Making daily movement work: teachers’ perspectives on institutional challenges and opportunities in Swedish primary school

Schools are important settings for promoting health and fostering lifelong movement habits, particularly for children with limited access to physical activity outside school. This study explores how teachers in Swedish primary schools interpret, navigate, and organise the daily movement initiative within their institutional and professional context. Introduced in 2017, the initiative aims to address declining physical activity levels and growing health disparities among children, positioning schools as key actors in promoting movement and well-being. Drawing on new institutional theory, this study explores how institutional structures shape teachers’ experiences and practices at regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive levels. Using a qualitative design, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers from 10 different schools. Interview data were analysed using abductive content analysis. The analysis followed a structured process that included preparation, organisation, and reporting phases, where empirical material was iteratively interpreted in relation to theoretical concepts. Three main themes were identified: teachers’ positioning in the daily movement mission, strategies and methods for working with daily movement, and perceived values of daily movement. The findings reveal that while teachers recognise the value of daily movement for student well-being, learning, and social cohesion, they face challenges related to unclear policy directives, limited institutional support, and role ambiguity. Despite these constraints, teachers developed local strategies emphasising student involvement, collaboration and inclusive practices. The study highlights the need for stronger institutional alignment, clearer regulatory frameworks, and sustained leadership to embed daily movement as a legitimate and sustainable part of the school. These findings contribute to broader discussions on how educational policy and institutional culture influence pedagogical innovation in health-promoting school environments. To further strengthen its legitimacy and sustainability, the study proposes reframing the initiative as daily movement education, a term that positions movement as a meaningful and integrated part of the educational mission.