Gymnastics schools in Spain: a doctrinal and technical conflict in physical education (1806-1936)

Abstract

In contemporary Physical Education, the so-called ‘war of methods’, a discussion which transcended the scientific and technical forum, became a reality at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. The European contends among countries found in the emerging gymnastic movements of the 19th century a repercussion of national identities and wishes. In Spain, a thrilling reasoning around the advantages and disadvantages of Physical Education or around the praised European gymnastic movements called for a necessity to bridge the gap of a suitable method, attuned to the Latin race characteristics. As we will see later, this discourse surfaced in the regenerationism milieus of the beginning of the past century, giving one of the most characteristic features of the dearth and desolations of the development of Physical Education in Spain. The object of study is to outline a first argumentation that deals with the ‘war of methods’ in the own academic field, especially focused on the school Physical Education and its development in Spain, between 1806 and 1936. The historic-documentary study of the problem is presented from an accurate selection of sources and original texts, and from the hermeneutic analysis of them, relating them with the historical context of the gymnastic and sport movements of the Physical Education between 1806 and 1936. We can conclude that, mostly in Spain, the predominant gymnastic method to attend Physical Education in schools, until the beginning of the 20th century, was Francisco Amorós´ gymnastics and Dr. Schreber´s ‘Playroom Hygienic Gymnastics’, which were lately replaced by Corporal Games and by Swedish Gymnastics, whose influence came from France and, in later years, the presence of an eclectic movement towards Hébert's natural method and the Sport Games was emphasized.