An Evaluation of the Sharing Dance Public School Program on Physical Literacy

Introduction: Physical literacy (PL) is a multidimensional concept that includes the domains of movement competence, positive affect, social participation, and the confidence, motivation, and knowledge and understanding necessary for regular engagement in physical activity. The Sharing Dance Public School Program was created by Canada's National Ballet School specifically designed to promote PL through dance. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the program to improve PL in grade 4 to 6 children over the course of a school year. Methods: Children were initially recruited from two schools including an intervention and a control school. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, data collection was prematurely terminated which resulted in baseline and mid-point data from the intervention group only. As such, participants included 57 children (n = 28 females, M_age = 10.34 ± 0.85 years) that engaged in the dance program once per week for 50 minutes. Assessments of PL included a direct measure of movement competence (PLAYfun) and a self-report measure (survey) to assess the other domains of PL. Results: Significant improvements were found in movement competence. However, significant decreases were found for fun and enjoyment, confidence, and social participation. No changes were observed for knowledge and understanding or overall PL. Conclusions: Findings from the present study are encouraging as they provide initial evidence for the support of community-based PL programs, such as the Sharing Dance Public School Program, to help children develop their movement competence. Future research is needed to further evaluate the effectiveness of the Sharing Dance Public School Program over a school year, and when compared to a control group, as was initially intended.