School Leaders’ Association aims to increase movement in schools

At the School Leaders’ Association, we actually didn’t like the requirement of 45 minutes of daily movement, which has now been removed. But that doesn’t mean we think children should just sit still. On the contrary, we want to create even more opportunities to bring movement into the school day. But it should be based on voluntary participation.

Read more about the Partnership for Sport and Physical Activity in Schools

How will you expand it to more schools?

The partnership will test how movement and activity can be implemented at a number of pilot schools to see how it works and how to create the best process. It’s a process that requires engagement and resources.

But we do expect it to have a ripple effect over time, as the results become visible and we develop activities and concepts that others can gradually replicate without such a large effort. In this way, we can spread the active school model to more schools, through good examples.

What is the role of school leaders in such a change process?

It’s primarily about creating resonance within the staff group. The staff are ultimately the ones who will carry out many of the new initiatives, so it’s important that everyone is on board.

Secondly, the leadership must help solve the challenges that arise when breaking with familiar routines and structures. In the school world, we are used to thinking in modules, timetables, schedules, curricula, etc., so the leadership must help create flexibility to make room for new ideas and new ways of doing school.

With the new Quality Program for Primary Schools (political agreement, entered into in 2024), schools now have significantly more freedom, and we must now learn to navigate that.