Developing an expert-informed framework for flipped lesson design in physical education: a European Delphi study

Contemporary education has increasingly emphasised student-centred approaches that encourage active participation, collaboration, and greater learner responsibility. Within this broader pedagogical shift, flipped learning has emerged as an approach that relocates selected instructional content to the pre-class phase so that face-to-face time can be used more extensively for application, interaction, feedback, and active learning. In physical education, this structure may be particularly valuable because lesson time is strongly oriented towards movement, practice, and interpersonal engagement. This research paper aims to develop a consensus-informed framework for the design and implementation of flipped lessons in physical education across European contexts. This European Delphi Study utilises the classic three-round Delphi approach. Invitation letters were sent to 50 European experts. Of the 50 invited experts, 20 agreed to participate in the Delphi study, resulting in a response rate of 40%. The findings informed the development of an expert-informed framework for flipped lesson design in physical education. The three-round iterative process achieved strong, statistically significant concordance for Knowledge and Skills, while the Attitudes & Values dimension demonstrated statistically significant but weak agreement. The resulting European Framework for Transformative Flipped Physical Education organises the Delphi-derived competencies into three interconnected pillars concerning professional knowledge, pedagogical and facilitation skills, and educational attitudes and values. The framework is intended as an expert-informed guide for interpreting flipped lesson design in PE and requires further empirical examination in practice.