Physical Education and Teacher training in Italy during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The global pandemic caused by Covid-19 virus began in March 2020 and it forced the closure of most schools, universities, sport recreational grounds, swimming pools, dance and fitness centres, parks, playgrounds, and gyms. This meant that it was not possible for individuals to participate in normal sporting activities outside their homes. Due to this, children and adolescents were less physically active, meaning that they spent longer periods in front of their PC’s, tablets, TV’s and doing sedentary activities. This in turn led to a reduction in physical activity (PA) levels and an increase in weight gain, irregular sleep-wake habits, and incorrect eating habits. The objective of this study was to analyse the main issues in teaching physical education (PE) online during the pandemic, as well as identifying how the physical literacy process took place in this period and what the repercussions were on the curriculum. Focusing on the schooling and PE/PA situation in Italy, some questions that we ask are: what are the disciplinary areas through distance learning? What should the contents of the curriculum be? and can motor abilities be taught remotely? It was found that children in primary and secondary schools were the most affected when it came to teaching PE remotely, with this most likely being down to the lack of structured motor activities and interpersonal relationships present in remote reaching