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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living

Sec. Physical Education and Pedagogy

Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1703265

This article is part of the Research TopicPhysical Literacy Across the LifespanView all articles

Between Words and Practice: A Qualitative Exploration of Physical Literacy Understanding and Application

Provisionally accepted
Ivan  CurovicIvan Curovic1*David  GrecicDavid Grecic2Aleksandar  LekicAleksandar Lekic3Dejan  SuzovicDejan Suzovic4Lazar  ToskicLazar Toskic5,6Igor  CurovicIgor Curovic7
  • 1School of Health, Social Work and Sport; Institute of Coaching & Performance (ICaP), University of Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom
  • 2Institute for Behaviour, Sport and Rehabilitation, University of Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom
  • 3School of Health, Social Work and Sport, University of Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom
  • 4Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
  • 5Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Pristina in Kosovska Mitrovica, Leposavic, Serbia
  • 6Faculty of Sport, University “Union -Nikola Tesla”, Belgrade, Serbia
  • 7Judo Club Partizan, Belgrade, Serbia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Physical literacy (PL) has become an internationally recognised framework for promoting lifelong physical activity, yet its interpretation and application remain inconsistent across different contexts. In Serbia, where Physical Education (PE) is historically performance-driven and PL is absent from curricula and policy, little is known about how teachers understand and apply the concept. This qualitative study explored the philosophies and practices of Serbian PE teachers (in-service, n = 20; pre-service, n = 11) through semi-structured interviews applying deductive thematic analysis in relation to the core elements of PL informed by the IPLA's definition (2017). Findings show that although PL was largely unheard of, it was commonly described in ways that captured its holistic dimensions of health, motivation, and lifelong engagement, albeit with a predominant focus on physical competence. Participants expressed positive aspirations for PE as a subject, frequently emphasising values such as pupil wellbeing, enjoyment, and long-term habit formation. However, practical accounts were dominated by traditional, teacher-led lessons focused on drills, discipline, and technical performance, with autonomy and creativity rarely depicted. For pre-service teachers, discipline emerged as a central expectation, with compliance and order described as prerequisites for learning with few participants articulating student-centred practices. Overall, the findings highlight a clear gap between PL-aligned holistic philosophy and traditional practice.. Addressing this gap through curriculum reform, teacher education, and professional development is crucial if PL is to be meaningfully embedded in Serbian PE and positively influence pupils' confidence, autonomy, and lifelong activity.

Keywords: pedagogy, Teaching, Sport, physical activity, Lifelong participation, Children

Received: 11 Sep 2025; Accepted: 02 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Curovic, Grecic, Lekic, Suzovic, Toskic and Curovic. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Ivan Curovic, icurovic@uclan.ac.uk

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