Why is SLOfit important for PE teachers and students? 

Schools are in a unique position to positively affect the lifelong physical activity habits and physical fitness levels of their students by instilling values and promote physical literacy levels that will help children make keen movement decisions throughout their lives.

SLOfit fitness testing and reporting represents an educational tool which is used to facilitate learning and understanding about the importance of body movement to overall health and how to set individual goals for improvement. Together with fundamental motor skills, maintaining good fitness levels facilitates physical competence as one of the main physical literacy domains. The definition of physical literacy can be described as ‘the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value, and take responsibility for, maintaining purposeful physical pursuits/activities throughout the life-course’. Physical competence creates a positive feedback loop to other physical literacy domains and thus effect that child is confident and motivated for lifelong physical activity. 

SLOfit data plays an important role in this process. For each child or adolescent, their parents, physical education teachers and physicians – they provide monitoring of physical and motor development of children and youth and help them achieve better physical fitness and well-being. Annual assessment of physical development and motor efficiency help children and youth to follow the development of their own body and to gain awareness that they can influence both by regular physical activity and exercise. Parents can monitor the physical and motor development of their children and compare it to the development of their peers in Slovenia as well as health-risk criteria.  

A PE teacher or a physician can objectively assess the current status of a child’s development and can advise children and parents on involvement into suitable leisure sports, corrective exercise or other health-enhancing interventions. A PE teacher is able to objectively diagnose motor and physical development of the children and individualize the exercise and PE class appropriately. This in turn creates a better understanding of how the body moves, improving lifelong physical literacy in each generation of schoolchildren immersed in Slovenia’s systematic PE system.