opinion about sports education during the previous year shows a general positive attitude towards the sports educa- tion, which can have several reasons: the pupil’s knowledge, morphologic characteristics and mo- tor abilities of the child, his/her previous experien- ce with sport, etc. Logically, this attitude is also shown in more frequent sports activities in one’s free time. Watching TV as the most frequent free- time activity affects the sports activity (.146; p<.001) and, obviously, also exerts a considerable impact on the extent of child’s participation in sport during the summer holidays. It is interesting that the latter is also influenced by the time children spend at home during the summer holidays. The relation between the variables of the frequency of engaging in sports activities during the holidays and those of the length of holiday time spent at home (.088; p<.001) shows that the children spen- ding more time at home during the holidays are the least active in terms of sport, whereas the chil- dren away from home most of the time during the holidays are the most active. It is assumed that the free time of the children spending more time at home is not organized, the result being that more of their free time is devoted to the TV. Parents with higher education help their children organize their free time, therefore they take part in various activi- ties. Because of the variable of parents’ education there is an indirect relation between the computer and sports activities of the children (.046; p<.001). According to the described characteristics the first discriminant function denotes: parents’ high sports education. The second discriminant function, which explains only a small part of the variance according to the first function, is well determined by: lower marks at school, smaller parents’ contribution to the organi- sation of sports activities, young age of the subjects and a greater number of brothers or sisters. The analysis excluded a group of pupils of the very first classes who have a brother or a sister. Owing to the social variables their parents are probably not capable of financing many organized sports ac- tivities. This function was not given a special name and the connection between socio-economic va- riables in particular (smaller contribution to sports activities, number of brothers or sisters) shows the social impact on child’s sports activities. The positions of the group centroids in the area of the carried out discriminant functions show the dif- ferences between the representatives of individual groups in the individual discriminant function (Tab- le 3). The first discriminant function most markedly differentiates between the subjects not engaging in sport and those engaging in sport every day, i.e. extreme groups of subjects considering the variab- le of grouping. The second discriminant function most markedly differentiates between the group of subjects not participating in sport and those parti- cipating occasionally or several times a week. Since it was of great interest to us whether the va- riables affecting mainly the frequency of participa- ting in sports activities during the holidays result in significant differences within the group of children taking part in the organized sports activities during the holidays (18.1% of primary school pupils), we carried out a discriminant analysis based on parti- cipation in sports programmes during the holidays as well. The results confirmed our assumption, sin- ce the discriminant function is statistically signifi- cant (λ = .052; can. corr. = .222; Wilks’λ = .951; χ 2 = 370.348; df = 17; p = .000), the discriminant struc- ture matrix shows that the formation of the discri- minant function is greatly affected by frequent sport activity of both parents and a generally high opinion about sports education and less by parents’ good financial standing. The analysis by sex sho- wed certain differences. Table 3: Centroids of groups of primary school pupils as regards sports participation during the summer holidays Function POGSPDEJ123 I did not take part in any sports actvities -.926 .257 5.074E-02 occasionally (twice a week at least 45 min.) -.325 -9.212E-02 -5.465E-02 several times a week 9.355E-02 -8.781E-02 5.614E-02 every day .384 .101 -2.236E-02 40 Jurak, G., Kovač, M., & Strel, J. (2002). How Slovene primary school pupils spend their summer holidays KinSI 8(2), 35–43 In boys the discriminant function (λ = .056; can. corr. = .231; Wilks’λ = .947; χ 2 = 180.842; df = 17; p = .000) is most greatly affected by the father’s fre- quent participation in sport. This is followed by pa- rents’ better capability of financing organized sports activities, late bed time, high opinion about sports education and mother’s frequent participa- tion in sport. Among the variables which impor- tantly affect participation in sport, the time children go to bed is slightly unusual, but the links between the variables of sports activities and the time chil- dren go to bed (.042; p<.001) make us conclude that there is an inverse influence between the va- riables in children engaging in sport. Children who take part in sport do not go to bed early during the holidays, since sports activities and other activities besides sport terminate late in the evening. In girls the chosen variables which affect the for- mation of the function, which differentiates the group of girls engaging in sport during the summer holidays from the rest (λ = .044; can. corr. = .205; Wilks’λ = .958; χ 2 = 172.065; df = 17; p = .000), ex- ert an impact different from that in boys. The most important variable for the inclusion of girls in sports programmes during the holidays is father’s educa- tion, followed by father’s frequent participation in sport and mother’s frequent participation in sport. The influence of the variable of the time spent at home during the holidays led us to a conclusion that the girls are more frequently active in a sport organized outside the place of residence, i.e. when they are away on holiday with their parents. Intere- stingly, the parents’ financial standing has no con- siderable effect on the participation of primary school girls in organized sports activities during the holidays. Besides some quantitative changes in sports parti- cipation of primary school pupils during the sum- mer holidays, some changes in quality have also been observed. During the summer holidays, primary school pupils mostly cycled, swam, played football and roller ska- ted (Table 4). Even though it has spread widely, es- pecially in the last years, basketball ranks fifth among the sports in which primary school pupils most frequently participated during the holidays. Among the chosen sports a high place is occupied by the popular ball game in which two teams try to eliminate the other side’s players by hitting them with a ball. This demonstrates how greatly physical education in school influences the choice of free- time activities, since this game is one of the most common ones during the physical education clas- ses in the first four years of the primary school, es- pecially where physical education is the responsi- bility of classroom teachers. The comparison between choices of sports activi- ties during the holidays in the last few years (An- tončič, & Podgornik, 1994; Boštjančič, 1999; Jer- kič, 2000; Strel et al., 1993) reveals some changes in the priority of sports activities. Over the last few years a new popular sports activity i.e. roller ska- ting has developed and today it is one of the most popular free-time activities of primary school pu- pils. An increase in children’s interest in cycling, football and basketball has also been observed, whereas they showed less interest in swimming and playing tennis. The results show a considerable impact of fashion in sports industry and top sport on children’s elec- tive sports activities as well as the influence of to- day’s social and economic factors. The beginning of the 1990s witnessed the expansion of tennis, fol- lowed by strong enthusiasm over roller skating and an upswing in basketball (success of Slovene clubs and teams, NBA). Football increased in popularity during the last few years (success of the Slovene team) as well as cycling (Tour de France, Giro d’Ita- lia in Slovenia, success of the Slovene cyclists). The influence of families’ economic status can also be observed, since swimming and tennis require a fi- nancial contribution each time (admission at the swimming pool, fee for hiring a tennis court). When comparing the participation of boys and girls in sports activities, it is found that boys and girls choose different sports activities during the sum- mer holidays (p<.000). Boys prefer team sports (football, basketball), whereas girls prefer individual Table 4: Trend of participation of primary school pupils in sports during the summer holidays sport Strel et al., Jurak et al., trend 1993 (%) 2001 (%) cycling 18.59 21.92 ^ swimming 32.26 15.66 ˇ football 11.17 14.33 ^ roller skating 0.09 10.76 ^ basketball 5.09 8.08 ^ athletics 7.86 7.34 • volleyball 3.66 4.10 • tennis 10.50 2.85 ˇ handball 2.06 0.74 ˇ mountaineering 0.71 0.53 • 41 Jurak, G., Kovač, M., & Strel, J. (2002). How Slovene primary school pupils spend their summer holidays KinSI 8(2), 35–43 sports with less physical contact (swimming, roller skating, running) and sports requiring less muscu- lar exertion (cycling, badminton, horse riding, jump- sies). The results confirm previous findings (Bošt- jančič, 1999; Bregar, 1996; Bosnar, & Gošnik, 2000; De Knop et al., 1996; Jerkič, 2000; Laakso, Telama, & Yang, 1996; Maciaszek, 1995; Makuc, 1998; Wan- kel, & Mummery, 1996; Weiss, 1996; White, & Rowe, 1996). The differences in the choice are a consequence of a different structure of interests and motives of boys and girls for engaging in sport (De Knop, Engstroem, & Skirstad, 1996; Pavlikova, 1995). Surprisingly, there is a large proportion of girls (4.4%) playing football, which shows the trend to- wards equal participation in sport by sex, observed also in some other developed countries (Blair, 1985; Laakso, Telama, & Yang, 1996; Sisjord, & Skirstad, 1996; Wankel, & Mummery, 1996). Such percenta- ge should be attributed to the increasing popula- rity of football in Slovenia and worldwide in recent times; this result also reflects the impact of top sports results (success of the Slovene team) on elec- tive sports activities of children and youth. It would be interesting to gather some information about girls’ football knowledge, since for girls football is not a compulsory intra-curricular sports activity. It would be reasonable to think about the inclusion of girls in the football programme as an elective. A comparison with other countries shows some dif- ferences in the choice of sports of the Slovene pri- mary school pupils. The most popular sports are universal almost throughout the world, then some peculiarities appear, relating to country’s culture and tradition. Globally, football is the most widely spread sport among boys, followed by swimming, which is also most widely spread among girls (De Knop, Engstroem, Skirstad, & Weiss, 1996). In Slo- venia children most frequently engage in sport which is spread worldwide, except for the fact that this is not football but cycling. The popularity of the latter increased at the expense of swimming, despi- te the fact that primary school pupils have better knowledge of swimming (Jurak, & Kovač, 2001). The reasons lie primarily in lack of suitable swim- ming pools and lack of sports activities offered the- re. Owing to changeable weather, many outdoor swimming pools have fewer bathing days than be- fore and from the point of view of sports activities the possibilities are poor. An important piece of information obtained from this research is that as many as 96.7% of primary school pupils would engage in sports activities of- fered by the school during the summer holidays. Most often, pupils preferred various sports in the school gym, which is followed by various forms of sports activities outside school. A comparison with the results obtained by Strel et al., (1993) shows an upward trend in desires and needs for an active role of the school in organizing sports activities during the holidays. It is, therefore, worrying that only about 10% of programmes organized during the summer holidays take place in school gyms, as sports activities could be organized there with mi- nimal financial costs (Jurak, Kovač, & Strel, 2001). CONCLUSIONS The findings about the way primary school pupils spend their holidays are encouraging. The compa- rison with the previous research (Strel et al., 1993; Štihec et al., 2000) shows a more frequent partici- pation of pupils in sport as well as gradually shorter time during which they watch TV. A somewhat problematic issue is only the fact that children spend too much time in bed in the morning, which indicates that their time during the summer holidays is not organized to a great extent. The reasons for the changes can be attributed to social changes in the past few years, planned school physical education and consequently children’s bet- ter knowledge of sports, a variety of organized ex- tracurricular sports activities and some fashion trends in sport. Research by other authors (Dragu- tinović, 1986; Hošek, 1987) and our research both show that children’s participation in sports is most- ly affected by the sports awareness of their parents. Therefore, in the future it will be necessary to carry out the activities aimed at raising the general level of sports culture. Based on the above results we propose a project enabling the use of school gyms during the holi- days. Late in the afternoon, sports activities can be organized in school gyms at a favourable price, which will make them available to all children re- gardless of their family’s socio-economic status and logistic support. The vicinity of the school gives chil- dren a relative independence while engaging in cer- tain activities. These programmes would not be ai- med at looking after children, which is the case in the majority of holiday programmes (Jurak, Kovač, & Strel, 2001). Motor abilities and sports knowled- ge would be preferred to hedonism. They would 42 Jurak, G., Kovač, M., & Strel, J. (2002). How Slovene primary school pupils spend their summer holidays KinSI 8(2), 35–43 primarily be based on the principle of honesty by emphasising equal opportunities for all the partici- pants, which hopefully would develop into a desi- re to co-operate, understand other people, encou- rage friendship and tolerance and not promote the principle of competition, victory and eagerness to achieve the best result possible, perform well, to be determined and self-disciplined. A good infor- mation support offered by the school would also ensure a good response from children. 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