Photo by Mike Wakefield, North Shore News

I feel as a society we are tackling the current challenges around physical activity and the need to be more active a bit like we did with the “just say no” drug education in the 1980’s. If we only told people that they were more likely to suffer a variety of health conditions and potentially die at an early age, they would wake up and change their ways. If only we produced more reports on health that said we were failing, we would stop failing. It is from this backdrop that I am so excited about what we are doing with physical literacy in our schools.

We know health guidelines say that kids should get at least 60 minutes of exercise a day, and we also know that few are doing it.  And there is no shortage of blame to go around.  Of course schools get some of it for how we structure our days, and then there is the overly protective pressures in society that leads to kids often not going outside.  And of course there is technology.  Any discussion around kids and activity often turns back to those damn phones!  All that being said, I think we were all shocked in West Vancouver when of the 1580 elementary aged students we tested a couple years ago on their abilities to run, hop, throw, kick a ball and walk backwards heel-to-toe, only 13 could competently perform all five tasks.

I appreciate that if we were talking about reading or math these kind of statistics would be reason to declare an emergency.  And we do think this work is as important as other foundation skills.  Instead of bemoaning the state of kids today – we got on with teaching them.  In just one year we were up to 65% of students being able to complete all the tasks.  The grade 2 students who never learn to kick a ball, become the high school students who don’t participate in soccer intramurals, the primary students who never learn to throw a ball are the ones who fake an illness to get out of softball in PE class, and those who don’t learn to properly run or hop, limit the athletic social events they will ever want to participate in.  But wow, what a difference we are seeing.  From agility ladders in hallways, to outdoor circuits to purposeful teaching of physical literacy skills – we have a team of teachers changing the culture.   And it is more than just getting kids to run around.  That is important, but we also need to teach kids the core skills of physical literacy.  It is great to have silent reading so all kids get time to read, but we also need to teach reading skills – the same theory holds for physical literacy.  And don’t be fooled into believing physical literacy can only happen in a gym.  The game changer is seeing people embed it in their work right in classrooms.

K Class Circuit at Ridgeview Elementary

We want students to develop physical literacy skills for their lives. If not at school, some kids will never have places to develop these skills.

And so interesting to read a Canadian study (HERE) published just last month that finds that there is a link between resilience and physical literacy among children, encouraging the importance of physical literacy development in schools.

I have always been struck by the simple idea – when will what we know change what we do.  We know physical literacy matters for youth.  For their physical health, their mental well-being, the academic success and their enjoyment in life.  And we are seeing some simple strategies are making big impactful changes across the district.  It is exciting to work in a district that is changing thinking and practice with physical literacy.

I am so lucky to work with a team including Diane Nelson, Erin Crawford, Amber Pascual, supported by Drew Mitchell and professional and researchers across Canada – all working together in West Vancouver to make this happen.  And teachers who are embracing the work.  When I get asked about what is new in West Vancouver, I tell people you need to see what we are doing with physical literacy.

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