Physical activity “as if” it were educational. History and new prospects of physical education in Italy: practice and reflection
Main Article Content
Abstract
The essay will deal with two specific aspects of physical education, set out in three different steps. The two aspects illustrated are: 1) the teaching of physical education during the years of compulsory schooling; 2) several in-depth research approaches that are used in Italy and are of particular interest. To achieve this, I will divide the paper into two different parts, in order to supply an overview that is as detailed as possible.
With the help of documents that have influenced the idea and practice of physical education and physical activities, the work will start with a review of the development of these disciplines in the post-war period. This is a particularly sensitive phase: although multiple sources will be referred to including an important contribution of governmental documents, the intention is to illustrate the complexity of physical activities in the field of human formation. This complexity is at the very core of physical activities, thus shaping both norms and reflection on those norms.
Lastly, a brief survey of research approaches to be found among Italian authors will be given; these illustrate effectively the complexity of these approaches towards the discipline. In particular, these different views will be correlated to issues that have come to the fore during the reconstruction of the historical development of the discipline.