“I Wasn’t Sure What It Meant to Be Honest”—Formative Research Towards a Physical Literacy Intervention for Preschoolers

Abstract

Physical literacy (PL) as a concept is important in developing lifelong physical activity; however, there is little research exploring how PL can be developed during the preschool years. This two-phase qualitative study sought the insights of academics/expert practitioners and preschool staff towards PL in order to inform the design of future preschool PL interventions. Phase One comprised of nine semi-structured interviews with experts in the field of children’s physical activity and/or PL. Interview topics included perspectives on the concept of PL and recommendations for interventions targeted at improving preschool PL. Phase Two consisted of focus groups with practitioners from four local children’s centres. Focus groups explored perspectives on the feasibility and acceptability of proposed PL interventions. Interviews and focus groups were analysed by thematic analysis and means of representation, respectively. Findings revealed that whilst there was limited understanding about the concept of PL among preschool educators, knowledge of child development was evident and that all participants agreed that there was a need for further training for practitioners. Perceived barriers to promoting PL noted by practitioners included funding, policy, curricular priorities, parental opinions, and the preschool environment. It was recommended that interventions should be: (i) designed using a participatory approach including all key stakeholders, (ii) conducted over the long term, and (iii) incorporate opportunities for children to engage in free and outdoor play. Furthermore, any intervention should be flexible to allow for variation between children’s centres, aligned to current policy/children’s centre targets and provide training and resources in order to overcome perceived barriers.

Stakeholder perceptions of physical literacy assessment in primary school children

“…P1, expert (Participant 1 Expert Focus Group 1). For profile inclusion, the threshold was a minimum of 25% consensus within a theme and themes not reaching consensus were reported within the narrative (Foulkes et al 2020). For transparency, the total number and percentage of individual participants who spoke in relation to a theme is therefore presented.…”

Foundational Movement Skills and Play Behaviors during Recess among Preschool Children: A Compositional Analysis

“…The environmental resources available to each child to foster FMS could be enhanced through changing the design of play spaces within the recess playground to include natural landscapes and features (e.g., forested areas with trees and shrubs, rocks, water, sand, uneven ground, slopes) [56,74,75], as well as increasing the volume and range of loose parts and fixed equipment [60][61][62]. The role of preschool educators should be to encourage and offer possibilities for active play while fully respecting child agency [68][69][70]. Nevertheless, due to the narrow evidence base, more research exploring how to maximize affordances for young children to develop FMS during preschool recess periods is warranted.…”

“…Thus, gender differences in play group compositions may influence FMS. Previous studies have also shown how childcare educators’ education, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and practices may influence preschool children’s physical activity, FMS, and physical literacy [ 68 , 69 , 70 ]. Therefore, examining if and how teacher attitudes and practices in relation to play behaviors and FMS and how teacher interactions with children during recess affect FMS competence could be an interesting area for future study.…”

Parents’ and Early Childhood Educators’ Perceptions on Movement and Learning Program Implementation

“…In particular, Phase 1 was based on previous studies conducting formative research to explore educators' perceptions on physical activity intervention programs for preschool children [38] as well as their perspectives on technology use [39]. It showed that both parents and educators have a preference of short online programs with duration between 10-30 min, and to be contacted weekly via email.…”