IPLA Chair’s Report 2023
First and foremost, my thanks go to the members of the IPLA Operations Committee and Trustees, the Team leaders and the Country Leads. We have had a very busy and productive year and the developments that have taken place would not have been possible without the generosity and enthusiasm of our passionate volunteers.
As I am sure you are aware, Margaret had an accident and was indisposed for a good length of time this year. She was extremely well looked after, and I am pleased to say that she is back home (with support) and has joined us recently on an online meeting. It is great to have her back and Margaret is keen to keep the great work going, which is great news to us all.
Talking of great work, you may also be aware of the Sport England Consensus statement which was released in September. It was a pleasure to see Margaret at this launch and she certainly took centre stage. Thanks to Liz and other colleagues for arranging to get Margaret to this event. This clearly demonstrates the impact Margaret’s work has had, as an increasing number of countries are adopting and embracing the concept worldwide. The England Consensus Statement was part of a 12-month project, which involved members of the IPLA. IPLA have also provided an initial ‘unpacking’ document for Sport England, which explains the statement in more detail. This will be released soon. We intend to build on this in the future and provide more examples of how PL can be unpacked and understood in different sectors. We also intend to offer our consultancy services on a more commercial basis to organisations wishing to embrace the concept within their sector. Linked to this, it was pleasing to see the All-Island Consensus Statement, which was shared at the IPLC in New York, and which was very similar to the IPLA definition and understanding. Physical literacy is certainly gaining traction worldwide.
As a networked community that encourages dialogue between practitioners, researchers, and policy makers to facilitate and support the adoption, evolution, and promotion of physical literacy in communities worldwide, IPLA has continued to influence practice and policy throughout the world. Trevor has been liaising with our Country Leads, working on short- and long-term plans and targets. Our country leads have been extremely active. In India Amit Malik has made excellent links with 5 major universities, one of which, LNIPE, has significant government influence. LNIPE have validated physical literacy as a part of their undergraduate work and are also in the process of introducing courses for in-service teachers. Amit has made excellent connections and has been extremely proactive in engaging with many different organisations India and continues to spread physical literacy understanding within the country, for example arranging for Margaret and I to share physical literacy at the Great Place to Work Confluence, held in Delhi, and arranging for our members to share different aspects of physical literacy through an series of online webinars. Amit has also made links with an organisation called Piramal who work with Government Schools to promote physical literacy, leadership and life skills and our recent conversation will hopefully lead to another project. Raymond Sum (Hong Kong) has been proactive in relation to research and conferences. He is leading a validation of the IPLA Charting Progress Matrix as well as engaging in many other projects. The Greater China Region Physical Literacy Association is thriving, and their next conference will take place in January. It is hoped that the IPLA will be able to hold a conference in Hong Kong in the near
future. Raymond is also joining me, Karen and other colleagues from around the world in looking at the affective aspects of PL as this appears to be a less well considered aspect. Henry Chen (Taiwan) has made significant progress synthesising physical literacy within the Quality Physical Education programme of work in Taiwan and he has a number of colleagues and students who are now undertaking research in relation to physical literacy. Efstathios Christodoulides (Cyprus) has led the ePhyLi Erasmus plus project, which started last December. It has made excellent progress so far with a desk research document and a qualitative research programme that has led to the development of eight modules introducing the concept of physical literacy to undergraduate physical education students through an eLearning package and gamification. This exciting project has the potential to provide a very valuable resource that could be shared more widely in the future. Ignacio Sabate (Cost Rica) has been working hard to establish physical literacy within the coaching community and has delivered the Foundation Course to coaches. He is also working hard to try and persuade government to adopt the concept. Vasiliki’s work in Greece includes creating a PL website, network and resource library and providing translated versions of resources and papers. Alexandra Stoddart has developed a multi-sectoral physical literacy group in Saskatchewan, and they now have a very good website with examples of their work. Johannes Carl is doing a great job in bringing academics from Europe together to consider progress related to physical literacy within European countries. He intends to revisit this and increase the involvement from an increasing number of academics from around the world.
Following Trevor’s presentation at the IPLC in New York, attendees were invited to “sign up” to a group to take the active environment agenda forward. Dean Kreillaars from Canada was part of a group who wanted to set up a PLEED Global Action Group (PLEED = Physical Literacy Enhanced Environmental Design). The first meeting was attended by Trevor, Dean, Tom and Grim (representatives from Change The Game in Sweden), Janis Neufeld, a Canadian inclusion and accessibility specialist, and Sam Fenton from Churchill University, Australia. The suggestion is that IPLA “hosts” this group going forwards. Again, another exciting project that further promotes PL.
Trevor has also been closely involved in ‘environmental’ developments linked to Andy Mytom and Lands Improvement. This has generated a link with Umea in Sweden, with Tom Englen and his team at Change The Game. This also links to the Bedford project with Lands Improvement and The University of Bedfordshire, which is considering creating a small town that is physical literacy friendly. In Iran, Saeed Valadi, who translated Margaret’s book into Persian, invited us to an online conference and is trying hard to encourage others to be more proactive with regards to physical literacy in his country. We have had recent contact with interested academics and practitioners from Egypt. Academics and practitioners are keen to work on developing PL in Singapore, and the Bahrain Olympic Committee had discussions with Trevor in New York at the IPLC. Trevor has had initial discussion with practitioners in South Africa, more recently, as the concept continues to be adopted across the globe. Stephen in Kenya has had to negotiate a change in government, which has meant effectively he has needed to start his advocacy all over again, but a PL engagement programme is underway alongside a professor in Kenyatta University to promote PL in teacher training and delivering CPD to in-service teachers. A planned conference in 2024 will build on a good connection with UNESCO (East Africa). Gillian in Scotland is focussing on teacher training, creating and delivering CPD for in-service and pre-service teachers, and she is encouraging Scotland’s main sport/physical activity bodies to utilise the concept. Work in Qatar has paused for this year. Richard has left the country, and new work across the public sector has had severely reduced budgets but plans for 2024
are emerging and some PL training is taking place through the Ministry of Education, but this is outside of an IPLA influence at present. Richard joined me at a meeting with British Fencing, who we have been working with over the last year to validate their programmes. We attended a meeting to discuss a project on resilience, based at an outdoor education centre, Kingswood, near Sheffield, with Professor John Allen. Hopefully, this project might allow us to engage in research in relation to resilience and physical literacy.
Closer to home we have been working with Youth Sport Trust on a shorter course for teachers of PE and we were invited to their conference to share the process of the consensus statement. At the conference it was indicated that physical literacy was front and centre of YST’s work, and tribute was paid the work that Margaret has put into developing and promoting the concept. As indicated earlier, we also hope to be engaged in a more formal way by Sport England, if possible, to support the sharing of the concept within England. I am also involved in the SSAS Physical Literacy Action Group as a physical literacy lead, but this is in the very early stages of development as a group is forming to consider how physical literacy can influence children and young people to be more active.
From a research point of view, Liz and colleagues from the research group have been proactive not just meeting but also in the production of academic papers. Our link with the Abilities Centre in Canada and our work with Kyle Pushkarenko has led to an exciting development with a new, funded, three-year project on Physical Literacy and Inclusion that started with a meeting in Toronto in October 2023. It is hoped that this project will provide significant impact and research. We have also reignited links with Rebecca Lloyd from Canada and have agreed to join her on her project looking at lifecourse implications and the development of Active for Life oriented pedagogy. This project is looking at how we can promote positive physical activity engagement in the senior population. The project led by Liz Durden-Myers on producing a Physical Literacy Handbook, has proved to be very exciting with over 60 chapter titles having been submitted. Liz is working hard on this, and I am confident that it will prove to be a very valuable resource.
Material from our online 24-hour physical literacy around the world conference has been added to the website thanks to Trevor and Shannah. We are aware that we need to share more of our work and the intention of the operation team is to ensure that case studies are provided that exemplify our work around the globe.
We had an excellent turn out in New York at the IPLC, with Liz, Trevor, Kyle, Raymond, Karen and Nigel all presenting. Although the conference had some good sessions and I believe that we made some good contacts and a good impact, there is still the issue with a focus on FMS from many areas, which we will continue to work on. Karen and I did a session with Barbara from Montessori, who we had been working with to develop some videos for Montessori teachers for PE informed by physical literacy. One of the last sessions considered an interesting development related to Inner Development Goals (linked to Sustainable Development Goals, but personal). Trevor has picked up on this and has made links with the group whilst Karen and I have been looking at the affective aspects of PL with Raymond and other academics from around the world.
Karen Rhys-Jones has continued the great work with the education and training team. She enabled Kyle Pushkarenko to deliver to the Welsh Government in February. Karen has worked with Youth Sport Trust developing courses for teachers and has continued to provide our other courses online. Further links are developing with South Lanarkshire Health Care who are using our
assessment tools to add to their initial assessment of individuals with diabetes or weight issues. Karen attended an Early Years Physical Activity Stakeholder Group at Loughborough University, which links with our Early Years course.
Our links with International Mixed Ability Sports led to us being involved in the writing of a bid for an Horizon project, the ‘Care Consortium’, that is being proposed with the University of Florence and a number of other organisations that links to PL and has clear links to a number of aspects of our work. This has been submitted and we await a decision which would allow further work on a bid to be undertaken.
Liz and I have had discussions with Stephen Price who runs a Health and Fitness group providing support for clinical oncology patients as well as Spas and Health and Fitness clubs, focusing on lifestyle improvement. He is keen to promote physical literacy amongst his staff and clients and may also have the potential to support us in other ways.
General Points
Our thanks must go to Tim for his work not just on the Website, with its updating, but also in relation to the work in relation to finance support. To Liz for her work as Treasurer and Shannah for her work as Secretary. Unfortunately, Shannah has found the role too committing in relation to her other commitments so has stepped down from her role. We will need to advertise this after the AGM. Stuart has continued to keep us on track in relation to governance, which is an important aspect of our work as we move forwards. These jobs are essential to the functioning of the association, and I would like to express my thanks to these colleagues and all our other members who have supported our work throughout the year. Finally, I would like to thank Margaret, who has had a challenging year but has come back fighting and is keen to keep working with us on the promotion of physical literacy. She is an inspiration to us all.
Looking to next year, 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. 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 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.
Nigel Green 14.11.23
IPLA Treasurer Report 09[th] November 2023
Profit and Loss
International Physical Literacy Association For the year ended 31 March 2023
| Account | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Turnover | |
| Events & Conferences | 1,440.00 |
| IPLA Subscriptions | 322.78 |
| Other Revenue | 730.86 |
| Sales | 8,163.49 |
| Total Turnover | 10,657.13 |
| Cost of Sales | |
| Direct Expenses | 1,386.47 |
| Total Cost of Sales | 1,386.47 |
| Gross Profit | 9,270.66 |
| Administrative Costs | |
| Bank Fees (incl. | 125.17 |
| Paypal/Stripe) | |
| Consulting | 12,992.25 |
| General Expenses | 2,240.37 |
| IT Software and | 3,979.77 |
| Consumables | |
| Total Administrative | 19,337.56 |
| Costs | |
| Operating Profit | (10,066.90) |
| Profit on Ordinary | (10,066.90) |
| **Activities Before Taxation ** | |
| Profit after Taxation | (10,066.90) |
The main source of Income was from sales (consultancy). Consulting was our highest expense.
We closed the year operating at a net loss of (10,066.90) this was because of expenses being paid for Qatar and the PL YST document prior to receiving consultancy fees.
We operated at a net profit of £6459.79 for the financial year ending 2022 and a net loss of £1,658.30 for the financial year ending in 2021.
Current financial position as of 09.11.23 - £25,147.56