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Physical literacy can contribute to changing practices that value and support equitable access to health and education. This critical review aims to reflect on the central aspects of the process of defining the concept of physical literacy, from understanding its origin and philosophical character to its definition in the European context, projecting new opportunities for research, training and dissemination of the construct in the context of the European Union, placing greater emphasis on the case of Portugal. Physical literacy is understood as a promising construct in different European countries. Consequently, between 2018 and 2020, partnerships were developed within the European Union to define and disseminate a European reference for physical literacy. In the last eight years, three Portuguese universities have demonstrated scientific and pedagogical initiatives with the aim of establishing the concept at the national level in the context of education. The integration of the construct in theoretical models and its study in more diverse contexts and environments of Physical Activity is considered as a direction for the future. The study of physical literacy is recent in Portugal (2016), but it has shown relevant advances evidenced by the country's participation in European projects and the publication of reviews, conceptual and empirical studies on the development and evaluation of physical literacy in the context of physical education. Advancing in the integration of physical literacy in a more consistent manner at a European and national level will imply in the future the development of intervention studies and the promotion of collaborative alliances between the education, sports and health sectors., La alfabetización física puede contribuir al cambio de las prácticas que valoran y apoyan el acceso equitativo a la salud y la educación. Esta revisión crítica pretende reflexionar sobre los aspectos centrales del proceso de definición del concepto de alfabetización física, desde la comprensión de su origen y carácter filosófico hasta su definición en el contexto europeo, proyectando nuevas oportunidades de investigación, formación y difusión del constructo en el contexto de la Unión Europea, poniendo mayor énfasis en el caso de Portugal. La alfabetización física es entendida como un constructo prometedor en los diferentes países europeos. Por consiguiente, entre 2018 y 2020, se desarrollaron alianzas dentro de la Unión Europea para definir y difundir una referência europea para la alfabetización física. En los últimos ocho años, tres universidades portuguesas han demostrado iniciativas científicas y pedagógicas con el objetivo de establecer el concepto a nivel nacional en el contexto de la educación. La integración del constructo en modelos teóricos y su estudio en contextos y entornos más diversos de la Actividad Física se plantea como una dirección de futuro. El estudio de la alfabetización física es reciente en Portugal (2016), pero ha mostrado avances relevantes evidenciados por la participación del país en proyectos europeos y la publicación de revisiones, estudios conceptuales y empíricos sobre el desarrollo y evaluación de la alfabetización física en el contexto de la educación física. Avanzar en la integración de la alfabetización física de manera más consistente a nivel europeo y nacional implicará en el futuro el desarrollo de estudios de intervención y la promoción de alianzas colaborativas entre los sectores de la educación, deporte y salud.

Comparable and cross-national research is needed to examine students’ views on the role of physical education (PE) inpromoting active and healthy lifestyles, particularly in non-English speaking contexts. Thus, the present study aims to investigate andcompare the views of middle school students from four European countries towards PE, considering cross-national and gender variables.In this cross-sectional study, 1244 middle school students (635 boys, 609 girls; Mean age = 14.3±0.9 years) from a public secondaryschool in Croatia, Lithuania, Poland and Portugal, answered to a questionnaire about their: (a) PE attitude, (b) PE importance, (c) PE mainaim, and (d) perception of competence in PE. ANOVA and Student t-test were used to compare students’ views across countries, and tocompare boys’ and girls’ views within each country. Overall, results show that the students’ views towards PE were mainly positive butimportant differences were found across the students from the four European countries. In all countries, boys have a more positiveattitude, gave more importance to PE and perceived themselves as more competent than girls. Regardless of the sociocultural context, thisstudy suggests that there is a cross-national need to further explore the nature of the differences found and increase young girl’s attitudestowards PE. Additionally, more comparative studies are needed with a broad range of sociocultural contexts to assess the extent to whichthis type of differences is present.Keywords: physical education, adolescents, attitude, perception of competence, comparative education, Se hace necesaria una investigación de carácter comparada e internacional para contrastar las opiniones de los estudiantessobre el papel de la Educación Física (EF) en la promoción de estilos de vida activos y saludables, particularmente en contextos noanglófonos. Así, el objetivo del estudio fue examinar las opiniones de los estudiantes de secundaria de cuatro países europeos con respectoa la EF, teniendo en cuenta las variables país y género. En este estudio transversal, 1244 estudiantes de secundaria (635 niños; 14.3±0.9años) de una escuela secundaria pública en Croacia, Lituania, Polonia y Portugal, respondieron a un cuestionario sobre: (a) la actitud, (b)la importancia (c) objetivo principal, y (d) la percepción de competencia en EF. Se aplicaron las pruebas ANOVA y T-de-Student paracomparar las opiniones, entre los países, de los estudiantes, y de los niños y las niñas en cada país. En general, los resultados muestranque las opiniones de los estudiantes hacia la EF fueron principalmente positivas, pero se encontraron diferencias importantes entre losestudiantes de los cuatro países. En todos los países, los niños tienen una actitud más positiva, le dan más importancia a la EF y seperciben a sí mismos como más competentes que las niñas. Independientemente del contexto sociocultural, es necesario explorar más lanaturaleza de las diferencias encontradas y mejorar las actitudes de las niñas hacia la EF. Además, se necesitan más estudios comparativoscon una amplia gama de contextos socioculturales para evaluar en qué grado este tipo de diferencias está presente

[Abstract] Listening to adolescents’ voices has been important to promote meaningful physical activity (PA) opportunities. Therefore, an updated systematic review of the available qualitative literature on adolescents’ perspectives on the barriers and facilitators of PA was conducted, according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Studies published between 2014 (date of the last systematic review) and 2020 were searched in the Web of Science, EBSCO, and SCOPUS databases. Based on the inclusion criteria applied, 30 out of 8069 studies were included in the review. A thematic analysis was used to inductively and deductively analyze the perspectives of ~1250 adolescents (13–18 years). The studies took place in 13 countries from different continents. The main PA barriers and facilitators of PA were presented and discussed around five higher-order themes: (1) Individual factors (e.g., psychological—motivation, self— efficacy; cognitive—knowledge, understanding; physical—motor skills); (2) social and relational factors (family, friends, significant others); (3) PA nature factors (fun, school-based PA and physical education); (4) life factors (time and competing activities; life-course); and (5) sociocultural and environmental factors (e.g., availability/access to PA facilities, programs; urban/rural zones). By transnationally framing adolescents’ voices, this study provides updated evidence and discusses innovative implications for developing tailored interventions and pedagogical strategies aimed at promoting active and healthy lifestyles

[Abstract] Given the need for comparative research on the participation of adolescents in physical education (PE) classes as a privileged space for physical activity (PA) promotion, this study sought to estimate, analyse and compare the prevalence of participation in PE classes among adolescents from 54 countries and to examine sex, age, country income and world regions disparities. Data from the Global Students Health Survey (2010–2015) were used, comprising 170,347 adolescents (90,305 girls, aged 13–17 years) from nationally representative samples of 54 countries—of which 7 are low-income, 23 lower-middle-income, 14 upper-middle-income and 10 high-income—and six world regions. The weighted percentages of adolescents participating in PE classes (never, 1–2 days/week, 3–4 days/week, 5 or more days/week) were estimated along 95% confidence intervals and compared across sex, age, country income, region, and country. Most adolescents reported to participate in PE on 1–2 days/week (55.2%), but almost 20% of adolescents reported never participating in PE. Girls, compared to boys, presented a lower prevalence for participating _5 days/week (girls 16.8%, boys 20.0%). The prevalence of participating in PE on _3 days/week was higher among adolescents aged 13–14 years when compared to adolescents aged 15–17 years (boys: 30.9% vs. 24.6%; girls: 26.1% vs. 18.2%). Concerning the countries’ income, the prevalence of never participating in PE was higher in high-income countries, and participating on _3 days/week was higher in low-income countries, but further research is recommended. The findings suggest that national, regional and worldwide data highlight the importance of improving participation in PE, particularly for girls and older adolescents. An improved and continued monitoring of PE policies and their actual implementation is needed worldwide.