Implementation of increased physical activity – an insight into the work. A qualitative study on how and why different compulsory schools work with increased physical activity

Today's young people do not reach the recommendations that exist regarding physical activity, despite the majority of studies showing positive health effects of physical activity. As a consequence, Swedish schools have decided to implement increased physical activity. The aim of this study was to examine, from a teacher’s perspective, why different schools have chosen to implement increased physical activity and how it is described by active teachers. This qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews, examined four compulsory schoolteacher’s experiences of working with increased physical activity. The study showed that the reasons behind the implementation of increased physical activity varied. The differences vary from PE teachers seeing the health benefits as well as the academic benefits that the student could gain by participating in the activities provided by the school. However, many factors, such as resources, collaboration between colleagues and activity content, played a major role in actually implementing increased physical activity and making it successful. How different schools worked with different activities also varied, however, the results of this study presents seven different types of activities named as: “idrottsprofil”, “skolgårdsdisco”, “pulspass”, “rörelsepauser”, “rastaktiviteter”, “extra idrott” and “motorikpass”. However, it could be problematic that some schools provide students the opportunity to be more physically active while others may not get the same opportunity. Further findings from the study also showed that the teachers did not have any common documents to base the implementation on. A common document and a clear vision on why and how we can implement increased physical activity could help us create a long-term solution to get students to be more physically active