Background: Students, at a secondary upper school, attending a practical programme have a lower physical capacity than students from theoretical programs. Our physical self-esteem has a great significance for our motivation in being physically active and thereby also for our health. The purpose: of this study is to find out if there is a difference between perceived physical self-esteem and objectively measured physical activity between students attending a practical programme and a theoretical programme. Method: Four classes, in a medium-sized town in the southeast of Sweden, participated in the study, two classes from practical programmes and two classes from theoretical programmes. All the students were in their final year at the upper secondary school, when they were part of the study during the autumn of 2011. The students had a sealed pedometer during four days, every morning the amount of steps was checked and then sealed by the leader of this study. The questionnaire Children and Youth-Physical Self Perception Profile (CY-PSPP) was used and the students answered the questions during one lesson one week. Result: The students attending a theoretical programme were more physically active, steps/day, than the students attending a practical programme. Regarding the perceived physical self-esteem there was no significant difference between the students from the theoretical programmes versus the students from the practical programmes. On the other hand there was a difference between the male students and the female students. The female students had a lower self-esteem. Conclusion: To reach groups at risk there are grounds for looking at the contents of the curriculum of the practical programmes. The subject physical education ought to be given more lessons as an important factor in achieving better public health.

Keywords: physical exercise, health, secondary upper school, pedometer