Numerous scholars within sport and health sciences have emphasized the critical role of the school environment in shaping young people’s physically active lives. While this PhD project addresses this specific dimension, the inquiry is also situated within wider academic discourses (ways of thinking, speaking, and producing knowledge within scholarly communities) concerning adolescents’ physical activity in school settings. School contexts are often narrated as ‘ideal’ for promoting young people’s physically active lives, with physical activity research carrying broader assumptions where the goal often is to prescribe movement, to get students to be more active. However, such assumptions rest on a set of foundational commitments: ontological (concerning the nature of reality), epistemological (concerning how we come to know things), and axiological (concerning values). Together, these shape our understanding of what physical activity is, how it should be studied, and why it matters. Similarly, the ways in which school contexts are portrayed – including the roles of students and staff within these spaces – are shaped differently across academic discourses, depending on the underlying commitments of interventionist, pedagogical, and critical research traditions. As the school context emerges not merely as a backdrop but as a lived and negotiated space, whole-school and comprehensive strategies have gained traction among global agencies and physical activity scholars. These strategies emphasize holistic initiatives that span from individual to systemic levels, integrating curriculum, school culture, policies, student and staff sub-groups, and community engagement. Ecological frameworks and theories are often advocated to guide such strategies, highlighting the interplay between individual actions and broader social and environmental influences. However, the way ecological frameworks are applied varies depending on the academic discourse in which the research is situated, as different discourses engage with them from distinct perspectives. In particular, engagement with the concept of agency varies significantly. Despite their widespread use, the frameworks often lack critical perspectives, with issues such as power dynamics and equity rarely being foregrounded. These differences and omissions need to be critically examined for current and future research initiatives, particularly as scholars and agencies increasingly advocate for inter- and transdisciplinary collaborations.
The current PhD project adopts a meta-perspective, analyzing patterns in how school contexts are articulated across academic discourses. Four individual articles – each situated within different research paradigms, perspectives, or discourses – serve as illustrations of what can be learned from their juxtaposition, building on prior research. The individual articles are founded on three sub-studies: an ethnographic study combined with a social network survey, a cross-sectional study using data from surveys, accelerometers, and national registries, and a systematic review assessing school context measurements. This methodological combination is both novel and cross-paradigmatic when studying physical activity during the school day for young people in secondary school.
An analysis was conducted to explore how school contexts are constructed in relation to adolescents’ physical activity, using the included articles as the basis for inquiry. Through an examination using three analytical components – diverse goals, multiple strategies, and varied interest groups – three rhetorical patterns were generated. The patterns frame school contexts as (in)effective backdrops, as spaces of student and teacher meaning-making, and as oppressive and empowering environments. The articles were further mapped against four complex elements that shape school environments: organizational subgroups, formal structures, sociocultural aspects, and broader networks. The findings suggest that these elements are deeply intertwined across the articles, with varying degrees of emphasis and integration, providing a more nuanced understanding of the rhetorical constructions and contextual dynamics that inform physical activity research within school settings. The three patterns and how the elements are addressed adhere in different ways to interventionist, pedagogical, and critical research.
Concluding with a discussion on the potential spaces for rethinking physical activity research in school contexts, the exploration focused on where boundaries between academic discourses become more permeable – sites where interventionist, pedagogical, and critical research can coexist not through resolution, but in productive tension. Rather than seeking synthesis, the aim was to hold the perspectives in juxtaposition, allowing their distinct logics and values to interact and inform one another. This opens up opportunities for multidimensional thinking, addressing effectiveness, meaningfulness, and equity. The conceptualization of agency and participatory methodologies is central, which are well-established yet increasingly relevant concepts that offer spirited passageways for advancing physical activity research in school contexts. By attending to the relational and spatiotemporal dimensions of agency, and foregrounding the voices of students, staff, and school communities, the thesis is not thought of as a solution. Rather, it is positioned as a strategic entry point for inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration – an invitation to play with and imagine futures shaped through dialogue, reflexivity, and shared inquiry.
The current PhD project is part of the larger project “Physical Activity for Healthy Brain Functions in School Youth,” which ran from 2018 to 2023 at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (GIH), funded by the Knowledge Foundation (grant 20180040).