The purpose of this thesis is to explore pupils' motivation for participating in Physical Education. The thesis also investigates the definitions of sport and health and to what extent pupils make any connection between the school subject physical education and their own physical and health status. A semi-structured interview was carried out with thirteen upper secondary school pupils with special needs on the Individual Programme. The interviews were recorded digitally and then analyzed. The results show that there is no unified definition of the school subject among the pupils. The pupils express neither any clear definition of health nor any connection between activities at school and their own physical condition or their health. It is also shown that no intrinsic motivation for participating is expressed, while amotivation and different kinds of extrinsic motivation are present. The results indicate the need of a mutual definition of what is going on at physical education lessons and what the aims are. The importance of teachers' competence, especially when working with pupils with special needs, is pointed out, and further research focusing motivation among these pupils is suggested.