What do students really gain from physical education? The QPE4PLimpact as a situational measure of physical literacy in high school

Abstract

Introduction Existing physical literacy (PL) assessment tools primarily evaluate enduring traits and provide limited insight into students’ immediate experiences during physical education (PE) lessons. This study aimed to develop and validate the QPE4PLimpact, a questionnaire designed to assess the situational impact of PE lessons on high school students’ PL. Grounded in a monist and phenomenological perspective, PL was conceptualized as an embodied and contextual construct encompassing physical, psychological-affective, cognitive, and social domains. Methods Questionnaire development followed a three-phase process involving (1) domain identification based on existing theoretical frameworks and expert consensus, (2) item generation and refinement via expert feedback and cognitive interviews, and (3) psychometric evaluation with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Results The analyses supported a four-factor, 19-item structure with good reliability and satisfactory evidence of construct validity. Discussion The QPE4PLimpact provides a theoretically grounded and pedagogically relevant instrument for assessing the immediate, context-dependent expression of PL in PE lessons. It offers new opportunities for evaluating educational practices and supports future cross-cultural and longitudinal research.