Improving Water Safety and Long-term Engagement in Aquatic Physical Activity: The Aquatic Literacy Framework
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Young people worldwide are affected by two main health-related issues: physical inactivity and drowning accidents. Encouraging participation in aquatic physical activities in a safe way could address this dual concern. Aligning theoretical frameworks of physical literacy and water competencies could empower young people with key skills to engage safely and sustainably in aquatic environments. The aim of this theoretical paper is to provide a philosophical, ontological, and epistemological rationale for merging these two frameworks into a new concept: aquatic literacy. The multidimensional concept is presented and describes the intertwined physical, psychosocial, and cognitive domains, which provide a means to empower young people to safely enjoy aquatic opportunities and achieve individual health benefits. This new concept needs supportive empirical data, such as the level of individuals in each domain of aquatic literacy, to be a strong framework for guiding aquatic educators and stakeholders to better engage and protect people worldwide.
Authors: Léa Mekkaoui, Tobias Vogt, Fabien Camporelli, Aldo M. Costa, Mário Jorge Costa, Kristine De Martelaer, Eva D’Hondt, Nuno D. Garrido, Joseph Gandrieau, Anna Kwasna, Ingeborg Ljødal, Bjørn H. Olstad, Marek Rejman, Daria Rudnik, Catarina C. Santos, Christophe Schnitzler, Emilie Simonsen, Susana Soares, Ilka Staub, Linde Van Droogenbroeck, Francois Potdevin
Institutions: Université de Lille, Unité de Recherche Pluridisciplinaire Sport, Santé, Société, German Sport University Cologne, Sport et sciences sociales, Université de Strasbourg, University of Beira Interior, Centro de Investigação em Desporto Saúde e Desenvolvimento Humano, Universidade do Porto, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Université Côte d'Azur, Laboratoire Motricité Humaine Éducation Sport Santé, Wroclaw University of Health and Sport Sciences, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Instituto Superior de Ciências Educativas, Haute École Pédagogique du Canton de Vaud
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4412166409