Physical activity and sport in school education: between the person and the needs for health

Abstract

Physical Education and Sport contribute to an integral development of the person,
guide towards a healthy life status and generate both physical and psychological
benefits. Thus it is fundamental to create the conditions to dedicate more time for
physical activities of students in schools and besides the figure tutoring them
should have appropriate competences to perform his task. In Italy there have been
drawn up Renzi’ s Linea Guida and the project Sport di Classe proposing that a
physical education teacher should be entered in elementary school as an expert on
this discipline, with the task of developping programmes for prevention, physical
health and sport. Furthermore there are in effect at the time the Italian National
Guidelines on the topics (D.P.R. n. 254/2012), which promote an integral education
of the person. So the discussion about the role of physical education is proposed
again, which is a matter for debate since a long time ago, and is whether Physical
Education is to be considered as a discipline of the body or a discipline of the person
and whether it is necessary to aim for a global education of the person.
Sport doesn’t only have goals associated mainly with physical and psychological
health, but also it is a bearer of values of respect towards oneself and towards opponents,
of equality, of brotherhood, of race integration and of peace.