Agenda 2030 is a universal call to action which emphasises that all sectors of society should mobilise to create an inclusive and equal society and improve the lives of people world-wide. Education, physical activity and sport are recognised as critical means to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); therefore, it makes sense that school physical education (PE) also has the potential to contribute to the visions set out by Agenda 2030. A critical question is how sustainability can be understood, framed and integrated in PE. In this explorative paper, we, therefore, performed a review regarding the distinct role of PE in the context of Agenda 2030 and its SDGs. The overall research question that guided this paper is as follows: what perspectives related to PE in the context of Agenda 2030 and its SDGs have been discussed in the research literature? To identify relevant papers, five electronic databases (Education Research Complete, ERIC, Education database, SportDiscus, and Scopus) were systematically searched with search strings developed in an effort to identify research that supports the SDGs. The search resulted in about 4300 papers published between 2015 and 2021. Three unique papers met the inclusion criteria. We conclude that, so far, Agenda 2030 is a largely unexplored area of research in the field of PE, and that more research is needed to understand how sustainability can be understood, framed and integrated in PE. Based on the findings, we conclude the paper by providing suggestions for future work.

Background: On a normative level as a subject physical education and health seems to adjust rapidly to changes in society, whereas at the practical level it seems receptive to limiting factors such as time, facilities and dominating inherited practices. How can the structuring components and processes relating to the shaping, transformation and transmission of curricula be understood? What choices and determinants of options do teachers have and use, and how are students involved in the framing of physical education and health? Purpose: The overall aim has been to investigate the process between the transmission of curriculum and the realization of content as viewed by teachers and students of physical education and health in secondary schools in Sweden, and how this can be understood with the help of Bernstein's concepts of classification and frames together with Linde's work in defining the arenas of formulation, transformation and realization. The empirical material consists of quantitative data from questionnaires administered to teachers (n = 61) and students (n = 380, aged 15–16 years) within a national multidisciplinary project entitled School–Sport–Health (SIH). Findings: From the formulation arena of a broad given content the content given seems to become narrowed in the process of transformation, transmitting and realization of content. Limiting factors as time and facilities are not strongly influencing the content provided. A lack of perceived subject-matter knowledge is not mentioned at all as limiting the teaching objectives. When organizing and conducting lessons, teachers mostly address the entire group of students and seldom give instruction in smaller groups. The majority of students answer that they can influence the subject content, but in relation to the empirical material it remains unclear in what way students influence the educational practice besides attitudes and earlier attained skills. Just over half the students responding to the questionnaire expressed doubt about whether the teacher was aware of their previous experiences/knowledge. Students active in sports clubs expressed more satisfaction and higher levels of influence and perceived outcome than those inactive. When focusing on students' choices of upper secondary programmes (study orientated or vocational), in relation to how the subject is perceived, study-orientated students express lack of feedback and learning outcomes. Conclusions: By using Bernstein's principles of classification and framing for understanding the results of the study, physical education and health in secondary schools in Sweden emerges as a weak subject, where the framing of subject is not strongly bound to limiting factors as time and facilities. It seems to be more influenced by the boundaries set by other agencies and the process of transforming and transmitting of legitimate knowledge by teachers. In some respects students active in organized sport seem to act as a steering group in terms of how physical education and health teaching is addressed.

Although school education, including the subject of physical education (PE), has the potential to contribute to the visions set out by the 2030 Agenda and its sustainable development goals (SDGs), little attention has been directed towards sustainable development perspectives in PE teacher education (PETE). In this explorative paper, we aimed to investigate how sustainable development perspectives are reflected in Swedish PETE course syllabi, focusing on learning outcomes. The source of data was 496 learning outcomes retrieved from PETE course syllabi at the eight Swedish PETE institutions that examine PE teachers for compulsory school grades 7−9 and upper secondary school. A qualitative thematical analysis was performed, and two educational resources developed to support how to use education in achieving SDGs were used as a guiding framework. The findings show eight learning outcomes (<2%) explicitly related to sustainable development perspectives. We found these learning outcomes in courses dealing with outdoor education, movement and health didactics, and work environment and ergonomics. Our further analysis suggests that 37 learning objectives (19% as cognitive, 43% as socio-emotional, and 38% as behavioural) and 31 competencies (35% within knowledge and understanding, 32% within skills and applications, and 32% within values and attributes) could be linked to our themes of learning outcomes. These learning objectives and competencies of the SDGs were for good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, reduced inequalities, peace, justice, and strong institutions. The main findings signal a possibility to work with the conceptualisation of sustainable development perspectives and SDGs in PETE. PETE educators should be encouraged to critically reflect on what it can mean to include sustainable development perspectives in PETE course syllabi.

Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals are based on a vision of how we can manage sustainable development issues in our society and environment. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on what it might mean to adopt educative aspects of sustainable development in the field of physical education and thus by that calling into question existing cultures and practices. Here we give an overview of organizational expectations on education for sustainable development. We use this approach to critically reflect on how this focus can both challenge and enable a rethinking and reorientation of physical education and physical education teacher education practices. Three steps are suggested for opening a process that can deepen our conversations and strengthen our actions in relation to education for sustainable development: curricula revisions, a reorientation of learning perspectives, and a rethinking of perspectives on health and well-being.

School physical education and health (PEH) may not only be an important cornerstone to the holistic development of students but may also contribute to the sustainable development (SD) agenda. Although PEH may have unique characteristics that can contribute to the SD agenda, most research to date has been theoretical. The overall aim of this study was to explore the sustainable development competencies among physical education and health (PEH) teachers in Sweden. An online questionnaire was used to collect data about background and SD competencies. SD competencies was collected through the use of the Physical Education Scale for Sustainable Development in Future Teachers (PESD-FT). Of the 1153 participants, 31% reported being males, and 48% of the participants reported teaching PEH when completing the questionnaire. The median SD competencies score for all the participants was 105 (range: 18–144) out of 144. Virtually no differences were observed across the groups of participants. A stronger correlation was observed between SD competencies vs. long-time interests in health and health issues (r_s = 0.343) than for long experience of participating in organized sports (r_s = 0.173). In the total sample, 26% reported having taught about SD in PEH, such as using outdoor education, interdisciplinary projects, picking, and sorting waste, as well as paying attention to material issues. Among those who reported teaching PEH when completing the questionnaire, 70% perceived that they are in great need of professional development education in the area of SD. In conclusion, SD competencies were higher for the PESD-FT items that concerned the social dimension of SD compared to the economic and environmental dimensions. Relatively few teachers had taught about SD in PEH, and the majority perceive that they are in great need of professional development education in the area of SD. Future studies are required to understand more of what types of competencies practicing PEH teachers, and PEH teacher education programs, are lacking to fulfil the call for a contribution to the SD agenda.

The development of a re-understanding or re-investigation of body pedagogy is currently prominent in the field of physical education (PE) and sport pedagogy. This goes for the learning of movement capability and health but also in relation to outdoor education (OE). The latter a criticized area for having a one-size-fits-all approach to curriculum, with less attention to what to learn in OE, including aspects of everyday practices of being outdoors. The aim of this study was to explore students aged 15 years, and their meaning making of being outdoors expressed in written stories about a favorite place. Two school year eight classes in a Swedish compulsory school situated in an area with high diversity participated. Through this theory-generated empirical study, written stories were explored as one way of evaluating students' meaning making of outdoor places. By using practical epistemology analysis (PEA) to examine experience operationalized through aesthetic judgements attention is paid to the relation between the student and the situation (their favorite place). The analysis make it possible to discern a sense and meaning making of “being” outdoors as an embodied experience, as a relational whole of the self, others and the environment. Descriptions of aesthetic experiences were analyzed leading to dimensions of environing described as “calm and privacy,” “community and togetherness” and “feelings and senses.” A favorite place was by all students described as a very local and nearby place accessible in everyday life. The analysis generated understandings of feelings of “fulfillment” and different embodied experiences of what an encounter with an outdoor place or being outdoors could mean. Furthermore, how personal and diverse the meaning making place tends to be and how experience and habits contribute to the students' creation of microenvironments. Dimensions of environing become part of an embodied process. The analysis of the written stories calls for an alternative understanding of what OE can or should consist of. The findings encourage teachers and researchers to consider alternative understandings and practices of OE that highlight and educate students' overall embodied (individual) experiences and learning in OE and PE.