Functional Physical Literacy for Child and Youth Recreation Programming: A Community Response to the 2015 Canadian Recreation Framework

The recreation sector is perfectly suited to specifically address issues surrounding the desire to be physically active. This is because of recreation's connection to the community, the broad spectrum of its consumers and its ability to address the positive health outcomes of an active lifestyle as it relates to the physical, social, emotional and cognitive domains of wellbeing. To do so appropriately, a guiding framework is necessary; however, one does not currently exist for the recreation sector. As such, we are creating a multi-layered functional physical literacy (FPL) framework to suit the needs of recreation programmers, instructors and parents, to ensure the delivery of high quality programs that are developmentally appropriate. The FPL framework is intended to be a catalyst for any recreation service provider wanting to build an evidence-based physical activity (PA) program with a developmentally appropriate scope and sequence. The FPL framework will complement existing provincial education and sport curricula so that recreation programming supports what children learn in these areas. This recreation-centered contribution will maximize the reach of PL education for the purpose of increasing PA. The FPL framework will be designed for parents and recreation leaders who play a role in helping children and youth lead active lifestyles outside of school and organized sport settings.