Physical literacy, understood as the motivation, confidence, physical
competence, and knowledge to sustain lifelong physical activity, is
increasingly recognized as a key developmental goal in physical education.
Yet how this multidimensional construct is conceptualized and
operationalized in programs designed for children and adolescents with
special educational needs remains poorly understood. This scoping review
systematically mapped the existing literature on physical literacy in educational
and community-based physical activity contexts for this population, following
the Arksey and O’Malley (2005) framework updated by Peters et al. (2020)
and reported in accordance with PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Four electronic
databases (ERIC, PubMed/MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, and Taylor and Francis)
were searched, yielding 22 empirical studies published between 2012 and
2025. Data were extracted using a standardized charting form. Three principal
results emerged. First, explicit engagement with the physical literacy construct
is marginal: only three of the 22 studies formally grounded their work within a
recognized physical literacy framework, while the majority reduced physical
literacy to its motor dimension, leaving affective, cognitive, and social
dimensions largely unaddressed. This reflects the conceptual fragmentation
highlighted in the broader literature on physical literacy interventions. Second,
only four studies were conducted in truly inclusive settings where children
with special educational needs interacted directly with typically developing
peers. This reveals a structural disconnect between inclusive education policy
and the settings in which research on physical literacy is conducted. Third,
contextual factors, such as teacher professional development, classroom
climate, and peer interaction structures, were associated with program
effectiveness across multiple ecological levels, though most interventions
addressed only one or two of these factors simultaneously, and no study
intervened across all major levels at once. The analysis concludes that larger-
scale, longitudinal, and multi-level studies conducted in truly inclusive school
environments and evaluated using validated physical literacy tools designed
for populations with special educational needs are necessary to address
these gaps.