The consensus statement was created by an expert group of researchers and professionals, including those from Liverpool John Moores University, Coventry University, the University of Bradford and the University of Gloucestershire.
It was finalised following an extensive consultation and included feedback from those working and volunteering in the sport and physical activity sector.
At today’s event, a range of thought leaders helped unpack the consensus statement and considered how the sector could evolve their practice by embedding the principles of physical literacy.
Attendees, who represented around 100 organisations, were able reflect on what the statement meant for them at a series of interactive workshops.
Why does this matter?
Our Active Lives surveys have told us that just 47% of children and 63% of adults are meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines.
Furthermore, we know that 30% of children and 26% of adults do less than an average of 30 minutes activity a day.
There are also significant inequalities, with a person’s ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status and age all impacting how likely they are to be physically active.
However, research shows that children with high levels of physical literacy are twice as likely to engage in sport and physical activity and adults who feel strongly that they have the ability to be active, the opportunity to be active and enjoy being active are also more likely to be active.
To help more people be active it's important everyone involved in the provision of sport and physical activity understands that there's more to it than helping someone develop their physical movement skills.
We must also consider how a person moves, connects, thinks and feels about movement and how their environment, culture, community or places and spaces they move in can powerfully influence their relationship with movement in both positive and negative ways.
By understanding what contributes to a person’s physical literacy, we can adapt and evolve our policies, practices and programmes to ensure it meets all of their needs.
