This inquiry draws on interviews, focus group discussions and dialogues with fourteen teachers of Physical Education and Health (PEH) in Sweden. The aim was to study what discursive beliefs these teachers hold regarding important learning objectives and general aims for the subject and how these can be understood. Furthermore, what implications do the discursive beliefs have and how do they conduct their teaching in order to reach all pupils? The results show that the type of learning objectives teachers consider and find essential in PEH create certain pupils who get labeled as low motivated for the subject. Norms and values from sports contexts outside school affect teachers’ perceptions of important learning objectives, and pupils not involved in sports outside school are likely to be low motivated for PEH according to the teachers. Teachers refer the problem with motivation to the individual (the pupil) or the contextual level (social background, parents etc.) rather than to the situational level – their own teaching in the class.
Keywords: Physical education, low motivation, teacher beliefs