A large, national research project involving more than 10,000 Canadian children in 11 cities suggests two-thirds of them are not physically literate.
Physical literacy is defined as having the "motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life."
The results of the study raise concerns about the health of Canadian children now and into the future. The study has also increased calls for a greater emphasis on physical education in schools.
Dr. Sarah Woodruff, an associate professor of Kinesiology at the University of Windsor, conducted the assessment on almost 1,300 local children. She is cited as a contributor to nine of the 14 articles looking at different aspects of physical literacy published Tuesday.
"The study gives Windsor-Essex a great baseline that can be used to monitor changes over time, and evaluate the impact of physical literacy programs in the future," she said.
Children between the ages of eight and 12 were assessed between 2014 and 2017 on criteria including step counts and questions about their daily activities.
"We hear about increasing rates of obesity rates in kids, falling rates of physical activity, and more time spent in front of screens," said Dr. Mark Tremblay, senior scientist at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, and professor of pediatrics at the University of Ottawa. "Physically literate children are more active and healthy children, which sets them up for life."
"Through this project, we provide comprehensive evidence that Canadian children aged eight to 12 years are not meeting the standards for components of physical literacy," he said. "For example, boys and girls across Canada have aerobic fitness levels at the 30th percentile of global norms, and only 20 per cent are meeting physical activity guidelines."
ParticipACTION President and CEO Elio Antunes said the results are evidence something needs to be done to improve fitness levels.
"Every organization concerned with the well-being of children... should allocate additional resources to increase children's physical literacy," said Antunes. "Additional education campaigns, greater priority in school curricula and increased numbers of physical education specialists could have a real impact on the health of Canada's children."
