Physical inactivity is a one of the leading health risk behaviours related to the global

epidemic of obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart diseases. The increasing

number of young people being inactive is therefore discouraging. Within schools, increasing

attention has been paid to the health-promoting role of physical education, as many

youngsters from all social backgrounds experience school physical education for several

years. Unfortunately, evidence shows that physical education has so far made little effective

contribution to the promotion of lifelong engagement in physical activity.

The present grant proposal is part of an international and cross-disciplinary research

program on motivational dynamics in physical education, which brings together researchers in

motivational psychology, public health and sport pedagogy to investigate how physical

education teachers can more effectively promote lifelong engagement in physical activity. A

novel approach towards studying motivational dynamics in physical education is taken by

observing teaching behaviours in search of evidence on effective pedagogies for health-related

physical education. By conducting a cross-cultural studies involving different educational

tracks, concrete, real-life examples of how teacher need support gets manifested across

countries and educational tracks will be identified.