A 20+ Year Research Foundation

Active Edge is grounded in more than two decades of research in motor skill development, physical literacy and school-based implementation.

Our work has examined how fundamental movement skills influence physical activity, confidence, engagement and long-term participation. This research spans controlled trials, school-based interventions, teacher co-design projects and large-scale data collection across diverse school and community settings.

Across this body of work, one finding has remained consistent: movement competence matters — for health, for learning, and for lifelong participation.

From Evidence to Application

Research alone does not change practice.

Our focus has been on translating evidence into tools and systems that work in real educational environments. This has included:

  • Developing validated assessment frameworks for fundamental movement skills

  • Designing school-based intervention programs

  • Working directly with teachers to refine implementation models

  • Building scalable, technology-enabled assessment systems

A cornerstone of this work is the Moving the Next Generation (MNG) platform — a world-first AI-enabled assessment tool developed through collaboration with Deakin University researchers. Trained on thousands of movement observations from children aged 4–12, the platform demonstrates high agreement with expert human raters and enables objective, scalable assessment in school contexts.

This work has been supported through university, government and cross-disciplinary partnerships spanning education, sport science and intelligent systems research.

Publications & Scholarly Contribution

Our research has been published in leading international journals in motor development and physical literacy, including work in the Journal of Motor Learning and Development and other peer-reviewed outlets.

Our scholarship contributes to global understanding of:

  • Motor competence and physical literacy development

  • The relationship between movement skill and physical activity

  • School-based implementation and teacher professional learning

  • Technology-enabled assessment in education

We remain actively engaged in research, supervision and ongoing program evaluation to ensure our work continues to meet the highest academic standards.

Partnerships

We have partnered with:

  • University research institutes

  • School systems and independent schools

  • Government bodies

  • Community and sport organisations

These partnerships ensure that our research is both rigorous and responsive to real-world educational needs.