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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Physical Education and Pedagogy
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1457845

Stakeholder Perceptions of Physical Literacy: Results from a National Consultation in England

Provisionally accepted
Michael J. Duncan Michael J. Duncan 1*Inimfon Essiet Inimfon Essiet 2Liezel Hurter Liezel Hurter 2Will Roberts Will Roberts 3Kiara Lewis Kiara Lewis 4Hannah Goss Hannah Goss 5Jade L. Morris Jade L. Morris 6Daniel D. Bingham Daniel D. Bingham 6Wesley O'Brien Wesley O'Brien 7Lisa M. Barnett Lisa M. Barnett 8Cara Shearer Cara Shearer 9Andrew Daly-Smith Andrew Daly-Smith 6Lawrence Foweather Lawrence Foweather 2
  • 1 Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom
  • 2 Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, North West England, United Kingdom
  • 3 University of Waikato, Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand
  • 4 Birmingham City University, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • 5 Dublin City University, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland
  • 6 University of Bradford, Bradford, United Kingdom
  • 7 University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
  • 8 Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
  • 9 Sport Scotland, Glasgow, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: There is a lack of evidence of stakeholder perspective and understanding of physical literacy among relevant stakeholders from England. As part of research commissioned by Sport England to develop a physical literacy consensus statement for England, this study presents findings from the first national consultation with stakeholders in England.Methods: One hundred and ninety-three individual stakeholders (50.3%) from education, community sport, national governing bodies of sport, physical activity and sport coaching sectors completed an online survey consisting of fixed item and open ended questions designed to examine their knowledge, understanding, perceptions and practices relating to physical literacy.Responses from stakeholders suggested there was confusion in use of the term physical literacy in practice and confusion regarding the definition of physical literacy. Most respondents suggested they were involved in physical literacy related activity and understood the term. However, when probed the physical literacy related activity they referred to was likely not actually physical literacy related. Understanding of the term physical literacy was inconsistent in general. Stakeholders considered the affective, social, physical and cognitive areas (domains) of learning to be most important for developing a positive relationship with movement, sport and physical activity for life.Conclusions: While stakeholders are aware of the term 'physical literacy' and hold value of it within their practice, there remain key misconceptions relating to what physical literacy is, and debate as to whether any existing definitions truly capture the construct of physical literacy.

    Keywords: Active lifestyles, competence, confidence, Motivation, physical activity, Knowledge and understanding

    Received: 01 Jul 2024; Accepted: 27 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Duncan, Essiet, Hurter, Roberts, Lewis, Goss, Morris, Bingham, O'Brien, Barnett, Shearer, Daly-Smith and Foweather. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Michael J. Duncan, Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.