Investigation of the Social and Emotional Domains of Physical Literacy

In 2020, the Health and Physical Education Department (HPED) at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta Canada underwent a ministerial program review by Campus Quality Council of Alberta. The HPED department offers four program majors; Physical Literacy (PL); Athletic Therapy (AT); Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership; and Sport and Recreation Management. Feedback from the PL major identified from students and faculty redundancy in course content and assessment strategies in several of our experiential learning courses. This feedback is important to both the PL and AT majors as the experiential learning courses are required for both majors. As a result of this feedback faculty gathered to review the existing curriculum. The PL major decided to reflect on the underpinning of the degree to the construct of PL. “Physical Literacy is the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value and take responsibility for the engagement in physical activities for life” (International Physical Literacy Association, 2017). Student feedback illustrated an opportunity to clarify program outcomes. The leadership team met to rethink the purpose and goals of the PL major and searched for governing bodies, academic expert definitions, and models that defined physical literacy. Simplicity, visual appeal, reproducibility, and explicit outcomes were the key guiding principles. The International Sport and Culture Association model (Payne, 2021) was adopted by the leadership team. An inventory of current PL courses was mapped to the model outcomes. It was identified that the current PL curriculum aligned to the physical and cognitive domains of the model. However, explicit outcomes in the social and emotional domains of PL were missing from the MRU curriculum. A remapping and course sequencing process was conducted with the entire department.