The purpose of this study was to analyze the motivational profiles of satisfaction with and importance of physical education in high school students and its relation with gender and the practice of sport. The sample comprised 2002 students aged from 12 to 19 who completed the Sport Motivation Scale (Núñez et al., 2006), the Sport Satisfaction Instrument (Baena-Extremera et al., 2012) and the Importance of Physical Education Scale (Moreno et al., 2009). Descriptive analyzes, correlations between the scales, a cluster analysis for profiles, and a MANOVA were conducted to examine differences by gender. Three clusters (profiles) were identified. The first profile identified was "moderate" motivation (n = 463) and was associated with boys who practice physical activity for less than 3 hours per week. The second profile identified was "low" motivation (n = 545) and was associated mainly with girls who practice physical activity for less than 3 hours per week. And lastly the third profile identified was "high" motivation (n = 910), which was found to be greater in boys who practiced physical exercise for more than 3 hours a week.

• High school students’ motivation was mainly intrinsic, scoring very low on a motivation and high on satisfaction/fun; equally, these students were task-oriented.

• There appears to be a positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and task-orientation in high school students.

• The subject of PE is considered very highly by the students, and hence it obtains high values on satisfaction/fun and is positively associated with the importance given to PE.