Why we built PDAT – and why I think it could make a real difference
Dr Natalie Weir, co-creator of the Physical Development Audit Tool (PDAT), shares the thinking behind its development and how it can support early years settings and the organisations working with them.
From research into practice
Much of my research has focused on physical activity and physical literacy in young children, including how we understand, measure and support them in the early years.
One thing that has become increasingly clear is that knowing how active children are is only part of the picture. We also need to understand the experiences, environments, relationships and opportunities that influence their movement and physical development.
And how do we help educators turn that understanding into meaningful changes?
There is plenty of guidance about the importance of physical development, but translating it into everyday practice isn't always straightforward.
That's really where the thinking behind PDAT came from. Helen Battelley and I wanted to develop something that would help settings recognise what they're already doing well, reflect on areas they might not have considered before and identify realistic ways to move forward.
We also saw an opportunity to support organisations working across multiple settings, helping them understand the bigger picture rather than looking at each setting in isolation.
Looking at the whole setting
One of our key decisions was that PDAT should be a whole-setting reflective tool, rather than another assessment of individual children.
Physical development isn't confined to a planned activity or PE session. It's influenced by daily routines, relationships, environments, opportunities for movement and the wider culture of a setting.
PDAT therefore explores five interconnected areas: Relationships, Development, Environments, Participation, and Culture & Leadership.
Settings reflect on 40 statements, considering what usually happens in their provision and adding examples from their own practice.
There are no right or wrong answers. It's not about judging staff or achieving a perfect score, but encouraging honest reflection and discussion.
I also think there's real value in completing the audit as a team. Different educators bring different perspectives, and sometimes the conversations themselves can be just as useful as the results.
Turning reflection into action
This was particularly important to me. I didn't want settings to complete an audit, receive a score and then be left wondering what to do next.
PDAT provides a personalised summary of strengths and areas for development, followed by practical recommendations organised into three stages: Quick Win, Develop Practice and Build It In.
There are also additional suggestions tailored to the age groups within each setting (0–1, 1–3 and/or 3–5 years), helping make the guidance relevant to the children in their care.
PDAT isn't intended to be a one-off exercise. Settings can complete multiple audits during their annual licence, revisit their action plans and compare results over time.
We recommend a termly approach, although settings can fit this around their own improvement cycles. Interestingly, 60% of our initial pilot users suggested termly or three-times-a-year completion.
Grounded in research and experience
PDAT is underpinned by Building Blocks for an Active Start, the framework Helen and I developed together, connecting everyday movement experiences with the physical, cognitive, affective and social domains of physical literacy.
We've also been deliberate about how the digital tool works.
PDAT doesn't use AI to generate its summaries or recommendations. Instead, summaries are produced using predefined rules and templates based on each setting's responses and notes. Recommendations come from our expert-developed action library.
For me, that matters. If we're providing guidance that settings may use to inform their practice, I want to know exactly where that advice has come from and be confident in the research and experience behind it.
Seeing the bigger picture across organisations
This is one of the aspects of PDAT I'm particularly excited about.
Alongside individual setting licences, we've developed an organisation licence for nursery groups, academy trusts, local authorities and others supporting multiple early years settings.
Each setting has its own secure access to complete audits, view results and develop action plans. Settings only see their own information.
Organisation leaders, meanwhile, have a central dashboard bringing together results from all their settings. They can explore individual and combined results, identify common strengths and development priorities, see which settings have completed their audits and monitor progress over time.
Think about the possibilities. A nursery group could use the findings to identify shared staff training needs. A local authority could better understand where additional support might be helpful. A Stronger Practice Hub could use PDAT to support conversations and improvement planning across participating settings.
Rather than making assumptions about what settings need, organisations can use information drawn directly from settings' own reflections to help guide decisions.
We want educators to feel comfortable reflecting honestly on their practice, recognising that every setting has different strengths, challenges and starting points.
What have our pilot settings told us?
As a researcher, I'm conscious of being clear about what the evidence does and doesn't tell us.
Our initial pilot involved five early years settings using the paper version of PDAT. Although a small sample, the feedback was encouraging.
All our pilot settings agreed PDAT helped them recognise strengths, identify realistic next steps and prompted useful reflection or discussion, and every setting reported changes either planned or already underway.
One educator told us:
“Making us aware of areas we can celebrate and also areas to improve, we are actioning discussions with parents, starting points, cultural awareness and inclusion as well as sharing strategies with parents.”
What I particularly liked was that PDAT prompted settings to think about aspects of movement practice they hadn't necessarily considered before, including family engagement, cultural experiences of movement, co-regulation and differences between indoor and outdoor provision.
That's encouraging, although these are early findings rather than evidence that PDAT improves children's outcomes. We hope to build on this through wider use of the digital tool and by exploring how practice changes over time.
Where next?
I'm looking forward to seeing how PDAT is used, both by individual settings and by organisations supporting them.
If you're responsible for physical development across a nursery group, school trust, local authority or other group of settings, I'd love to hear from you.
Organisation licences start at £995 per year for up to 10 settings, with larger groups priced according to the number of settings. A free onboarding call is included to help you get started.
Watch our one-minute PDAT tour or explore PDAT.
Ultimately, my hope is that PDAT helps make physical development something settings feel confident discussing, reflecting on and continually improving, rather than another thing to tick off a list.