Partnerships A presentation at Kids Outdoors 2030 http://www.kidsoutdoors2030.com.au

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Active Recreation, Outdoor
Education & Physical Literacy
– Partnerships
Victorian State Government
David Strickland

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Active Recreation, Outdoor Education and
Physical Literacy – Partnerships
Presentation outline:
• Current operating environment
• What is framing thinking?
o Thought starters, issues & challenges
• Physical literacy
• Partnerships

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Current operating environment
Sport and Recreation Victoria
• Major Sporting Events team = Department of Economic
Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR)
• Community Sport and Recreation & Major Projects = Department of
Health and Human Resources (DHHS)
o Mental Health, Wellbeing, Social Capital and Ageing division

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Current operating environment
Victorian Government’s investment in sport and recreation will
build and enhance:
• facilities and organisations to maximise sector capacity to deliver
participation opportunities
• links with broader objectives such as education, health, land use,
planning, youth affairs and diversion from crime
• development of state owned sport and recreation facilities
• strengthen athlete high performance pathways

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Current operating environment
• National Framework for Sport and Active Recreation (2011)
o Active recreation activities are those engaged in for the purpose of
relaxation, health and wellbeing or enjoyment with the primary activity
requiring physical exertion, and the primary focus on human activity.
• The Future of Australian Sport (2013 - CSIRO & ASC)
o identifies six megatrends likely to shape the Australian sports sector over the next 30
years - From extreme to mainstream = the rise of lifestyle, adventure and alternative
sports.
• Healthy Together Victoria (DHHS)
o Healthy Together Victoria is a prevention platform tackling the rising rates
of overweight and obesity and related chronic disease.
o Sport and Recreation’s contribution is pathways to physical activity
through sport and active recreation

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Thought starters, issues & challenges

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Thought starters, issues & challenges
• 60 per cent of Australian adults and 80 per cent of children do not meet the recommended
levels of physical activity (ABS data Feb 2015)
• Since 1970 worldwide, children’s fitness has been declining at the rate of 3% to 5% per decade
- Australian kids are now in the bottom third of the world in fitness.
• Children take 90 seconds longer to run a mile than kids did 30 years ago
• 1 in 4 Australian children are overweight or obese
• Is Sport Enough?
o Sport (B-)+ infrastructure (A-)≠ sufficient physical activity (D-)
*2014 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children & Young People
• Australia finished second last in the Global Report Card on Kids’ Physical Activity

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Global Report Card on Kids’ Physical Activity

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Global Report Card on Kids’ Physical Activity

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Thought starters, issues & challenges
Snap Shot of International Responses:
• USA
o No Child Left in Side Act, Healthy Kids Outdoors Act, Every Kid in a Park
initiative, Americas Great Outdoors initiative
• UK
o Campaign for Adventure, Play England, Natural England, English Outdoor
Council, HSE Act, Getting Active Outdoors
• NZ
o Green prescriptions initiative

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Thought Starters, Issues & Challenges
Distance and/or Physical Literacy?

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Physical literacy
What is Physical Literacy?
• Development of fundamental movement skills such as running,
hopping, throwing, catching and jumping.
• These skills give children confidence to participate in various
physical activities and aid in bone, muscle and coordination
development
• “Aussie kids are performing worse in skills such as kicking,
throwing, catching and jumping than they were 30 years ago
…90% score below average when compared to American children of
the same age” (Victoria Uni 2015)

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Physical literacy
• School sport, organised and unstructured play provide children
with opportunities for improving physical literacy.
• Participation in these options is in decline
• There appears a rise in injuries correlated to a decrease in
physical activity and motor skills
• Injuries fuel concerns about risk and safety, particularly among
parents

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Thought starters, issues & challenges
Why sport is a popular participation pathway?
• Sport is a major tool for contributing to public health and wellbeing
while providing significant economic benefit.
• However growth in non-organised physical activity is outpacing
growth in organised physical activity (eg. sport).
• The diversity, spontaneous and ad hoc nature of non organised
activity presents a challenge to governments.
• This is counter to sport where the rules and patterns of behaviour
governing the activity exist formally through organisations, enabling
government to efficiently and effectively develop policy and allocate
resources.

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Thought starters, issues & challenges
• Active recreation (outdoor activity) like sport provides for increased
participation and opportunities, improved physical literacy, economic
benefit and community/social connectedness.
• Therefore sport and active recreation opportunities are key tools to
get people physically active.
• Outdoor sector ‘sell’ is usually:
o connecting people to nature through the outdoors
o self, others and environment

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Partnerships
• Physical inactivity, obesity, health inequalities, mental health,
climate change are global concerns.
• Governments require partners with solutions these concerns.
• Outdoor programs may need to be re-engineered to assist in
addressing these matters.
• Programs should consider physical activity, obesity, physical
literacy, teaching pathways for life long physical activity,
settings for enhancing mental health and wellbeing as well as
cognitive development.

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Partnerships
• Emerging themes in sector support:
o increasing participation in outdoor activities through initiatives
supporting motivation, opportunity and means; and
o building sector and organisational capacity to improve participation
opportunities.
• Fostering initiatives that:
o get young people (& families) active and connected to the outdoors
o remove barriers to participation e.g. countering societal (parental) risk
aversion to outdoor activity
o encourage early and lifelong physical activity skills such as bike riding,
swimming, walking, active hobbies and unstructured play
o target motivation, opportunity and means to participate
o contribute to economic and social benefits
o build capacity

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Contact details
David Strickland
Department of Health and Human Services
Sport and Recreation Victoria
Email: david.strickland@sport.vic.gov.au
Telephone: 0417 376 625

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References
• Physical Activity of Children: A Global Matrix of Grades Comparing 15 Countries (2014). Journal of Physical Activity &Health
• Designed to Move https://www.designedtomove.org/en_us/
• American Camping Association The Healthy Camp Study (2006-2010), Public Policy (4/2015)
• Active for Life, Vichealth 2014 www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/activeforlife
• UPLOADS (Understanding and Preventing Led Outdoor Accidents Data System) http://uploadsproject.org/about/
• Great Aussie Campout www.greataussiecampout.org.au
• Australian Camps Association http://www.auscamps.asn.au/tips/outdoor-research
• International Healthy People Healthy Parks Congress, Melbourne 2010 Proceedings http://www.hphpcentral.com/congress
• Australia Vying to be world champion of physical activity, The Conversation (2014) http://theconversation.com
• Australian Bureau of Statistics http://abs.gov.au/austats/abs@.nsf

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