The challenges of measuring physical literacy

Physical literacy has become a widely-used term in physical and health education circles. It demonstrates tremendous potential to have significant and long-term effects to draw society’s attention to the physical activity,... [ view full abstract ]

Physical literacy has become a widely-used term in physical and health education circles. It demonstrates tremendous potential to have significant and long-term effects to draw society’s attention to the physical activity, health and well-being needs of all people. However, there has been a recent debate about how physical literacy may be measured (Robinson & Randall, 2017; Tremblay & Longmuir, 2017). This presentation will provide information about differing routes that have been used to measure physical literacy by researchers from an evidence-based perspective. This information is expected to encourage a group discussion about the discourse surrounding the measurement of physical literacy as well as the current stage of development that the construct may be in. Innovative measurement strategies will be required to assess physical literacy in research and applied settings. Furthermore, physical literacy may also mean many different things to teachers, researchers and the community at large because it seems that its definition and measurement may change rapidly over time (Harvey, 2014). Hence, a critical discussion will also develop during the presentation about the teaching and policy implications of the term for physical education teachers. For example, since physical literacy may be a difficult construct to measure, how will physical education teachers be expected to achieve physical literacy for their students? How will physical education teachers receive and/or learn appropriate information about physical literacy to inform their teaching practices? The presentation will conclude by identifying key intersections between research, teaching and policy issues in the context of physical literacy. Therefore, this presentation will address the following main conference theme and subthemes: (a) enhancing connective possibilities for physical literacy by discussing links between measurement, researcher and physical education teacher practices, (b) policy engagement and (c) practitioner empowerment and support for professional learning.