What Is Physical Literacy? An International Review and Analysis of Definitions

in Kinesiology Review

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Richard Bailey Faculty of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts, UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Center of Research for Mental Health and Wellbeing, UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4650-6392 *
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Iva Glibo Chair of Sport and Health Management, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6871-8655
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Katrin Koenen Senate for the Interior and Sport, Berlin, Germany

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Nadia Samsudin Faculty of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts, UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3292-2870
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/kr.2023-0003
Keywords:
physical education; sport; physical activity; health; lifelong learning
First Published Online:
07 Jul 2023
In Print:
Volume 12: Issue 3
Page Range:
247–260
Restricted access

The concept of physical literacy has entered policy, advocacy, and practice discourses in many countries and has become a significant focus of physical education, physical activity, and sport promotion. Despite its popularity, questions remain about the coherence of the definitions used and their impact on the capacity of physical literacy to act as a unifying and empowering idea. This contributes to efforts to understand and critically analyze definitional issues by systematically reviewing and analyzing patterns of use. The analysis identified 14 themes, organized into four meta-themes: physical, psychosocial, cognitive, and integrated development. The most common theme among the identified codes was movement skills, which related to developing motor competence and specific skills. The article discusses the diversity of themes and their implications for future research and practice in physical literacy. It challenges the common claim that progress depends on reaching a universal definition as the basis of collaborative work.

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