Outdoor physical education in French schools during the twentieth century

ABSTRACT

During the twentieth century, outdoor physical education (OPE) gradually integrated with the French education system. Culturally speaking, OPE had to overcome several hurdles because it promoted values such as freedom, initiative and responsibility that were deemed incompatible with the existing educational model. Beyond being a pedagogical tool, the health and welfare implications justified the existence of OPE within the school system, thus changing the meaning of those values. The question of human relations with nature truly facilitated the incorporation of OPE into French educational programmes even if the scope of its development is rather limited today. Some might regret the predominance of a kind of physical activity that conveyed values and was proven to be especially productive in terms of issues related to education, security and respect for the environment. Nevertheless, OPE physical activities found their rightful place within the school system because of the sports facet of the activities.

KEYWORDS:

• Nature
• history
• teaching
• values
• democratization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. For many doctors, politicians and instructors, the introduction of games and exercises outdoors during the school day provoked both the decline of intellectual education and the loss of moral and disciplinary virtue that comes from traditional forms of gymnastics.

2. It was a question of using therapeutic elements chosen from the most basic, the most physiological and the most natural (diet, physical exercise, hydrotherapy, heliotherapy, aero therapy, psychotherapy, etc.).

3. The Decree of 11 May 1959 regulated the following OPE activities without competition: deep-sea activities, mountain climbing, camping, bicycle touring, rafting, sailing, skiing, speleology.

4. In 50 years, work time was reduced by 45% for a lifetime; only 10% was dedicated to work, 19% if you include studies, which on average corresponds to a decrease in work time of 11 years during a person’s lifetime, four weeks per year and seven hours per week (Viard 2002).

5. Sémiotricité corresponds to the semiotic approach for motor skills; in other words, deciphering motor skill behaviour. Initiated in 1977 by P. Parlebas, semiotricity concerns the individual’s place in a group during a physical activity. It goes beyond acquired knowledge and replicating physical and/or sports techniques to analyse behaviour and development strategies of students during apprenticeship. It is essential in explaining why the notion of uncertainty was a structuring factor in student progress.

6. In France after the 1990s, the notion of personal skills was an important subject in relation to the modernization of the education system. Following the publication on 11 July 2006 of the common skills and knowledge base detailing the direction of the law on ‘the Future of the School’ urgently adopted by the Assemblée Nationale on 2 March 2005, personal skills are skills linked to a group of physical and/or sports activities.

7. During the 2000s, following structural reform (orientation law of 2005 and 2015), the PSE (physical and sport education) programmes were altered on a regular basis. Among the innovations, sports practice was reorganized into new categories. In the year 2000, the ‘required skills’ were initially linked to ‘cultural and methodical elements’ and then to personal skills in 2008. Personal Skills n°2 (CP2) brought together all physical and sports activities so as to manoeuvre safely in various and unstable environments. Activities geared towards achievement, mastering and adapting movement and the ability to make itinerary choices in relatively unknown areas, in a natural environment or similar conditions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michaël Attali

Michaël Attali is a professor at the University of Rennes 2. He is the laboratory director of Violence, Innovation, Politics Socialization and Sports (VIPS²), and head of the master’s Sport and Social Sciences—Administration, Territories, Integration. His research focuses on representations of sport and its cultural integration, particularly to social and cultural innovations in the forms of physical practices. He recently published a book on the role of an institute in the transformation of skiing and mountaineering. He has published several books and articles including The Cultural Dictionary of Sport (2010). Web page: http://perso.univ-rennes2.fr/michael.attali

Jean Saint-Martin

Jean Saint-Martin is a professor at the University of Strasbourg. He is the Director of the Faculty of Sport Sciences. Being registered in political and cultural studies, his research highlights the development of school physical education and sport during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The conditions of diffusion and transformation of body techniques are leading to a cultural and political consideration. Web page: https://f3s.unistra.fr/recherche/equipe-de-recherche-sport-et-sciences-sociales-e3s/composition-de-lequipe/saint-martin-jean/