How general are general movement skills ?

One of the first articles I wrote (2006 - click here), I suggested a 5-point plan for promoting physical activity and health in schools. I suggested a developing crises in movement ability and associated confidence in one's ability to choose to be physically active. Reports such as those produced by the Active Health Kids Global Alliance show this situation is continuing. In the 2006 article, I pondered if increasing time for physical education and physical activity was sufficient for a reversal in the current trend of declining physical activity and sedentariness without changes in teaching methodology and physical education curriculum construction to cater for the physical activity needs of all students, as well as teacher confidence in developing and enacting appropriate curriculum across all years of schooling. 

Twenty years later, has anything changed?

General motor competence (GMC) is broad concept referring to the degree of proficiency (coordination and control) of a wide range of motor abilities (Barnett et al., 2016; Robinson et al., 2015). Fundamental movement skills (FMS) are considered the essential movement patterns that support physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development, and the prerequisite motor movements that underpin development and coordination of more integrated and advanced movement capabilities (Tompsett et al., 2017). There is a strong connection between FMS and GMC (Piotrowski et al., 2025). 

Alarmingly, studies over the last 20 years show a global decline in FMS and GMC impacting child, youth and now adult long-term physical activity, fitness and health. 

While GMC and FMS development depends on social, environmental and individual biological factors (Lopes et al., 2020), we now know that there is a positive association between GMC and FMS and physical activity and also physical fitness, and a negative association with sedentary behaviour and body mass from childhood to adolescence (Barnett et al., 2016; Burton et al., 2023; Cattuzzo, et al., 2016; De Meester et al., 2020; Pill & Harvey, 2019; Robinson et al., 2015; Utesch et al., 2019).

A recent meta-analysis by Piotrowski and colleagues (2025) found:

·       *Children’s screen time is inversely related to manual dexterity skills

·      * Children’s opportunities for outdoor play have declined

·       *Children are increasingly engaged in structured, supervised indoor activities rather than unstructured outdoor play

·       *Parental concerns over injury and risk from outdoor play are a factor in declining childhood physical activity

·       *Increased academic/school demands on children and youth are a factor in declining physical activity

·      * In some contexts, after school free play has been replaced with structured activities

There is evidence of an association between GMC, physical activity intensity and habitual physical activity (Pill & Harvey, 2019). The concern is that children who do not acquire and/or develop GMC or their FMS may fail to develop the physical fitness and confidence in their competence necessary for participation in various physical activity opportunities or leisure/recreational/informal sports participation later in life (Barnett et al., 2016). They are then more predisposed to sedentariness and inactivity and its consequences (Praxedes et al., 2024).

Early development of GMC and FMS have an important, perhaps significant relationship with the choice to be physically active later adolescence and adulthood. While many countries require the teaching of physical education in primary schools, many teachers lack sufficient pedagogical and content knowledge resulting in low self-confidence in teaching physical education. Where there are teachers with specialised pedagogical and content knowledge often the time allocation is insufficient to enable meaningful GMC or FMS development. Consequently, such classes result in minimal improvement in locomotion and object manipulation skills among preschool children (Lai, et al., 2013). Engle and colleagues (2018) found that physical education lessons focused on FMS that are conducted at least three times a week can improve student FMS quality and proficiency, leading to increases in student physical activity and reduced sedentary time. Physical education interventions that lead to increases in active learning time are associated with small increases in student health-related physical fitness components and FMS development regardless of frequency or duration of PE lessons (García-Hermoso et al., 2020). Developmentally FMS programs delivered by physical education specialists or highly trained classroom teachers can significantly improve FMS proficiency in youth (Morgan et al., 2013). However, physical education interventions targeting teaching FMS and lesson frequency or occurrence that occur in conjunction with student continued physical activity at home practice and with parent involvement, appear to be more efficacious in enhancing FMS proficiency (Tompsett et al., 2017).

Sports activities are also found to effectively promote GMC and FMS development (Li, et al., 2022). For example, Mao and colleagues 2022 found that participation in football-soccer training influences development of running speed, jump height, and object control. Like physical education where dose is important in achieving GMC and FMS development, regardless of age, the effects were better for those training for longer. 

However, formal and informal-leisure sport participation has substantially decreased in Australian children since the 1980s (Cleland et al., 2005). Previous study by the Australian Sports Commission (2004) suggested that in Australia, historically sport participation was greater on school days and often occurred during school time. 

One of the best predictors of children and youth weekly physical activity patterns is the two-hour period immediately after school. Historically, immediately after school until they go to bed is a ‘critical window’ for child and youth physical activity. The time before school, recess, lunch and immediately after school were the peak times for child and youth physically activity during the school week (Australian Sports Commission, 2004).

Most Australian (and in many countries) children, youth and adults now do not meet the recommended minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day required for ongoing health and wellbeing. I suggest that increasing participation in physical activity and sport in Australia requires a shift to view physical activity as a systemic necessity - requiring broad, interconnected action. This includes monitoring of child and early-youth attainment of GMC and/or FMS, which are a particular focus of the early years of state and national Health and Physical Education curriculum, through a national system (The Advertiser, 2019). The span of hours of the school day and time in out of hours school care on school sites offers the indoor and outdoor open space opportunities to increase physical activity participation, through informal or more structured activation opportunities. A return to a policy and funding priority to active after school physical activity activations is another direction I suggest has warrant. From my reading of the literature, physical education in primary schools should be mandated at least three lessons and three days per week. I like Telford's PEPL approach 'ideal week' recommendation that on the days of the week when physical education does not take place there is a mandatory physical activity opportunity for students during curriculum time, and preferrably one that is related to or an extension of the physical education that students are doing.  

Thanks for stopping by and reading this post. If you would like to connect with me about a project to do with this blog or any of the other ideas that I have blogged about, you can contact me by the email link available here 

Related blogs

Reflections on PE and FMS here

Children, junior and youth sport considerations here

Children, junior and youth sport retention messages here

What encourages or inhibits child and youth sport participation here

References

Australian Sports Commission. (2004). Children and sport report. Author.

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Barnett, L.M., Stodden, D., Cohen, K.E, et al. (2016). Fundamental movement skills: an important focus. Journal of Teaching Physical Education, 35, 219–225.

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Mao, X., Zhang, J., Li, Y.; Cao, Y., et al. (2022). The effects of football practice on children’s fundamental movement skills: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 10, 1019150.

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The Advertiser. (May 8, 2019). Time to make NAPLAN physical.

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