•  
  •  

Home > HCAS > HCAS_PUBS > HCAS_JOURNALS > TQR Home > TQR > Vol. 30 > No. 5 (2025)

 

Abstract

This study explores the knowledge and understanding of elementary school physical education (PE) teachers regarding the concept of physical literacy (PL) through a phenomenological approach. PL encompasses fundamental movement skills, as well as the knowledge, motivation, and confidence necessary for lifelong participation in physical activities. Ten PE teachers with over 10 years of teaching experience were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected via in-depth interviews, observations, and documentation, and analyzed using inductive content analysis with the aid of ATLAS.ti software. The findings reveal that many teachers hold misconceptions about PL, often prioritizing the mastery of physical abilities while overlooking critical motivational and cognitive aspects essential for fostering sustained engagement in physical activities. The implementation of PL within the Merdeka Curriculum is found to be suboptimal, hindered by insufficient support and training from schools and policymakers. This study highlights the need for targeted professional development programs to enhance teachers' comprehensive understanding and application of PL. Such initiatives can help create more inclusive, holistic, and meaningful PE learning experiences for students. The study recommends the development of supportive policies for PE teachers, focusing on competency development and training, to promote the sustainable integration of PL in elementary schools, thereby improving the quality of PE and encouraging lifelong student participation in physical activities.

Keywords

physical literacy, physical education, elementary school, phenomenological approach, Merdeka curriculum

Author Bio(s)

Johan Irmansyah (SCOPUS ID: 57215590479) is with the Department of Sport and Health Education, Faculty of Sports Science and Public Health at the Universitas Pendidikan Mandalika, Indonesia.

Please direct correspondence to johanirmansyah@undikma.ac.id

Maulidin (SCOPUS ID: 59517866600) is with the Department of Sport and Health Education, Faculty of Sports Science and Public Health at the Universitas Pendidikan Mandalika, Indonesia.

Herman Syah (SCOPUS ID: 57950184800) is with the Department of Sport and Health Education, Faculty of Sports Science and Public Health at the Universitas Pendidikan Mandalika, Indonesia.

Edi Kurniawan (SCOPUS ID: 59517670200) is with the Department of Sport and Health Education, Faculty of Sports Science and Public Health at the Universitas Pendidikan Mandalika, Indonesia.

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to the Directorate of Research, Technology, and Community Service (DRTPM), Directorate General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology (Ditjen Diktiristek), Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemdikbudristek) of the Republic of Indonesia for providing funding through the 2024 Fundamental Research Grant, as per decree number 0459/E5/PG.02.00/2024. This support has been instrumental in the successful completion of this study.

Publication Date

5-31-2025

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2025.7672

ORCID ID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9434-8838

Download

Share

 
COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.