IPLA Chair’s Report 2021
First and foremost my thanks go to the members of the IPLA Executive Committee, the Team and SIG leaders, the Country Ambassadors and particularly to Margaret. We have had a very busy and productive year and this volume of work would not have been possible without the generosity and enthusiasm of our passionate volunteers.
The year has not been easy, but with Covid encouraging us to work in different ways we have been allowed to grow and develop our methods of working with others and the ‘e-age’ has meant that we have managed to engage with many more people from around the world in a more efficient manner.
Our intention, at the start of the year, was to consider what the IPLA should look like in order for us to function more effectively in the future and what our aims should be. Although this process has taken a long time, I would like to thank Stuart, Margaret and Trevor in particular for their contributions to this work. We clarified our vision, mission and strategic intent and I am confident that the discussions were worthwhile and that we now have a structure and focus that will continue to allow us to grow and develop as an organisation, supporting and promoting physical literacy throughout the world.
Our Trustees have regularly commented on our impact, which is often hard to measure, however, I consider the commentary below as our impact over the last year.
IMPACT
Reflection on our Governance and Operations model has seen the development of a revised vision, mission and strategic intent focus along with a modified Trustee and Committee organisation structure. This development took a lot of hard work, and we were fortunate to have the support of a discussion with a Lawyer from the Small Charities Commission. Revisions to the Constitution will hopefully be the last piece of the jigsaw that will be completed during the AGM.
From an Advocacy perspective, Trevor and his team have taken part in a number of meetings which have attracted some very influential supporters. Many hours have been spent talking to various individuals and organisations around the world, trying to ascertain how the IPLA can help them to promote physical literacy. Very positive steps have been taken with the Olympic and Sports Museum Qatar where we hope to establish a Middle East PL hub.
Kenya, through Wellness and Greatness have allowed us to explore how the National Olympic Committee and UNESCO may potentially support an initiative in this country, but we are looking for funding for this project. A number of MOU’s have been established with OSMQ, W4G Kenya, The Abilities Centre Canada, and we are currently working on more MOUs with the likes of the Youth Sport Trust, Agashe College India, Maverick India, to mention a few. We see MOUs as a way forward as there will be an intention to work together on projects that promote PL in a formal manner. Progress has also been made in the UK with discussions with Sport England resulting in a recognition of the IPLA as a partner around the table at in the School Sport & Activity Sector Summit. Liz Durden-Myers discussion at the House of Lords with YST and AfPE was also a very positive step from a recognition point of view. Webinars in a range of countries such as Indonesia, Brazil, India, Sweden and the USA, allowed the concept to be shared to a much wider audience and further links and opportunities have developed from these sessions. More recently, a meeting with the De Coubertin Olympic Values group by Trevor, has also allowed the concept to be shared and considered by a more influential organisation. The work I have been involved with on the Erasmus project (Physical Literacy for Life) has also been valuable from an advocacy and a resource point of view as a number of the countries involved had limited initial understanding of the concept, but the project has allowed this to improve, and the production of materials will allow the concept to be accessible to a much wider group of people in Europe. This important advocacy work is the key to IPLA being able to impact on a worldwide basis. My thanks to Trevor for leading this group.
Karen has galvanised a large number of members to be active within the Education and Training group and a lot has been achieved. The Foundation Course was completed and made available online, free to all members. A number of Foundation Courses have been run and these have also been supported by Liz Taplin with her online/face to face programme of courses. Many of the delegates on these Foundation courses have been encouraged to take their interest further and have become important and innovative people within the organisation. The Development Course, Training of Trainers, Online Courses and other face to face courses have also been completed. Trained Members are now able to provide the Foundation course within their institution or community. A calendar of courses, which are going to be co-led, have been scheduled for the coming year, including pre and post conference courses. This will be further enriched by the provision of a wider range of courses, such as Assessment, Pedagogy, Inclusion, Early Years etc. in the future, and the courses will be made available free to members. Further bespoke courses can be provided, and this is often linked to the advocacy work where particular organisations require slightly different modifications. An example of this has been the recent association with Youth Sport Trust, where a modified one-hour introduction to PL has been developed for use by the YST
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a modified one-hour introduction to PL has been developed for use by the YST
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and a modified Foundation Course will also be jointly developed. Cara provided a Health group in Scotland with a number of Foundation Sessions, and such was the interest, there is a desire for them to supplement this with the Development Course in the future. It is good to see how the education and training can be provided in different sectors. An exciting development in India is the work on a Higher Education Course which would be accredited to the University and available to a range of students. With our work in India, this has the potential to reach a range of other universities involved in teacher training, which would be a great step forward.
There have been some positive developments in the Research and Innovation group, with the introduction of a ‘Research Café’, which allowed us to hear from academics from around the world, who shared their work, and this then led to short discussions. I am confident that this form of dialogue will flourish next year and provide a real opportunity for the sharing of ideas and research material globally. Erasmus bids have been submitted through a group in Cyprus and another in Greece and we await the result of these as they were re-submitted following them not being successful in the previous round. We have been able to ensure more involvement in these projects and if they are accepted, this would allow our research team to be more proactive in exciting projects. Raymond Sum has been busy in Hong Kong and was central to a Saudi Arabia funding bid, which unfortunately was unsuccessful. However, Raymond and his team have been very proactive with regards to research initiatives in PL and I know that Dominic appreciates the work Raymond is doing. Dominic has followed a number of potential leads from a research point of view and hopefully success will follow in the future. With the increase in articles around the world related to PL our library is very important and we must continue to encourage the flow of material into the IPLA so that we can share it more widely. The ‘Life Histories’ research is still needed and although we had a potential opportunity to make this happen, the funding bid was unfortunately unsuccessful. Funding is really important to our future. Thanks to Dominic for heading up this team.
We had two new SIG leads with Kyle Pushkarenko taking on the Inclusion focus and Gemma Mitchell the Early Years SIG. Both have significant experience, links and networks, along with the potential for significant developments in the future. Kyle has developed a key link with the Abilities Centre Canada and Stuart McReynolds, creating a new course that could have a significant impact for inclusive physical literacy/activity. Gemma has had a number of meetings with Early Years practitioners and experts and again I think there is tremendous potential with both of these important focus areas. Thanks to Kyle for his work on the East Coast Conference and for Gemma for her involvement in the European conference.
The Ambassadors have been a great source of enthusiasm and drive with Amit Malik leading many initiatives in India and also the India Conference, Raymond Sum leading research in Hong Kong/China and also coordinating with Henry Chen in Taiwan for the East Asia conference. The inauguration of the Greater China Region Physical Literacy Association at the conference is a measure of the interest and drive from that region. Stathis Christodoulides has led the Cyprus Erasmus bid and Chelsee Shortt has been involved in both conference organisation and research in Qatar. Peter Elsborg is a key link to the Denmark PL network and also the Erasmus project. Ignacio Sabaté is driving physical literacy in Costa Rica with the introduction of the Foundation Course and also a most recent session with Squash Coaches that will introduce them to physical literacy. Gillian Bartle and Fiona Ware have brought their research and national work to the group, which provides a UK focus. The Ambassadors have also been a very useful sounding board for all of our developments as they consider how our suggestions will impact within their countries.
Our thanks must go to Tim for his work not just on the Website, with its updating, but also in relation to the work behind the scenes for the conferences. To Liz for her work as Treasurer and Hannah for her work as secretary. These jobs are essential to the functioning of the association, and I would like to express my thanks to these three for their work this year.
The Newsletter has proved to be a very useful initiative that has allowed us to share the associations work and also attract interest, so thanks to Cara Shearer for organising that and also to those of you who have contributed to it.
Thanks must also go to the Trustees, who during their tenure have always been supportive but probing and challenging in relation to how we impact and make our goals realistic and achievable. This has certainly made sure that we have always asked the question – what the impact will be and how can we measure the impact.
I would like to thank everyone who was involved with our ambitious 24 hours of physical literacy around the world conference. The time zone coordinators did a fantastic job with their teams and all six of the conferences were very well received by those who attended. What was particularly pleasing was the Australia group who picked up the baton late and provided an excellent range of material and also the West Coast group, who likewise came in late with regards to the overall organisation. Kyle was able to work with the West Coast group, which certainly helped, but overall I was very pleased with the results. We will have a tremendous amount of material that we can use the website to provide links to.
Finally, I would like to thank Margaret for her continued drive and enthusiasm to promoting physical literacy across the world. Margaret is always keen to help everyone and is involved in all aspects of the association. Although she finds the IT aspects of life a challenge, she has embraced so many new technologies this year, I take my hat off to her for keeping going under some very challenging times.
Looking to the next few years, there are issues that we need to address.
We need to build and keep our membership, and this will be done by ensuring that provision for the members, related to our strategic aims, is high in quality, coordinated and rich in diversity. The recent conference material and range of course planned for next year will certainly provide this.
We need to access funding to allow us to grow as an organisation, develop the range of services we can provide and encourage research.
We need to continue to develop links to other agencies and organisations nationally and internationally to ensure our influence spreads more widely.
We need to reach a consensus in relation to Charting Progress/Assessment so that individuals and organisation can easily and effectively chart the progress over time.
We need to work on developing practical examples of what a focus on PL would look like in different environments such as schools, coaching situations, built environments, policies, older adults, early years, health etc.
I am confident that the team which will moves us forward from this point onwards will be able to make significant progress in the future.
N.Green 27.10.21
IPLA Treasurer’s Report 27[th] October 2021
| Account 2021 2020 Events & Conferences 1,100.00 3,370.0 0 IPLA Subscriptions 3,899.52 4,529.8 0 Other Revenue 11,393.9 6 0.00 Total Turnover 16,393. 48 7,899. 80 |
|
|---|---|
| Gross Proft | 16,393. 48 |
7,899. 80 |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising& Marketing | 5,922.00 | 499.54 |
| Audit & Accountancyfees | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| Bank Fees(incl. Paypal/Stripe) | 79.98 | 348.85 |
| Consulting | 594.00 | 0.00 |
| General Expenses | 5,547.98 | 3,717.8 7 |
| IT Software and Consumables | 5,807.82 | 2,100.0 0 |
| Total Administrative Costs | 18,051. 78 |
6,766. 26 |
| Operating Proft | (1,658. 30) |
1,133. 54 |
| Proft on Ordinary Activities Before | (1,658. | 1,133. |
| Taxation | 30) | 54 |
| Proft after Taxation | (1,658. 30) |
1,133. 54 |
Current financial position as of 27.10.21 - £20,456.88
Main source of Income was from membership subscriptions and ERASMUS.
Advertising and Marketing, General expenses and IT Software and Consumables are our highest expenses.
We operated at a net loss of £1,658.30 for the financial year ending in 2021.