Physical Literacy in Sri Lanka – Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka

By Nigel Green, Chair of IPLA

IPLA were invited to share physical literacy and PE pedagogy with PE students from Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka.

Thanks to the great work by Amit Malik, IPLA were invited to the Department of Sports Sciences and Physical Education, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, to share the concept of physical literacy and physical education pedagogical practices with their students and faculty members. Lecturers at the university had become aware of physical literacy after meeting Amit at a conference and agreed to host IPLA at their university.

Nigel Green and Amit Malik worked with the students over two days. They provided a range of workshops, both practical and theoretical that provided an initial understanding of physical literacy. Working in the 30-degree heat was a challenge, but the students also had the challenge of understanding English as they were not confident discussing or sharing their experiences in English and preferred their native languages of Sinhala and Tamil. Nigel and Amit used practical activities to engage the students, and this allowed them to consider physical literacy from a more practical perspective. This was followed up by theory work to further expand their understanding of the concept. On the second day, the students were introduced to Mosston and Ashworth’s Spectrum of Teaching Styles, through a range of practical activities. The students really enjoyed this and could see how their ‘pedagogical toolbox’ could be expanded with this range of different reproductive and productive styles.

The university had also organised a conference and Nigel Green had been invited to provide a Keynote speech sharing physical literacy as a concept and what was happening world wide with physical literacy and the IPLA. This was held at Galle, a coastal resort, and was attended by around 100 delegates from Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Australia and England.

The opportunity to share ideas and best practices was provided with this conference and many connections were made, which may flourish in the future.

An MOU was also signed with the university with the view to continue collaboration over sharing physical literacy, research and best practices with the university faculty and students, as well as possibly providing education and training.