Physical Education and Sport Design in the Italian School

Abstract

Since the ancient civilizations to the contemporary age, human movement such as games, gymnastic, physical education and sports, have brought out different interests and values, sometimes antithetical, but which are the expression of a protean phenomenon capable of responding to the most disparate human needs in different contexts; and it is precisely in relation to the multiple contexts that distinct directions have originated different systems and methods of physical education. During the twentieth century the scientific-cultural demands and the historical-political contingencies that guided scholastic reforms and ministerial measures determined an evolution of physical education which, from military education without educational identity, gradually and also due to the combination with moral and civic education, has reached an autonomous disciplinary dimension in the contents and in the learning objectives, as well as the recognition of the interdisciplinary and transversal character for the global formation of the person. The present work, through a historical excursus and the analysis of the school's programmatic documents as well as some specific project experiences and the students sport games, aims to bring out the potentiality of Physical education and school sport to combine different training needs through a wide range of contents and methods.