Abstract
Children spend the majority of their waking hours within the school setting. As such, teachers have the potential to be key influencers on children's development. As part of a national surveillance study exploring children's physical literacy using the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy (CAPL), we employed a cross-sectional design to explore the effect of teacher training on the likelihood of children meeting recommended levels of physical literacy in a sample of 4,189 children aged 8 to 12 years (M = 10.72 years, SD = 1.19). Logistic regressions supported that children taught by teachers with physical education (PE) training were more likely to reach recommended levels of motor skill proficiency (OR = 0.77, 95% CI, 0.67-0.90) and have higher motivation and confidence levels (OR = 0.83, 95% CI, 0.72-0.95) than those whose teachers did not have PE training. These findings helped inform a knowledge translation event, the Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds Physical Literacy Summit. Immediate post-summit evaluation data from 16 teachers indicated they had strong intentions to develop, implement, and evaluate physical literacy initiatives in their classrooms (M = 4.82/5, SD = .41). Teachers exhibited significant increases in perceived physical literacy knowledge, t(9) = 2.44, p < .05; and skills to implement activities fostering physical literacy pre-post summit, t(10) = 4.66, p < .05. Using the CAPL data to provide context, this presentation will discuss challenges and potential for initiatives to enhance teachers' ability to deliver high quality physical activity experiences fostering children's physical literacy.Acknowledgments: RBC Learn to Play