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This study aimed to investigate preservice physical education teachers' (PPETs') attitudes toward fitness testing, and factors that may influence such attitudes. One hundred fifty-seven PPETs participated in the study (54.1% male). A slightly modified quantitative survey on PPETs' attitudes toward fitness testing validated by Keating et al. (2001) was utilized. Analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of variance were used in data analysis. Consistent with Keating el al. (2001), the results indicated that PPETs had moderate, but significant, positive attitudes toward fitness testing. PPETs' previous experiences with fitness tests affected their attitudes. Findings also showed PPETs' professional memberships had a significant effect, but only on their beliefs of importance and usefulness of fitness testing. The data concluded that PPETs' overall attitudes toward fitness testing were similar to the data found over 20 years ago. These results hold implications for PETE programming in that PETE faculty need to aid in PPETs' journeys in fostering positive attitudes toward fitness testing to increase their confidence in administering testing within physical education and to integrate fitness testing in sound fitness education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If used appropriately in schools, youth fitness testing can play a significant role in promoting a physically active lifestyle among school-age children. Unfortunately, many issues exist when testing students' health-related fitness (HRF) components, such as privacy concerns, misuse of testing results, and time-consuming test procedures. This paper provides an alternative approach to implementing youth fitness testing, attempting to solve some of these long-standing problems. Contextual information concerning global youth fitness testing practices is first introduced, followed by strategies for fitness self-testing using emerging technologies instead of more traditional testing methods conducted in a physical education (PE) setting. We also address how a self-testing approach could be used as part of a fitness education programme where students learn about HRF components, develop competence, and learn how to improve their HRF over time, absent of an expert evaluator to monitor their own HRF. The potential role of modern technology in solving some of the seemingly unsolvable problems with youth fitness testing in schools worldwide and facilitating the implementation of self-testing HRF in school-based PE programmes is also presented. More effort should be given to the development of technology-based HRF self-testing and empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]