Children’s Perspectives of Physical Literacy: Meaning, Value and Capabilities

By Gillian Bartle, IPLA Research Lead

Bingham, D.D., Morris, J.L., Lewis, K., Foweather, L., Goss, H., O’Brien, W., Essiet, I., Roberts, W.M., Hurter, L., Shearer, C., Barnett, L.M., Duncan, M.J. and Daly-Smith, A., (2025). Children’s perceptions of physical literacy: exploring meaning, value, and capabilities for lifelong physical activity. Front. Sports Act. Living, 7:1548546. DOI: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1548546

Keywords: Physical activity, physical literacy, children, qualitative research, wellbeing.

Introduction

The following blog summarises an article highlighting research with children (aged 10-15) that contributed to how physical literacy (PL) was understood for the Consensus Statement for England (2023). This adds to emerging research with late primary and secondary aged children and young people. The authors sought to find out what children value about movement experiences, and to understand what aspects of PL children deemed important for continued participation in physical activity.

Through a range of methods, data was collected in collaboration with 53 children (aged 10–15) from diverse backgrounds in England. Children were identified by teachers who had knowledge of participation in physical activity, thereby providing a range of participant engagement levels. Methods were conducive to providing opportunities for the voices of this age range to participate and through in-person focus groups included writing, drawing, and ranking tasks. Each task fostered exploration of perceptions of meaningful movement using Beni et al’s (2017) five themes deemed central to meaningful experiences in PE and youth sport. The Australian PL Framework (Australian Sports Commission, 2019) provided structure to capture four elements of PL. Supplementary data is available via the article link above.

Key Findings after thematic analysis (Hayes, 2021):

  1. Meaningful Physical Activities
    • Children value diverse activities beyond traditional sports, such as walking, walking with the dog, cycling, dancing, martial arts, tree climbing.
    • Enjoyment, social interaction with peers and family, and emotional rewards (happiness, accomplishment) and physical health are central to engagement.
  2. Social Relationships
    • Family and peer support are crucial for motivation and learning.
    • Activities shared with loved ones enhance enjoyment and long-term participation.
  3. Psychological and Physical Benefits
    • Children recognise mental health benefits (stress relief, mood improvement) and physical health gains (fitness, energy).
    • Children appreciate learning emotional self-regulation, such as recognising positive feelings when winning or gaining a personal best, and sadness when losing.
    • “Flow states” (deep focus during activity) and outdoor experiences contribute to wellbeing.
  4. Lifelong Engagement
    • Key factors for sustaining activity include:
      • knowledge: understanding health benefits
      • motivation and confidence: intrinsic drive and self-belief
      • opportunity: access to safe environments, equipment, and inclusive programmes, especially when left school.
    • Physical skills (e.g., motor competence) were less emphasised compared to emotional and social aspects.

Implications for Physical Literacy (PL) include:

    • PL definitions integrating domains fulfil the holistic aspect (“mind-body connection”, p. 2): affective (emotions), social (relationships), cognitive (knowledge), and physical
    • children communicated that aspects such as confidence and motivation, need practice and do not always ‘come naturally’
    • policies and interventions ought to prioritise enjoyment, inclusivity, and child-centred co-design to foster lifelong physical activity.

Final Thoughts

Children’s perspectives highlight that PL is not just about physical skills but emotional fulfilment, social connections, and accessible opportunities to develop capabilities. Future research could adapt tasks for gathering data to become more inclusive and could investigate smaller age ranges for nuanced insights. The IPLA will continue to publish blogs and relate to relevant articles which continue to contribute to developments across the lifecourse, so please consider sharing your research with us. You can contact Gillian Bartle, Research Lead via our online Contact Form.