Health in school has since the development of the welfare state in Sweden been considered as an important forum for health work, and schools still assume a central role when it comes to health promotion of the coming generation. In the Swedish context, health has also been regarded as an important part of the democratic project in that it is the ‘good society’ that is formulated in societal public health goals. The school subject Physical Education and Health has been considered as an important forum for public health work. In this paper we deal with Aaron Antonovsky´s pathogenic and salutogenic approaches to health. We began by exploring pathogenic views of health, and the consequences of the individual view of the learner and the instrumental view of education that follows. Further, the paper critically examines how salutogenic approaches can provide an alternative philosophical starting point for discussions about health within health education practices. We also point to some of the potential risks of a salutogenic approach in health education in relation to the neoliberal society.