Increasing physical activity and reduction of sedentary behaviour play important roles in health promotion and prevention of lifestyle-related diseases in children and adolescents. However, the question of how much physical activity is useful for which target group is still a matter of debate. International guidelines (World Health Organization; European Association for the Study of Obesity), which are mainly based on expert opinions, recommend 60 min of physical activity every day. Age- and sex-specific features and regional differences are not taken into account. Therefore, expert consensus recommendations for promoting physical activity of children and adolescents in Germany were developed with special respect to national data, but also with respect to aspects of specific target groups, e.g., children with a lower socio-economic status (SES) or with migration background. They propose 90 min/day of physical activity, or at least 12,000 steps daily. Additionally, lifestyle factors, especially restriction of media consumption, were integrated. The recommendations provide orientation for parents and caregivers, for institutions such as schools and kindergartens as well as for communities and stakeholders.

The issue of health plays an important role in the German language sports pedagogical discussion and in German curricula. It is also important here that the idea of ‘Bildung’—an educational ideal in the German tradition which is still of paramount importance and which stems from the obligation of enlightenment and is intended to enable mature judgment—is a normative idea for school lessons. In terms of health in physical education, this throws up the question of whether PE for young people should not simply be focused towards a healthy lifestyle, but rather towards understanding what and how a healthy lifestyle could be and reflect on the role they want it to play in their lives in an emancipatory manner. Therefore, this paper examines the way in which health and health education are considered in current curricula in Germany. A hermeneutic oriented qualitative text analysis is carried out. Alongside differences between the states, the analysis shows an overall tendency towards narrowing down health education. The paper finally seeks to critically discuss this narrowing from a pedagogical perspective as an exemplary process which might be observed in a similar way in other countries.

Increasing physical activity and reduction of sedentary behaviour play important roles in health promotion and prevention of lifestyle-related diseases in children and adolescents. But the question ‚how much physical activity is necessary for which target group' is still debated (yet). International guidelines mainly based on expert opinions recommend 60 minutes of physical activity every day. Age-and sex-specific features and regional differences are not taken into account. Considering national data, but also specific target groups, e. g. children with a lower socioeconomic status or with migration background, expert consensus recommendations were developed to promote physical activity of children and adolescents in Germany. They provide 90 minutes of physical activity respectively at least 12,000 steps daily. Additionally lifestyle factors, especially limitation of media consumption, were integrated. The recommendations provide orientation for parents and caregivers, as well as institutions such as schools, kindergarten up to communities and stakeholders. Thus, both individual-as well as population-oriented approaches are considered.

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