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FAQs

About Passport for Life

What is Passport for Life?

Passport for Life is a tool that enables teachers to understand the physical literacy of their students. It assesses students in four categories: fitness skills, movement skills, active participation, and living skills. Students complete the assessments and the information is entered into the online system. Once completed, students receive a printable Passport that identifies their strengths and areas for improvement so they may set goals for improving their physical literacy. Teachers receive the results about their individual students, as well as aggregate information about the class, so they may structure their physical and health education programming appropriately.

How does Passport for Life work?

Students complete a variety of assessments in class, including 6 physical activities and 2 questionnaires. This information is entered into the Passport for Life website where it is compiled into a student passport and a class passport. The students receive their passport and complete a goal setting activity to plan for physical literacy improvements over the course of the year. Later in the year, the assessments are repeated and the students reflect on their improvements.

What is physical literacy?

Individuals who continue to develop their ability to move with competence and confidence in a wide variety of physical activities in multiple environments to benefit the healthy development of their whole self are individuals who are developing their physical literacy (PHE Canada). Just as an individual needs to learn their ABCs before they can read and write, they also need to develop various fundamental skills that are the building blocks to more advanced activities. But just like reading and writing, it isn’t enough to master the ability – literacy also means developing the confidence and desire to do more - whether it’s reading or playing.

Who can use Passport for Life?

Passport for Life is currently available to teachers for Grades K-12.  

Is Passport for Life an Award Program?

While Passport for Life includes a reward component, it is not an awards program. Previous national “Award of Excellence” programs had several potential hazards such as heightened anxiety, social comparisons, heightened competition and a striving to perform for extrinsic rewards rather than to learn and improve for intrinsic reasons. These concerns shaped the direction of the teaching tool. For example, the Student Passport is meant to be used as an ongoing, formative and informational “reward”— that students can use for learning and subsequent goal setting and development.

Can Passport for Life be used as a report card grade?

No! Passport for Life is a formative assessment, which means it looks at a performance or outcome with a focus on how it could be used in the future. It includes strengths that should be sustained as well as high-priority areas for improvement. The assessment process is not concerned with the level of quality—only with how to improve the level of quality. This is in contrast to summative evaluation (such as a report card) which is a determination of a level of quality with no regard to how that quality could be improved.

Registration

Difficulty registering

Registration may not be compatible with all internet browsers. If possible, update your browser to the most recent version or access the Passport for Life website using Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Please contact as at info@phecanada.ca if you are experiencing other problems registering. 

Where/how to register? 

From the Home Page, click the Students, Teachers, Register Now! button. Click Student or Teacher and fill in the required field and choose Create New Account. Welcome aboard!