Fundamental Movement Skills Explored at International Congress

Lecturers from the School of Education, Theology and Leadership at St Mary’s University, Twickenham were recently invited to deliver a series of presentations at a symposium for the first International Congress on Children’s Physical Activity and Sport at the University of Liege, Belgium. The symposium, ‘A critique of Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) in Physical Education and Sport’ attracted academics with an interest in exploring the current issues with how FMS is currently being taught in schools and sports clubs across Europe, UK, Australia and Canada. St Mary’s Visiting Professor for Physical and Sport Education Dr Len Almond opened the symposium with a talk that identified current flaws in the interpretation and delivery of Fundamental Movement Skills in schools and sports clubs across the UK. He also discussed the many governing bodies for sport, which have made the link between FMS and physical literacy, without considering the evidence against the link. Senior Lecturer Kath Ezzeldin then presented her research paper, ‘Lost in Translation’, which explored her findings on how primary school teachers teach Fundamental Movement Skills and how the misinterpretation of the language used in FMS result in the skills being taught out of context. Using methodology that includes the use of Go-Pro cameras to capture qualitative date, Programme Director Michael Ayres and Lecturer Sam Page concluded the symposium with a presentation which focused on their research into the role of the student voice when coaching FMS and how this can enable the connection and co-construction of a FMS curriculum. Michael Ayres said, “As relatively new researchers, it is always a daunting experience presenting at such a prestigious event and in front of highly regarded researchers and professors in the field of Sport and Physical Education. Our presentations were very well received and much discussion has taken place since the symposium about writing a monograph about FMS. It was very reassuring to know that our current thinking is developing researchers and practitioners knowledge and understanding of the topic.” All the subtracts from the symposium have been published in a special edition of the Science and Sports Journal October (2014) Volume 29.