Defining physical literacy: making sense of a promiscuous concept

Abstract

The term physical literacy (PL) has become widely used in policy and practice discourses, engaging sport, physical activity, and physical education communities. Yet, despite its popularity, the term has taken many forms, encompassing different definitions, aims, and content. So, there is no single account, and this has led some to question the concept’s current capacity to act as the basis of a coherent programme. Previous writers have reviewed definitions of PL. This article has a different goal: to consider the ways definitions are used, and how they relate to, or differ from, each other. It imports a conceptual framework for thinking about definitions from the philosophy of education. In doing so, the paper seeks to clarify some of the ambiguities within discussions of PL. It goes on to examine the uses and abuses of philosophy within the PL literature.

Keywords:

• Physical literacy
• sports coaching
• physical education
• policy

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Jen Leigh, Matthew Reeves, Katrin, Koenen, and Iva Glibo for their critical comments on of this article. The inspiration for this paper came from conversations with Katrin and Iva in association with a different study of physical literacy. I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their careful feedback and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Interestingly, as Physical Literacy has entered discussions in new countries, it has typically retained the English nomenclature. Presumably, this is because its root term ‘literacy’ does not translate easily into other languages (UNESCO 2006).

2 I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer for drawing attention to this issue.

3 As I hope is clear from the discussion on this article, the term ‘promiscuous’ is used here as a familiar collocation to indicate the variety of contexts in which PL has been used. It does not imply any negative connotation with the specific applications of the term, themselves.