Physical Literacy and South East Wales Primary School Children: The Role of Fundamental Movement Skills
This thesis addressed the physical literacy attributes of primary school children in South East Wales with a specific focus on the relationships between FMS motor behaviour competency and other aspects of physical literacy. The aims of this thesis were to: (a) examine the factor structure of the Children and Youth Physical Self-Perception Profile (CY-PSPP), based on the validation work of Welk and Eklund (2005) for use as a valid measure of physical self-perceptions, with this population; (b) establish levels of FMS and associated measures of physical literacy in South East Wales primary school children; (c) utilise an alternative form of FMS classification (cluster analysis) and identify which associated variables of physical literacy discriminate between different classifications of FMS performance with this population; and (d) identify the impact of parental socialisation upon FMS performance. The thesis comprised of three studies and a summary report. In study 1 confirmatory factor analysis supported the hierarchical structure of the CY-PSPP as a valid and reliable measure to examine the nature and impact of physical self-perceptions on young children in this population and for its subsequent use in this thesis. Study 2 identified low levels of FMS proficiency in both genders of this population. The use of an alternative classification of FMS revealed several distinct group classification of FMS proficiency and identified specific skill differentiation between these group classifications in both genders. In addition, a number of significant relationships were identified between the multidimensional domains of physical literacy to discriminate the different group classifications ofFMS performance. In Study 3 significant relationships between aspects of parental socialisation and children's FMS proficiency were revealed. Therefore, overall this thesis provides rich data that increases our knowledge of FMS proficiency and its classification in UK and in particular with Welsh primary school children and reports both theoretical and methodological strengths that make a significant contribution to the FMS and physical literacy research area.
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