ABSTRACT
Introduction In New Zealand, as is the case elsewhere, healthy eating and exercise messages pervade both popular culture and professional contexts. Within schools, new regulations specify the amount of quality physical activity children must receive (Ministry of Education, 2006; Sport and Recreation New Zealand, 2007) and dictate the kinds of foods and beverages that may be sold and/or brought into the school environment (Ministry of Education, 2007). Curriculum materials emphasize healthy eating and exercise as vehicles for the achievement of health (Ministry of Education 1999a, 1999b) and, increasingly, outside agencies are volunteering or selling their nutrition and physical activity initiatives (e.g. Jump Jam; Jump Rope for Heart) to the school market (Macdonald, Hay and Williams, 2008). As Miha and Rich (2008) and Holloway and Valentine (2003) have noted, when it comes to health-related messages, the boundaries between school and community contexts are also increasingly permeable. Popular culture meets schooling via internet youth sites, reality television and an ever expanding range of health promotion and social marketing campaigns. Each of these sites offers children knowledge and practices that together comprise the discursive resources they have available to draw on to make sense of the nature and role of physical activity, physical education and sport in their lives.
