Physical literacy programs for children with special educational needs lack consistent framework and inclusive settingsPhysical Literacy Programs Support Students With Special Educational Needs

Physical literacy, understood as the motivation, confidence, physical competence, and knowledge to sustain lifelong physical activity, is increasingly recognized as a key developmental goal in physical education. Yet how this multidimensional construct is conceptualized and operationalized in programs designed for children and adolescents with special educational needs remains poorly understood. This scoping review systematically mapped the existing literature on physical literacy in educational and community-based physical activity contexts for this population, following the Arksey and O'Malley (2005) framework updated by Peters et al. (2020) and reported in accordance with PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Four electronic databases (ERIC, PubMed/MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, and Taylor and Francis) were searched, yielding 22 empirical studies published between 2012 and 2025. Data were extracted using a standardized charting form. Three principal results emerged. First, explicit engagement with the physical literacy construct is marginal: only three of the 22 studies formally grounded their work within a recognized physical literacy framework, while the majority reduced physical literacy to its motor dimension, leaving affective, cognitive, and social dimensions largely unaddressed. This reflects the conceptual fragmentation highlighted in the broader literature on physical literacy interventions. Second, only four studies were conducted in truly inclusive settings where children with special educational needs interacted directly with typically developing peers. This reveals a structural disconnect between inclusive education policy and the settings in which research on physical literacy is conducted. Third, contextual factors, such as teacher professional development, classroom climate, and peer interaction structures, were associated with program effectiveness across multiple ecological levels, though most interventions addressed only one or two of these factors simultaneously, and no study intervened across all major levels at once. The analysis concludes that larger-scale, longitudinal, and multi-level studies conducted in truly inclusive school environments and evaluated using validated physical literacy tools designed for populations with special educational needs are necessary to address these gaps.