This is the fourth Active Healthy Kids (AHK) Wales Report Card. The 2021 card produced grades on children and young people’s physical activity (PA) using pre-COVID-19 data that were not used in previous versions. Eleven quality indicators of PA were graded through expert consensus and synthesis of the best available evidence. Grades were assigned as follows: Overall PA—F; Organised Sport and PA—C; Active Play—C+; Active Transportation—C−; Sedentary Behaviours—F; Physical Fitness—C−; Family and Peer Influences—D+; School—B−; Community and the Built Environment—C; National Government and Policy—C; and Physical Literacy—C−. All but three grades remained the same or decreased from the 2018 AHK-Wales Report Card (Active Play increased from C− to C+; Active Transportation, D+ to C−; Family and Peers, D to D+). This is concerning for children’s health and well-being in Wales, particularly given recent evidence that PA has further decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results from the Report Card should be used to inform the decision making of policy makers, practitioners and educators to improve children and young people’s PA levels and opportunities and decrease PA inequalities.

Research has shown that a whole-school approach (WSA) is needed to increase student physical activity. There is a lack of empirical data on teachers’ opinions and needs regarding the implementation of a WSA approach to encourage physical activity. Our study aims to address this gap by identifying teachers’ and academics’ beliefs about the usefulness, content, and delivery mode of a WSA in fostering physical activity. To address the research aim, an exploratory mixed methods design was employed. Initially, a qualitative study with academics and stakeholders was conducted, followed by a quantitative investigation with teachers and school employees. In the first study, seven participants working in education took part in one-to-one interviews concerning their views on the usefulness, content, and delivery of whole-school education. The participants stressed the importance of the WSA and urged that educational authorities should consider the needs of children and the school community, promote teacher collaboration, pursue longevity, and engage with stakeholders and institutions throughout the process. In the second study, 160 school teachers and staff answered a survey about the content and delivery mode of an educational material for the promotion of WSA to fostering physical activity. The analyses indicated that participants preferred a three to six hours course, a hybrid mode of delivery, inclusion of best practices, and knowledge on how to implement a WSA. The study’s findings reveal several implications and recommendations for educators creating comprehensive school-based physical activity programs.

Phenomenological research offers distinctive insights into lived experience, yet its appraisal within qualitative evidence syntheses is often constrained by generic tools that privilege procedural transparency over philosophical and methodological integrity. Instruments such as CASP, JBI, and MMAT remain valuable across qualitative traditions, but risk obscuring the epistemological and ontological commitments central to phenomenology. In response, this paper introduces the Phenomenological Research Quality Indicator (PRQI), a reflexive six-dimensional framework that enables phenomenological studies to be appraised on their own terms while ensuring transparency and credibility for interdisciplinary audiences. The PRQI pays attention to philosophical grounding, methodological clarity, use of phenomenological processes, fidelity to the lifeworld, researcher reflexivity, and evocative representation. Developed through sustained engagement with phenomenological scholarship and applied to 25 empirical studies of young people’s experiences in physical education and sport, the PRQI aims to move beyond checklist compliance toward dialogical assessment that honours interpretive nuance. By making visible otherwise tacit dimensions of phenomenological rigour, the PRQI advances methodological coherence, enhances reflexivity, and strengthens the credibility of qualitative evidence syntheses that inform clinical guidelines, educational reform, and policy development. It also functions as a globally transferable pedagogical resource, supporting doctoral education, postgraduate training, and peer-review of qualitative phenomenological research manuscripts. In advancing a philosophically grounded yet accessible approach to appraisal, the PRQI contributes a world-leading methodological innovation that not only safeguards phenomenology’s integrity but also expands the global methodological repertoire available to qualitative researchers across disciplines.

Concerns about children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing have intensified internationally, with rising levels of anxiety, stress, disengagement, and reduced opportunities for meaningf...