A multi-level model to support physical education teachers as physical activity promotors

Physical education (PE) teachers can be considered as the cornerstone of the promotion of a healthy and active lifestyle at school. Worldwide, researchers and practitioners have implemented and tested a wide range of projects aimed at responding to the recommendations of public authorities in this area (European Commission, 2015; UNESCO, 2017). Recent Covid pandemic demonstrated that educating physical literate citizens able to find appropriate ways to adapt their behavior to unusual conditions should become a priority. Such consideration justifies that current school and PE programs should more clearly integrate health requirements and students’ autonomy. The aim of the presentation is to describe a four levels integrative model aiming to highlight how to increase PE teachers’ chances of 'changing the life' of their students. It first underlines the PE teachers’ role in the six pilars of the active school life and emphasizes the potential role of the physical educators at a meso level. The second level describes an original concentric model linking several concepts used over the past decade: from physical literacy to inclusive quality physical education. In a third step, the PAMIA principles (Cloes, 2017) and their implications are developed. At a micro-level, the “3P questions and loops” illustrate concrete decisions concerning each learning task. The whole model should guide PE teachers in their daily work and could also serve as a frame of reference in PE teacher education as well as in the field of sport pedagogy.