Teachers are key actors in the curriculum implementation in schools but their perspectives are often neglected, particularly in time of large national school reforms and policy imperatives concerning health promotion in schools. The aim of this paper is to discuss how the mandatory health education in primary and lower secondary schools in Denmark is influenced by national, municipal and local frameworks and policies from a teachers’ point of view. The question we ask is what are the opportunities and what are the limitations that the policy frameworks provide for their everyday practice in schools, and what is the room for their agency? The analytical framework includes focus on the organizational and inter-organizational implementation behavior (Winter 2012), combined with what Klafki (2001) names as room for interpretation, action and decision. The study is based on qualitative interviews with teachers from one Danish municipality. Based on a previous survey, the municipality was selected as a “frontrunner” when it comes to health education/health promotion in schools (Simovska, Nordin, Madsen, forthcoming). In other words, health education and promotion in the schools in the municipality is a political priority set by the municipality board. The study identifies a few sets of tensions and dilemmas that teachers experience in their struggle to delineate their space of agency by navigating between the policy rhetoric, political ideals and targets on the one hand and the realities of practice on the other.

Klafki, W. (2001). Dannelsesteori og didaktik – nye studier (in Danish).[Theory of Bildung and Didactics – new studies]. Aarhus: Klim Winter, C. S. (2012). Implementation perspectives: Status and reconsideration. In: B.G. Peter & J. Pierre (eds) Handbook of public administration. Sage. pp. 265-78 Simovska, V., Nordin, L.L. & Madsen, K. (forthcoming). Health Promotion in Danish schools: local priorities, policies and practices. Health Promotion International.