Spectrum Institute Conference – Olympia, Greece

By Nigel Green, Chair of IPLA

Nigel Green was invited by the Spectrum Institute of Teaching Styles https://spectrumofteachingstyles.org/ to provide a keynote speech at the first International conference at the Ancient Olympia Education Centre, Greece https://spectrum2026.com/ .

He was invited to present at the conference because of the work Nigel and Karen Rhys-Jones have been doing in relation to physical literacy and Mosston and Ashworth’s Spectrum of Teaching Styles. There were over 80 delegates from around the world, who all shared a passion of researching and promoting the use of the landmark teaching styles.

Nigel’s keynote initially introduced the concept of physical literacy and then unpacked the concept through the use of the key concepts of THRIVE (Tailored, Holistic, Reflexive, Inclusive, Varied and Empowering), in relation to the eleven landmark styles. Nigel continued the presentation by considering the Physical Literacy Facilitators REFLECT approach to demonstrate how the landmark styles can be adopted by teachers to facilitate physical literacy through their practices.

The session was shared through YouTube and will be available online. Nigel has provided a brief overview of the links between the Spectrum and the key principles of physical literacy, using THRIVE, as you will see below in the AI generated table.

The Spectrum has a lot to offer teachers in relation to potentially transforming their practices by developing their toolbox to consider the impact of each style on the physical literacy development of their students. More work needs to be undertaken in relation to the Spectrum and physical literacy, to provide evidence of the impact of the difference styles.