Changes in the physical education in schools, a short history of everyday physical exercise and physical education

The role of physical education in schools has been undergoing a constant change over the past centuries.  Based on Takács’s (2009) overview we can state that due to the impact of the Reformation which took place in the 1500s, the Jesuit and Protestant schools paid more and more attention to physical education. Primarily, it was János Csere Apáczai and Comenius who formulated theories about physical education [1]

At the time of the Reformation József Eötvös, the minister of religion and public education, supported the introduction of the subject of physical education, but because of the War of Independence, the introduction did not take place. After the compromise the training of physical education teachers also enjoyed a boom, and the National Gymnastics Club became its main institution. Its impact was mirrored in the public education since the activities of the Gymnastics Club spread this sport in schools.

After World War I the development of physical education in schools began: the determination of the main structure of physical education classes and its methodological principles were given a new foundation. Owing to the 1934 secondary school reform physical education was declared a goal of the same importance as that of intellectual and moral education.

After World War II, from 1945 to 1950, the foundations of the socialist sport framework were laid: the development and restoration of the sport infrastructure began, and during that period the formation of different sports associations took place.

Between 1950 and 1990 the period of the implementation of the socialist sport clubs occurred. Its main goal was the creation of the well-established Soviet-style sports model. The most important key features of the model were the following:

• The development of youth sport and physical education in schools which is financially supported and consistently structured in professional and methodological terms.

• The political use of sport: the campaign-like, successful presentation of physical education in schools and of grassroots sport was an important tool of the ideology of the regime.
• Significant financial and organizational support was provided for the cultivation of talent.  

After the change of the political regime the situation did not change either. The main reason was the low level of the development of the society and the lack of centralized financial support. The physical education became the area of outdated and inadequate infrastructure; in addition, besides the reduced number of physical education classes in schools, the development of physical education did not receive enough attention.

Since 2004, after Hungary joined the European Union, the country has received more and more support for sports, which raised the hope for a change. The directives of the European Union concerning the development and the renewal of sport have helped to remedy the deficiencies of the past twenty years as well as to change, at least partly, functional routines. [2]

The changed, sedentary lifestyle and the total rejection of physical exercise is mirrored in the vocational guidelines for educators: today, the objective of a physical education lesson is not a complete workout of the body but its target is the achievement of a joyful physical education which serves health needs and is part of a healthy life style.

The 1993 LXXIX Law on Public Education, article 52, paragraphs (9) and (10), provide the following:

"Schools are obliged to create the conditions necessary for the everyday physical training of students and they are also obliged to ensure the operation of the school sports club, if there are at least four years operating at the school and at least one class in each year."

"(10) Everyday physical exercise has to be guaranteed from years one to four of primary schools. Everyday physical exercise is realized within the scope of at least three physical education sessions per week and playful physical exercise specified in the local curriculum. The playful, health developmental physical exercise conforming to the age and stage of development of students has to be organized on every school day without physical education lessons and in every morning teaching period without physical education lessons, in the first four years of primary school and in case of all-day education and teaching respectively. The duration of the playful, health developmental physical exercise is at least thirty minutes a day, which may also be held within the scope of several activities of at least fifteen minutes. The playful, health developmental physical exercise can be organized as part of the lessons and, if necessary, by using a maximum of fifty per cent of the duration of one break at most. " [3]

The plan / desire for everyday physical education was articulated again and again but the necessary resources were available possibly from grants. The results of the inter-ministerial project financing health promotion exercise, and implemented at the beginning of the last decade, showed that 90 percent of 140 schools supported by the project were able to ensure everyday physical activity and spinal correction exercises for the students, in line with local conditions, with flexibility, and reaching parental cooperation, even if the infrastructure conditions were not adequate.

In terms of the application of the project, Vörösmarty Mihály Primary School in Kecskemét deserves particular attention: for two decades it has ensured the program of everyday physical education, incorporated in the lesson allotment beside forty-minute lessons. The basic idea of everyday physical education started in the middle of the eighties, in Makó, Csongrad County, and belongs to Géza Ivanics, a teacher of physical education. Also, the school head teachers and the teachers of physical education of Pál Tomori primary school in Budapest, Béla IV primary school in Kundacs, and Barátság primary school in Dunaújváros should be mentioned for their pioneering work in the field of laying the foundations and administering the program of everyday physical education involving the whole school.

In 2005 in Hódmezővásárhely the first Hungarian program of everyday physical education on a municipal level was launched, within the lesson allotment, which was an important initiative of overall social significance. [4]

Judit Nagy Tózse-Rigóné (2011) in her PhD dissertation entitled ‘The complex program of everyday physical education in Hódmezővásárhely from 2005 until 2009: realization, effectiveness analysis, software development’ wrote the following:

“In my dissertation I present a possible implementation of this convenient instrument of health development in school. In Hódmezővásárhely, since the autumn of 2005, the Everyday Physical Education Program has been introduced in all council schools, within the scope of which five physical education classes per week are provided for the children of lower primary school, while four physical education classes per week are provided for the pupils of upper primary school and of secondary school, including one swimming class per week.

The primary school is divided into a lower lever (class 1-4) and an upper level (class 4-8).

My work was carried out on two levels. On the one hand, as the coordinator of the development and the implementation of the program, I performed operative tasks during the process of the implementation of a school health promotion pilot project on the council school level, due to which I gained significant and important experience for the professional analysis, because during the planning, launching and administering of the project we meet a number of serious problems to be solved. On the other hand, from the 2007/2008 school year on, the program has been supplemented with a complex measurement system covering the whole population (5500 participants), which, after the implementation-related experiences and in line with the logic of health promotion, made it suitable for the effectiveness analysis,. Thus, I also carried out analytical and research tasks. After drafting the model of the Everyday Physical Education Program and laying down its theoretical foundation, as well as having coordinated two measurements of two school years, I created the data base of around two million items, I completed the first processing of the measurement data of the primary school pupils,  I carried out a questionnaire survey on a representative sample in order to explore the assessment of the Everyday Physical Education Program, and developed the data management mechanism indispensible for longitudinal studies." [5]

I found it important to mention this study because it is possible that the effects of the Everyday Physical Education Program will beexamined based on the Hódmezővásárhely model. It was announced in the Kossuth Radio program, Krónika, that the Program had already been completed with fitness tests and screenings. In spring the measurement of pupils' fitness will begin nationwide in the affected classes in schools. To do this Hódmezővásárhely will develop its own methods of measurement, in conjunction with the University of Szeged. The goal is make sure that in spring the Hódmezővásárhely mothods of measurement should be used nationwide. However, the results will not only provide the information about fitness level. Árpád Kallai, the general director of the Erzsébet hospital in Hódmezővásárhely said: It will also be possible to measure how effective a particular school is in the field of everyday physical education, and how seriously the teachers working there take it. [6]