Moving From an Implicit to an Explicit Approach of Life Skills Development and Transfer: The Case of Surfing in Schools

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide insight on a partnership between Matosinhos City Hall that coordinates educational programs including physical education and the School of Higher Education of Porto. For the past 2 years, the institutions have worked together to develop a local curriculum for physical education teachers to foster life skills development and transfer in their students. In this article, we provide an overview about (a) how the partnership was developed, (b) how establishing fundamental pedagogical components provided the platform for later explicit life skills teaching, (c) the facilitators and barriers that emerged from these efforts, and (d) plans to integrate an explicit approach to sport-based life skills development and transfer.