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Physical literacy

Physical literacy is about building the skills, knowledge and behaviours that give us the confidence and motivation to lead active lives.

Everyone has the potential to value, develop and maintain positive physical activity behaviours for life.

Physical literacy involves holistic lifelong learning through movement and physical activity. It delivers physical, psychological, social and cognitive health and wellbeing benefits.

The Australian Physical Literacy Framework promotes a shared vision, common language, and consistent understanding about physical literacy to support all Australians to develop their physical literacy, at every stage of life.

Physical literacy gives you:

  • physical skills and fitness
  • the attitudes and emotions that motivate you to be active
  • the knowledge and understanding of how, why and when you move
  • the social skills to be active with others.
A logo depicting the four domains of physical literacy

The skills you need to be physically literate

The Australian Sports Commission has identified the physical, psychological, social and cognitive skills people can work on to develop their physical literacy.

Keep in mind:

  • you don’t need to master them all
  • you can choose a few skills to work on at a time
  • what you focus on will depend on your current skills, circumstances and goals

This holistic learning enables people to draw on these integrated skills to lead healthy and fulfilling lives through movement and physical activity.

  • Physical-image

    Physical

    The skills and fitness a person acquires and applies through movement

  • Psychological-image

    Psychological

    The attitudes and emotions a person has towards movement and the impact they have on their confidence and motivation to move

  • Social-image

    Social

    A person’s interaction with others in relation to movement

  • Cognitive-image

    Cognitive

    A person’s understanding of how, why and when they move

Help others develop their physical literacy

We all have an important role to play in supporting others to develop their physical literacy.

From infants to teenagers, it is important for children to continually develop their level of physical literacy. Parents can use physical literacy as a reference point to understand what their children should be learning through movement - at home, at school, and on the sporting field.

Physical literacy can be supported by coaches, sporting organisations and recreational providers which create programs and deliver sessions that focus on the holistic development of individuals and provide opportunities for participants to enhance their physical, psychological, social and cognitive attributes.

Teaching skills to increase levels of physical literacy supports whole-of-child development and movement for life.

In partnership with the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (ACHPER), Sport Australia developed the Physical Literacy: Guide for Schools, which identifies the key components of a whole school approach to developing physical literacy in children. The Physical Literacy Toolkit for Schools provides further resources to guide schools on their physical literacy journey.

Physical literacy can be adopted through systems and policies across health, education, sport and recreation as a tool that improves individual and societal health and wellbeing. Policy makers can target aspects of the physical literacy domains – physical, psychological, social and cognitive in planning for impact with specific audiences and communities.

Additional resources

We want everyone to learn about and develop physically literacy, so please share some or all of these resources with your friends, family, students, colleagues, sporting club or school.

Learn more

Contact us

If you are interested in working with the Australian Sports Commission to help bring physical literacy to life, email the Sport Programs team at physical_literacy@ausport.gov.au

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