Physical literacy in Europe: The current state of implementation in research, practice, and policy

Johannes Carl; Anna S Bryant; Lowri C Edwards; Gillian Bartle; Jens E Birch; Efstathios Christodoulides; Arunas Emeljanovas; Andreas Fröberg; Joseph Gandrieau; Barbara Gilic; Ivo van Hilvoorde; Peter Holler; Teodora M Iconomescu; Johannes Jaunig; Ida Laudanska-Krzeminska; Suzanne Lundvall; Kristine De Martelaer; João Martins; Brigita Mieziene; Maria Mendoza-Muñoz; Alexandre Mouton; Bogdan S Olaru; Marcos Onofre; Iuliia Pavlova; Marie Rose Repond; Vassiliki Riga; Kasper Salin; Christophe Schnitzler; Damir Sekulic; Clemens Töpfer; Jana Vasickova; Günay Yıldızer; Viviana Zito; Peter Bentsen; Nigel Green; Peter Elsborg

doi:10.1016/j.jesf.2022.12.003

Physical literacy in Europe: The current state of implementation in research, practice, and policy

Johannes Carl, Anna S Bryant, Lowri C Edwards, Gillian Bartle, Jens E Birch, Efstathios Christodoulides, Arunas Emeljanovas, Andreas Fröberg, Joseph Gandrieau, Barbara Gilic, Ivo van Hilvoorde, Peter Holler, Teodora M Iconomescu, Johannes Jaunig, Ida Laudanska-Krzeminska, Suzanne Lundvall, Kristine De Martelaer, João Martins, Brigita Mieziene, Maria Mendoza-MuñozAlexandre Mouton, Bogdan S Olaru, Marcos Onofre, Iuliia Pavlova, Marie Rose Repond, Vassiliki Riga, Kasper Salin, Christophe Schnitzler, Damir Sekulic, Clemens Töpfer, Jana Vasickova, Günay Yıldızer, Viviana Zito, Peter Bentsen, Nigel Green, Peter Elsborg

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The holistic concept of physical literacy (PL) embraces different person-centered qualities (physical, cognitive, affective/psychological) necessary to lead physically active lifestyles. PL has recently gained increasing attention globally and Europe is no exception. However, scientific endeavors summarizing the current state of PL in Europe are lacking. Therefore, the goal of this study was to comprehensively assess and compare the implementation of PL in research, policy, and practice across the continent.

METHODS: We assembled a panel of experts representing 25 European countries. Employing a complementary mixed-methods design, the experts first prepared reviews about the current state of PL in their countries (categories: research, practice/policy). The reviews underwent comparative document analysis, ensuring a transnational four-eyes principle. For re-validation purposes, the representatives completed a quantitative survey with questions reflecting the inductive themes from the document analysis.

RESULTS: The document analysis resulted in ten disjunct themes (related to "concept", "research", "practice/policy", "future/prospect") and yielded a heterogenous PL situation in Europe. The implementation state was strongly linked to conceptual discussions (e.g., existence of competing approaches), linguistic issues (e.g., translations), and country-specific traditions. Despite growing scholarly attention, PL hesitantly permeates practice and policy in most countries. Nevertheless, the experts largely anticipate increasing popularity of PL for the future.

CONCLUSION: Despite the heterogeneous situation across Europe, the analysis has uncovered similarities among the countries, such as the presence of established yet not identical concepts. Research should intensify academic activities (conceptual-linguistic elaborations, empirical work) before PL may gain further access into practical and political spheres in the long term.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	165-176
Number of pages	12
Journal	Journal of exercise science and fitness
Volume	21
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesf.2022.12.003
Publication status	Published - Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding

This research did not receive any specific external grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The first author acknowledges financial support by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg within the funding programme “Open Access Publication Funding”.

Funders	Funder number
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Carl, J., Bryant, A. S., Edwards, L. C., Bartle, G., Birch, J. E., Christodoulides, E., Emeljanovas, A., Fröberg, A., Gandrieau, J., Gilic, B., van Hilvoorde, I., Holler, P., Iconomescu, T. M., Jaunig, J., Laudanska-Krzeminska, I., Lundvall, S., De Martelaer, K., Martins, J., Mieziene, B., ... Elsborg, P. (2023). Physical literacy in Europe: The current state of implementation in research, practice, and policy. Journal of exercise science and fitness, 21(1), 165-176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesf.2022.12.003

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title = "Physical literacy in Europe: The current state of implementation in research, practice, and policy",

abstract = "BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The holistic concept of physical literacy (PL) embraces different person-centered qualities (physical, cognitive, affective/psychological) necessary to lead physically active lifestyles. PL has recently gained increasing attention globally and Europe is no exception. However, scientific endeavors summarizing the current state of PL in Europe are lacking. Therefore, the goal of this study was to comprehensively assess and compare the implementation of PL in research, policy, and practice across the continent.METHODS: We assembled a panel of experts representing 25 European countries. Employing a complementary mixed-methods design, the experts first prepared reviews about the current state of PL in their countries (categories: research, practice/policy). The reviews underwent comparative document analysis, ensuring a transnational four-eyes principle. For re-validation purposes, the representatives completed a quantitative survey with questions reflecting the inductive themes from the document analysis.RESULTS: The document analysis resulted in ten disjunct themes (related to {"}concept{"}, {"}research{"}, {"}practice/policy{"}, {"}future/prospect{"}) and yielded a heterogenous PL situation in Europe. The implementation state was strongly linked to conceptual discussions (e.g., existence of competing approaches), linguistic issues (e.g., translations), and country-specific traditions. Despite growing scholarly attention, PL hesitantly permeates practice and policy in most countries. Nevertheless, the experts largely anticipate increasing popularity of PL for the future.CONCLUSION: Despite the heterogeneous situation across Europe, the analysis has uncovered similarities among the countries, such as the presence of established yet not identical concepts. Research should intensify academic activities (conceptual-linguistic elaborations, empirical work) before PL may gain further access into practical and political spheres in the long term.",

author = "Johannes Carl and Bryant, {Anna S} and Edwards, {Lowri C} and Gillian Bartle and Birch, {Jens E} and Efstathios Christodoulides and Arunas Emeljanovas and Andreas Fr{\"o}berg and Joseph Gandrieau and Barbara Gilic and {van Hilvoorde}, Ivo and Peter Holler and Iconomescu, {Teodora M} and Johannes Jaunig and Ida Laudanska-Krzeminska and Suzanne Lundvall and {De Martelaer}, Kristine and Jo{\~a}o Martins and Brigita Mieziene and Maria Mendoza-Mu{\~n}oz and Alexandre Mouton and Olaru, {Bogdan S} and Marcos Onofre and Iuliia Pavlova and Repond, {Marie Rose} and Vassiliki Riga and Kasper Salin and Christophe Schnitzler and Damir Sekulic and Clemens T{\"o}pfer and Jana Vasickova and G{\"u}nay Yıldızer and Viviana Zito and Peter Bentsen and Nigel Green and Peter Elsborg",

note = "{\textcopyright} 2022 The Society of Chinese Scholars on Exercise Physiology and Fitness. Published by Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd.",

year = "2023",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1016/j.jesf.2022.12.003",

language = "English",

volume = "21",

pages = "165--176",

journal = "Journal of exercise science and fitness",

issn = "1728-869X",

publisher = "Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd",

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Carl, J, Bryant, AS, Edwards, LC, Bartle, G, Birch, JE, Christodoulides, E, Emeljanovas, A, Fröberg, A, Gandrieau, J, Gilic, B, van Hilvoorde, I, Holler, P, Iconomescu, TM, Jaunig, J, Laudanska-Krzeminska, I, Lundvall, S, De Martelaer, K, Martins, J, Mieziene, B, Mendoza-Muñoz, M, Mouton, A, Olaru, BS, Onofre, M, Pavlova, I, Repond, MR, Riga, V, Salin, K, Schnitzler, C, Sekulic, D, Töpfer, C, Vasickova, J, Yıldızer, G, Zito, V, Bentsen, P, Green, N & Elsborg, P 2023, 'Physical literacy in Europe: The current state of implementation in research, practice, and policy', Journal of exercise science and fitness, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 165-176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesf.2022.12.003

TY - JOUR

T1 - Physical literacy in Europe

T2 - The current state of implementation in research, practice, and policy

AU - Carl, Johannes

AU - Bryant, Anna S

AU - Edwards, Lowri C

AU - Bartle, Gillian

AU - Birch, Jens E

AU - Christodoulides, Efstathios

AU - Emeljanovas, Arunas

AU - Fröberg, Andreas

AU - Gandrieau, Joseph

AU - Gilic, Barbara

AU - van Hilvoorde, Ivo

AU - Holler, Peter

AU - Iconomescu, Teodora M

AU - Jaunig, Johannes

AU - Laudanska-Krzeminska, Ida

AU - Lundvall, Suzanne

AU - De Martelaer, Kristine

AU - Martins, João

AU - Mieziene, Brigita

AU - Mendoza-Muñoz, Maria

AU - Mouton, Alexandre

AU - Olaru, Bogdan S

AU - Onofre, Marcos

AU - Pavlova, Iuliia

AU - Repond, Marie Rose

AU - Riga, Vassiliki

AU - Salin, Kasper

AU - Schnitzler, Christophe

AU - Sekulic, Damir

AU - Töpfer, Clemens

AU - Vasickova, Jana

AU - Yıldızer, Günay

AU - Zito, Viviana

AU - Bentsen, Peter

AU - Green, Nigel

AU - Elsborg, Peter

PY - 2023/1

Y1 - 2023/1

N2 - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The holistic concept of physical literacy (PL) embraces different person-centered qualities (physical, cognitive, affective/psychological) necessary to lead physically active lifestyles. PL has recently gained increasing attention globally and Europe is no exception. However, scientific endeavors summarizing the current state of PL in Europe are lacking. Therefore, the goal of this study was to comprehensively assess and compare the implementation of PL in research, policy, and practice across the continent.METHODS: We assembled a panel of experts representing 25 European countries. Employing a complementary mixed-methods design, the experts first prepared reviews about the current state of PL in their countries (categories: research, practice/policy). The reviews underwent comparative document analysis, ensuring a transnational four-eyes principle. For re-validation purposes, the representatives completed a quantitative survey with questions reflecting the inductive themes from the document analysis.RESULTS: The document analysis resulted in ten disjunct themes (related to "concept", "research", "practice/policy", "future/prospect") and yielded a heterogenous PL situation in Europe. The implementation state was strongly linked to conceptual discussions (e.g., existence of competing approaches), linguistic issues (e.g., translations), and country-specific traditions. Despite growing scholarly attention, PL hesitantly permeates practice and policy in most countries. Nevertheless, the experts largely anticipate increasing popularity of PL for the future.CONCLUSION: Despite the heterogeneous situation across Europe, the analysis has uncovered similarities among the countries, such as the presence of established yet not identical concepts. Research should intensify academic activities (conceptual-linguistic elaborations, empirical work) before PL may gain further access into practical and political spheres in the long term.

AB - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The holistic concept of physical literacy (PL) embraces different person-centered qualities (physical, cognitive, affective/psychological) necessary to lead physically active lifestyles. PL has recently gained increasing attention globally and Europe is no exception. However, scientific endeavors summarizing the current state of PL in Europe are lacking. Therefore, the goal of this study was to comprehensively assess and compare the implementation of PL in research, policy, and practice across the continent.METHODS: We assembled a panel of experts representing 25 European countries. Employing a complementary mixed-methods design, the experts first prepared reviews about the current state of PL in their countries (categories: research, practice/policy). The reviews underwent comparative document analysis, ensuring a transnational four-eyes principle. For re-validation purposes, the representatives completed a quantitative survey with questions reflecting the inductive themes from the document analysis.RESULTS: The document analysis resulted in ten disjunct themes (related to "concept", "research", "practice/policy", "future/prospect") and yielded a heterogenous PL situation in Europe. The implementation state was strongly linked to conceptual discussions (e.g., existence of competing approaches), linguistic issues (e.g., translations), and country-specific traditions. Despite growing scholarly attention, PL hesitantly permeates practice and policy in most countries. Nevertheless, the experts largely anticipate increasing popularity of PL for the future.CONCLUSION: Despite the heterogeneous situation across Europe, the analysis has uncovered similarities among the countries, such as the presence of established yet not identical concepts. Research should intensify academic activities (conceptual-linguistic elaborations, empirical work) before PL may gain further access into practical and political spheres in the long term.

U2 - 10.1016/j.jesf.2022.12.003

DO - 10.1016/j.jesf.2022.12.003

M3 - Article

C2 - 36688001

SN - 1728-869X

VL - 21

SP - 165

EP - 176

JO - Journal of exercise science and fitness

JF - Journal of exercise science and fitness

IS - 1

ER -

Physical literacy in Europe: The current state of implementation in research, practice, and policy

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

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