13 Questions About Physical Literacy: A Canadian Perspective
If you work in physical literacy, you’ve been asked at least one of these questions. Probably at a conference. Probably over coffee. Probably by someone who genuinely wants to understand but keeps getting different answers from everyone they ask.
What is physical literacy, exactly? Is it the same as physical education? Can you actually measure it? Who’s responsible for developing it? Can someone be “physically literate,” or is that not how it works?
These are good questions. The problem isn’t that people are asking them. The problem is that too often, the answers depend on who’s in the room. A researcher explains it one way. A coach explains it another way. A policy-maker hears both and walks away less clear than when they started.
That’s why Sport for Life, in collaboration with Sport Ireland and Dr. Melanie McKee of Stranmillis University College, developed Understanding Physical Literacy: A Canadian Perspective. It’s a short, practical resource that answers 13 of the most common questions about physical literacy clearly, grounded in the Canadian Physical Literacy Consensus Statement.
What Happens Without Shared Language
Someone pitches “physical literacy” to a school board. A trustee responds: “We already do that. It’s called PE.” The conversation stalls. There’s no shared document to point to, no agreed-upon language that makes the distinction clear. The initiative dies in committee.
Or picture this: a health authority, a recreation department, and a provincial sport organization sit down together to build a physical literacy strategy. Within 20 minutes, it’s clear they’re each using the term differently. The health sector person is thinking about chronic disease prevention. The recreation person is thinking about programming. The sport person is thinking about athlete development. The meeting ends with a commitment to “align on definitions.” Six months later, nothing has moved.
If these sound familiar, you’re not alone. These are the kind of conversations that happen across the country when people care about physical literacy but don’t have a common reference point. This booklet was built to be that reference point.
Canada adopted a national definition of physical literacy in 2015: “the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life.” But a definition alone doesn’t solve the problem. People need to understand what it means in practice. Physical literacy includes motivation, confidence, knowledge, and understanding alongside physical competence. It spans the full lifespan, from early childhood through older adulthood. It develops across environments: land, water, ice and snow, and air. And the responsibility for it doesn’t rest with one sector. It’s shared across education, health, sport, recreation, and communities.
The booklet puts all of that into plain language, in one place.
What It Covers
The 13 questions are the ones that come up repeatedly in workshops, presentations, meetings, and conversations across the sector:
- How is physical literacy defined?
- What are the elements of physical literacy?
- Why is physical literacy important?
- Can a person be described as “physically literate”?
- How can physical literacy be developed?
- Where can physical literacy be developed?
- Can physical literacy be assessed?
- What are the practical applications of physical literacy?
- Who is responsible for developing physical literacy?
- What underpins physical literacy?
- How does physical literacy support Canada’s Long-Term Development (LTD) framework?
- Are physical literacy, physical activity, and physical education interrelated?
- Can being physically literate equate to being athletic?
Each question gets a concise, evidence-informed answer drawn from Canada’s national frameworks, including Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity (LTD) and the Canadian Physical Literacy Consensus Statement.
Who This Is For
If you’re a coach trying to explain physical literacy to parents, this gives you the language to do so. If you’re a recreation director making the case to your board, this gives you the framework. If you’re a teacher being asked how physical literacy is different from what you already teach in PE, question 12 answers that directly. If you’re a researcher or policy-maker looking for a concise overview of Canada’s approach, this is it.
It’s also a useful onboarding tool. New staff, new board members, new partners who need to get up to speed quickly on what physical literacy means in Canada and how it connects to LTD can read this in under 20 minutes and come away with a solid foundation.
A Cross-Border Collaboration
The booklet was developed in collaboration with Sport Ireland and Dr. Melanie McKee at Stranmillis University College in Belfast. That partnership matters. Physical literacy is a global concept, but how it’s understood and applied varies by country. Working across borders forced all partners to clarify what’s universal about physical literacy and what’s specific to each national context. The result is a resource that’s grounded in Canada’s frameworks but informed by international thinking.
Download It, Share It, Use It
Understanding Physical Literacy: A Canadian Perspective is available now as a free download. Keep it on your desktop. Send it to the colleague who keeps mixing up physical literacy and physical education. Bring it to your next planning meeting. The more people who use the same language, the faster the work moves.
For more on physical literacy in Canada, visit physicalliteracy.ca.