Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

The fields of physical education and sports as well as its teacher and trainer educations have a long tradition of an individually oriented focus. In our times it is important to broaden this to also include a perspective of physical activity (PA) in relation to public health.

In taking such a step, different dimensions of factors external to the individual become relevant. For example, the fact that all physical activities require a physical space for their execution leads us to dimensions of physical planning for physical activity, which in turn leads us to the dimension of power and politics at local, regional, and national levels.

Including a public health perspective also prompts a wider analysis of the consequences of behaviors in physical activity (PA). Is it, for example, possible that some aspects of such behavioral practices could be negative in relation to public health. For example, if there is an environmental burden connected to PA behaviors, there may be a negative effect on public health in a local, regional, national, and global perspective. 

The presentation will frame issues of physical activity and public health with perspectives from the agenda of sustainable development as originally defined by the UN World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987. It will lead forward to illuminating a new role for physical education in our global society, strengthening the importance of physical education as a subject in the school system. The same perspectives will be applied on sport clubs and sport federations.