Country-Specific Descriptions on the Compatibility of Current Physical Education with the Concept of Physical Literacy

Physical literacy (PL) represents a student-centred concept with the potential to nourish holistic experiences in physical education (PE). Although the PL concept has been emphasized by UNESCO, knowledge about its adoption and implementation into PE remains scant. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to evaluate and compare the compatibility of PE curricula with PL in Europe. We recruited a panel of experts encompassing 40 European countries. The experts were invited to freely specify the compatibility of country’s PE curricula with PL. The reports were subjected to reflexive thematic analysis. Moreover, the experts rated the deep structure of national curricula with 15 questions, each containing a spectrum of statements with high versus no/insufficient PL compatibility. We examined differences in PL-compatible pedagogy according to different European regions and linguistic backgrounds. We synthesized both data sources following an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design.