The need for sport and physical activity have in the past 10-15 years had much attention in the public debate. This for a good reason, as it is well documented that sport contributes with many positive effects both physically, mentally and socially. Based on this it can be questioned why the government, in a bill for a new high school reform in Denmark, has proposed eliminating the mandatory teaching of physical education, regarding Higher Preparatory Examination (hf), as well as introducing an exam in the course. According to the bill, which was submitted for consultation on August 26, 2016, physical education will now be offered as an elective course, and the students must choose between physical education or an artistic course. Particularly hf-students are a diverse group of students, who often have a health profile that needs to be strengthened with good exercise habits.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the importance of physical education, as well as the impact of the reform, concerning the participation in physical education. The empirical findings are based on 22 hf-students (17 girls and 5 boys) from a Danish High School and their physical education teacher. The study furthermore includes the High School principal and the head of secondary education at the Department of Education. To get an insight in the impact physical education has on hf-students as well as the impact of the reform, interviews was used as method for gathering empirical data. Additionally, the rationale for designing a new High School reform was investigated.
The study showed that it was a forced choice to make physical education and the artistic courses to elective courses. This in order to increase the number of school hours in Danish and mathematics. Furthermore, the study showed that there were different understandings of the impact physical education have on the students. A large group of students will not choose physical education and thus they will become more inactive and furthermore be missing the qualities of physical education. Those students who do choose sport as an elective course will experience a higher quality of physical education, as they mainly interact with students who are motivated to sport, which acts as a catching effect. Moreover, an examination in physical education will affect the engagement of the hf-students.