Background and Purpose
In 2012 the Danish government initiated the biggest reshaping of public schools in forty years. From the very early discussions, key stakeholders agreed on that children and youth should be more physically active during school-day in order to promote health and well-being and to support motivation and learning in school subjects. Thus, the most recent political debates and national decision-making in relation to the Danish school-system indicates that, from the beginning of the 2000s to the present, physical activity has gone from occupying a stable, but relatively peripheral position in the school curriculum to emerge as one of the key elements in the work to promote children’s health, well-being and learning.
Methods
Building on theories of public policy, the presentation analyzes core aspects of political decision-making processes from the most recent history of Physical Education (PE) and school sport in Denmark. The presentation focuses on the policy formulation and implementation stages of a given policy-making process in which key issues are identified, made the subject of opinion-forming and dealt with through the formulation of political objectives and, finally, put into effect. Such a division is analytical. In practice, the stages overlap and all affect the final policy outcomes.
The presentation builds on a range of written material that in a broader or narrower sense can be regarded as public. Material from the daily press constitutes a key source.
Results and discussion
The presentation consists of two parts. First, the defining policy trends and processes on school PE during the period 2012-2017 is described. This is followed by a section on the current 2018-situation – focusing on the actual implementation level of the latest school reform. Finally, part one and two are compared to assess the directions Danish PE and school sport might develop in the future.
