A COMPARISON OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION ( PE ) DEVELOPMENT IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC , GERMANY , AND THE USA – A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

BACKGROUND: After the year 1989, political, structural and economic reforms caused signifi cant changes in education in the Czech Republic, also aff ecting physical education (PE). Within the context of unifi cation and globalization there are similar changes in progress in other countries. OBJECTIVE: The complex situation, fast changes and various pedagogical traditions complicate the creation of a systematic view of the current PE reforms. The objective of this paper is to describe the most important events in the history of PE in the Czech Republic, Germany and the USA and to explain their eff ect on the PE curriculum changes in the selected countries. The purpose of this historical analysis is to present some fundamental information about the development of PE in selected countries which will make possible further comparisons of the current reforms of physical education. METHODS: Our methodology is based on historical comparison outlining and comparing the history of the PE concepts in selected countries. RESULTS: Our results and fi ndings show the diff erences in the history of PE in the Czech Republic, Germany and the USA and the crosscultural infl uence of the countries on the development of PE concepts. Especially the Turners from Germany infl uenced the beginnings of Czech and American PE in the 19 century. Other gymnastic systems entered the USA later but the philosophy of pragmatism and the infl uence of the modern Olympic movement brought signifi cant changes into the American PE concept at the beginning of the 20 century. As a consequence, the gymnastic systems have been replaced with the “sport recreational” concept. In the 20 century the emphasis on physical education changed repeatedly when confl icts between countries occurred. For example the German, Czech and American PE emphasis shifted from games and sport to physical conditioning after WWI and WWII and also after the Korean and Vietnam War in the USA. Further diff erences in PE concepts were caused by diverse political ideologies in the second half of the 20 century. Physical education in the former Czechoslovakia was infl uenced by the Soviet physical culture philosophy. Popularity of sport in the 1960ʼs and the 1970ʼs aff ected the PE curricula in Western Germany, but later, in the 1980ʼs, sport decreased in importance. After the end of the “Cold War”, PE focussed on “life long activities,” and the infl uence of American culture was visible in the PE development in European countries. Recently, an active life style has been supported and the issue of health has become an important part of the PE curricula. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this analysis confi rm diff erent approaches to physical education concepts among these countries in terminology, roles, and goals during diff erent time periods. Our fi ndings also show that the educational reforms in Germany and the USA were started 10 and 20 years earlier than in the Czech Republic. Therefore, it is important to carry out further comparisons of current educational reforms that might help to reform Czech physical education.


INTRODUCTION
The concepts of physical education in different countries are diverse.Even their terminology is not the same.In the USA and in the Czech Republic as well, the term physical education is used, but in Germany it is called "Sportunterricht," which means something like "the teaching of sport" or "lessons in sport."Physical education was re-termed in the GDR in 1965, Western Germany followed after 1970 (Balz & Neumann, 2005).
Taking these diff erences into account, we can agree with Naul (2003) who admits that it is not wholly surprising that diff erent and various concepts of the subject exist in terms of the curriculum.
Throughout history the status of physical education has developed.In our considerations we also agree with Brettschneider (1997) and many other authors (Cazers & Miller, 2000;Kössel, Štumbauer, & Waic, 2004;Naul, 2003;Siedentop, 2006) that from the late 17 th century to the mid 18 th century three systems (the German, Swedish, and English) laid the foundations of sport and physical education in many countries across the world.Naul (2003) recognises four concepts of PE (sport, movement, physical and health) which developed in the 19 th century and are more or less predominant in various countries today.
In contrast to Naul (2003), who paid attention mostly to the western European countries, we would like to add some more components from the Czech point of view.Dimilarly to Naul (2003), not many Czech authors have paid attention to the American history of PE.We would also like to enrich Naulʼs thoughts about the history of PE with some information from the USA.

METHODS
This methodology is based on comparative physical education and sport which is a discipline fi rst described by Bennett (1970).In the recent years this scientifi c fi eld is gaining in popularity1 which is visible not only due to the number of articles dedicated to the methodology of comparative physical education and sport (Hardman, 2000;Kaulitz, 2001;Kudlorz, 1989;Pühse & Gerber, 2005) but also due to the growing number of comparative studies in different areas of physical education and sport2 .The International Society for Comparative Physical Education and Sport (ISCPES) publishes its magazine called the Journal of Comparative Physical Education (recently renamed International Sport Studies).It contains eight main topics into which the articles are divided (Editorial, 2004) Also Kaulitz (2001) divides the areas of comparative research in physical education and sport into different areas.As a basis for comparative research, she stresses the importance of historical comparison from an international perspective.Kaulitz reminds us of some publications dedicated to this fi eld of comparative research such as "The German contribution to American physical education: A historical perspective" (Cazers & Miller, 2000).In our article we were inspired by Cazers and Miller who described the German contribution to American physical education mainly in the 19 th cen-tury.In contrast to Cazers and Miller we would like to summarize the further development in the 20 th century and the contribution of American culture to the European development of PE. Hagg (1989) names two dimensions for comparative research: • horizontal -comparison of diff erent social settings at a given time, • vertical -comparison of diff erent time periods regarded to fi xed questions.
As Fig. 1 shows, we describe the development of physical education concepts in three diff erent countries (the horizontal approach) and in diff erent time periods (the vertical approach).As the method of our research we have chosen the qualitative analysis of texts (Gavora, 2000).Švaříček and Šeďová (2007) describe the particular steps of this method, when historical events in each country are lined up and consequently compared (Fig. 1).
As Germany is considered to have laid the foundations of school physical education we shall start with the historical analysis of PE in this country.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN GERMANY
Johann Basedow (1723-1790) was the fi rst person to have conducted gymnastics as a part of education in Germany.He was the fi rst modern writer and teacher of organized gymnastics.He is credited with founding the Dessau Philanthropinum3 and writing about the Education of mind and body (Cazers & Miller, 2000).
Guts Muths (1759-1839), one of the originators of gymnastics, wrote various books including gymnastics exercises for girls.For example, he wrote Gymnastics for youth, the fi rst book on modern gymnastics, in which he describes the use of sloping beams, climbing poles, ladders and ropes along with the balancing beam and the swinging beam.
Another important person in the history of German physical education who also infl uenced gymnastic leaders in the Czech Republic (Rychtecký & Fialová, 1993) and the USA (Cazers & Miller, 2000) was Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778-1852).He was a member of a nineteenth century political and gymnastics movement called the "Turner" movement.He founded the "Turnverein" (a gymnastics club) and established the fi rst public "Turnplatz" (an outdoor area for gymnastics) in Germany in 1811.Physical education was supported in Germany after France defeated the German army in 1806, so the popularity of the Turnverein was useful in opposing the French domination of Germany in the 19 th century (Kössl, Krátký, & Marek, 1986).After Napoleonʼs fall, it began to dissolve as the government thought the "Turners" (members of the Turnverein) were too liberal.In 1818 the "Turner" organization was outlawed and Jahn was arrested.But the members remained loyal.Some emigrated and laid foundations for physical education in many countries including the USA such as Fridrich Hecker, Charles Follen, Charles Beck, Francis Lieber.In Germany, in the 1860ʼs, there was a revival of the organization, but it stayed out of politics (Brettschneider, Brandl-Bredenbeck, & Rees, 1997).
Adolph Spiess (1810-1858) (the founder of school gymnastics) utilized the gymnastic ideas of Gutts Muths and Jahn in Switzerland.He formalized Jahnʼs system for use in schools and helped to add physical education to the German school curriculum.
For many years, the Germans presented a barrier to the inclusion of English sports and games in the formal gymnastic oriented PE curricula in Germany.Alternative gymnastic concepts from other countries were accepted at the governmental level earlier than the English sports and games concept.At the end of the 19 th century militarism started to emerge in German PE.The familiar ideas of Christian virtue was replaced with the ideology of the Aryan superman (Brettschneider, Brandl-Bredenbeck, & Rees, 1997).Naul (2003, p. 43) points out an interesting fact: "It was only under Fascist rule in the 1930ʼs that stronger support than ever before was given to the sports and games concept." After World War II the process of sport promotion and shaping all elements of physical education with the spirit of sport had begun in the GDR (German Democratic Republic -East Germany) school system (Balz & Neumann, 2005), whereas in West Germany there was a clear gap between the sport clubs and the school physical education system.The West German Sport Federation (DSB) and some state ministries of education campaigned to bridge this gap after 1966.Hence, the spirit of sport superseded all former physical education aims and objectives in Western and Eastern Germany (Hardman & Naul, 2002).In both countries, the term sport even replaced the term physical education as the subject name (Kurz, 1993).
Since the late 1970ʼs, the deconstruction of the sport concept started in West Germany.But the full deconstruction of the sport model emerged in the 1980ʼs, when the so called "student centred" teaching approaches were fostered and two alternative PE concepts appeared: Funkeʼs (1983) "body education" concept, and the critical "Frankfurt group" (1982) concept.The so called "alternative concepts" to sports education became popular in Germany in the 1980ʼs and early 1990ʼs, at primary schools in particular.
As a result of the educational reforms that were started after the German reunifi cation in 1990 the sport oriented curriculum was being replaced by movement education.As Richter (2007) points out, Nordrhein-Westfalen is considered to be the leading state in the movement education approach (Ministerium für Schule, Wissenschaft und Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, 2001), but there still remains the sport oriented curriculum in some states of the German federation (Brettschneider, 2003).

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC
In the 18th century physical education was not compulsory in terms of school education.However, Jakub Jan Ryba (1765-1815) paid attention to PE outside of the school system (Novotný, 2006).
In 1869 physical education became a compulsory subject with two lessons a week.The curriculum during those times was written by Adolph Spiess according to the Jahn-Eiselen system.
In February 1862 Miroslav Tyrš founded the Prague Gymnastics Association later renamed Prague Sokol.Eight other units were founded in Bohemia and Moravia in the same year.Many signifi cant Czech patriots took part in this movement.
Paul Gautsche's announcement made in 1890 was important for the further development of PE (Kössl, Krátký, & Marek, 1986).This announcement brought some changes to the PE curriculum (swimming, ice skating, etc. were included) and the building of new sports grounds was encouraged.
At the end of the 19 th century, the content of PE was infl uenced by some elements of the Swedish and French system and especially by the development of the international sport movement (Kössl & Hubička, 1983).In 1911 the new curriculum was introduced.It included optional games, athletic exercises and other simple and consecutive exercises.
In 1925 the fi rst congress of the Czech teachers and school supporters took place in Prague.As a consequence Tyršʼs system became a basis of PE.PE teachers also gained an equal position with other teachers.After 1925, the health importance of PE was emphasized and for the fi rst time it was called physical education.Winter sports and walks were also added to the list of curriculum and methodical materials were distributed to the teachers (Rychtecký & Fialová, 1993).
The concept of PE radically changed after the release of a new curriculum in 1934.The infl uence of the French and New Austrian school was visible (Kössl, Krátký, & Marek, 1986).More emphasis was put on athletic exercises, health education and competitiveness.In the period before World War II, physical education was under the Defence Act of Educating Citizens.This was dissolved with the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.War tasks became present in PE and the condition for physical education started to degenerate.The end of World War II left Czechoslovakian education (including PE) in a worsened condition than before.
After the end of the war the school system was renewed.The events of February 1948 caused the codification of PE and the law of comprehensive schooling was passed.Physical education was infl uenced by a Russian physical culture concept in which physical fi tness was supposed to ensure military strength, productivity, and nationalism (Nováček, Mužík, & Kopřivová, 2001).Sports were viewed as a way of achieving international fame.
In 1955 the fi rst worldwide Spartakiada took place and from that time on, the Spartakiada4 became a part of school physical education.Due to the Spartakiada rehearsals the tasks of school physical education were not fully carried out (Kössl, Krátký, & Marek, 1986).During the 1970ʼs sport activities became dominant in the PE curriculum and stress was put on performance and competitiveness.In the 1980ʼs the so called "desportifi cation" of Czech PE emerged.Stress was put especially on a positive attitude toward physical activity rather than sport.
The fall of Communism brought a kind of vacuum to school physical education.And, eventually the instruction of PE often had a recreational content.Since the mid 1990ʼs, the situation has been improving due to the recent reforming process in the educational system and a more scientifi c curriculum.According to the newly introduced educational programmes (RVP ZV, 2007) a wide variety of PE activities concerning health targets will be used in PE classes (Mužik, 1999).

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE USA
The beginnings of organized PE in the USA were connected with the German gymnasts (Turners), the activities of whom were first introduced by Charles Beck at the Round Hill School in 1826 (Lumpkin, 2004).His followers were Charles Follen and Francis Lieber (Siedentop, 2006;Vlček, 2009a).Gymnastics clubs were founded in a number of cities including New York, Pittsburg, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Louisville, and Chicago.After the end of the Civil War in 1865, the German Turners became very popular in the USA.In 1886 there were 231 clubs with twenty-four thousand members across the country (Kössl, Krátký, & Marek, 1986).
Another approach to PE was introduced by Catharine Beecher.Her popular Physiology and Calisthenics for schools and families (1856) included chapters on the circulatory and other systems of the body and provided a description of schoolroom exercises for girls and boys (Stillwell & Willgoose, 2006).Other systems, such as the Swedish one and that of Lewis, Delsartian, Hitchcock, and Sargent, had their patrons as well.These programmes became the prominent physical education system in the United States in what became known as the "Battle of the systems" (Siedentop, 2006).However, none of these systems prevailed.Instead, a unique American system emerged as traditional education was challenged by John Dewey and his colleagues (Cazers & Miller, 2000).Proponents of progressive education were emphasizing the importance of play and games in psychosocial as well as physical development (Singule, 1991).
Nineteenth century Protestant evangelism was another root of the belief that sports and games build character (Clifford, 2001).Here, the Young Men's Christian Association, or YMCA, played a critical role.The YMCA began in London in 1844.The Young Womenʼs Christian Association or YWCA was founded in 1894.As originally conceptualized, the YMCA and YWCA encouraged Bible studies rather than exercise.However, when the organizations started opening chapters in the United States and Canada, its leaders found that Bible study classes did not attract as many young men and women as the gymnasiums of the Swiss and German gymnastic clubs.Consequently, many YMCA and YWCA buildings built after 1880 included weight rooms, gymnasiums, and swimming pools.
As a result of the popularity of the YMCA and YWCA, the philosophy of pragmatism and the modern Olympic movement, games, sports, and dance increasingly replaced formal gymnastic/calisthenic systems at the beginning of the 20 th century (Brettschneider, Brandl-Bredenbeck, & Rees, 1997).
Surprisingly, many Americans were not physically fi t for military service during World War I, and there were many post war eff orts to implement physical education at all levels of schooling (Massengale, John, & Swanson, 1997).During World War II, physical fi tness was again required of soldiers, but it was also required of many others, particularly women, since the war eff ort required manual labour.Soldiers once again lacked in suffi cient physical fi tness to fulfi l requirements (Kelly & Melograno, 2004), so after the war, schools instituted more rigorous PE requirements, and there was a greater interest in teaching physical education.By the 1950ʼs, there were over 400 colleges and universities in the USA off ering majors in physical education and there was increasing recognition of the scientifi c foundation of PE.
But the fi tness of the army in the Korean War fell short of expectations again (Kelly & Melograno, 2004).Hence, the federal government set up the President's Council on physical fi tness, which was supposed to raise fi tness standards in schools across the country.
Yet, the series of recessions in the 1970ʼs and the 1980ʼs brought about cutbacks in many school programmes, including physical education (Lumpkin, 2004).By the end of the 1970ʼs, interest in the President's Council had waned and physical education courses began to emphasize lifetime sports (Zeigler, 2005).The American public spontaneously developed an intense interest in fi tness in the late 1970ʼs.School programmes were dominated by curricular innovations such as: movement education, adventure education, cooperative games, activities for girls and persons with disabilities.
One of the most signifi cant shifts of the 1970ʼs was the Title IX amendment to the Federal education act, which stipulated that all federally funded education programs could not discriminate on the basis of gender (Lumpkin, 2004).Enforcement of Title IX opened up many new opportunities for women in competitive athletics, both at the high school and collegiate levels.
In a continuation of the trends of the 1980ʼs, during the 1990ʼs many school districts have limited the amount of time students spend in physical education classes or have even dropped the program in response to economic problems or concerns about a poor quality of the curriculum.
Since 1983, American education has been in a period of educational reforms (Kelly & Melograno, 2004;Hendl & Vindušková, 2004;Jelínková, 1993).One promising step concerning the future of physical education was publication of the National Standards for Physical Education (NASPE, 2004).This document establishes content standards for the physical education school programme that clearly concentrates on "movement" education emphasizing the life long physical activity of the population (Dobrý & Hendl, 2006;Kelly & Melograno, 2004).

DISCUSSION
In understanding the history of PE, we can notice some similar shifts in the concept of physical education caused by the mutual infl uence of the three countries.In the 19 th century PE in the USA and the Czech Republic (but also in other European countries), was infl uenced by the German gymnastic system.Later, both the German system, which emphasized gymnastics with large apparatus, and the Swedish system, which focused on light, progressive calisthenics, had numerous advocates in each country.Elements of Jahnʼs program and gymnastic equipment (the horizontal bar, parallel bars, balance beam etc.) can be seen in nearly every Czech, German and American physical education programme today.
The beginning of the 20 th century was characterised by the militarization of European physical education, whereas, in the USA, the English games and sport movement was being introduced during the 1890ʼs.Pragmaticism, together with the rise of the modern Olympics (Guttmann, 1992;Kössl & Hubička, 1983) and the popularity of the YMCA and YWCA, brought sports and games into the PE curriculum in the USA.The "Sportifi cation" process of physical education signifi cantly infl uenced the PE curriculum in European countries too, but it did not become evident until the end of World War II (Kössl, Krátký, & Marek, 1986;Naul, 2003).
"The post war era was signifi cant in sport for people with disabilities in America as well as in Europe" (Kudláček, 2006, p. 23).Especially in the USA, World War II had a tremendous impact on the development of adapted physical education (Seaman & DePauw, 1982).Many war veterans claimed that their disabilities could not be corrected which led to the separation of corrective physical therapy and adapted physical education in 1952 (Sherrill, 1993).
The second half of the 20 th century brought a diff erent development in the PE concept of these three countries.Life time sport activities along with other philosophies (human movement, humanistics, play education, sport education, experiential and adventure education, the fitness renaissance and the wellness movement) played a role in American PE development.In Western Germany the importance of sport in PE curricula grew in the 1960ʼs and 1970ʼs but decreased in the 1980ʼs.The Soviet federation influenced PE in the former Czechoslovakia and other East European countries.The PE curriculum focused on sport and performance limits in the 1970ʼs and resembled the German development in the 1980ʼs when the importance of sport decreased in PE curricula.
The USA brought further development into German PE in the second half of the 20 th century especially due to the American troops and their families who stayed in Germany after World War II.For example, they brought sporting games such as basketball and volleyball to Europe (Bretschneider et al., 1997).And, after a period of an anti-American movement in the 1960ʼs (Brettschneider, Brandl-Bredenbeck, & Rees, 1997) American infl uence returned to Germany in the 1970ʼs and also came to the Czech Republic, especially after the political changes in 1989.This brought a new and fun introduction to sports such as outdoor activities, jogging and aerobics, body building and other movement concepts.
All three countries have been dealing with the same problems in recent decades concerning physical education.Many scientifi c reports have pointed out that in spite of the extensive warnings from health organisations, a large number of children and adolescents do not engage in regular physical activity (CDC, 2003;Dollman, Norton, & Norton, 2005;Frömel & Bauman, 2006;Hrčka & Drdácká, 1992;Naul & Brettschneider, 2005;Wolf, Manson, & Coldiz, 2003).The ongoing educational reforms in all three countries, which clearly support health and active life style (Feingold & Fiorentino;2005;Richter, 2007;Vlček, 2009c), can therefore be regarded as a promising reaction.

CONCLUSION
Practitioners and researchers in the profession of physical education need to know where it has been, how it got there, and where it should be going.As we read reports and articles about the perspectives of physical education in Europe and in the USA (Frömel, 2001;Hardman, 2003;Hardman & Marshall, 2000;etc.), it is not diffi cult to notice that the future of the subject and the discipline is being challenged.A careful study and understanding of the history and the development of our subject is a prerequisite to a full understanding of the overall situation.Germany and the USA have been undergoing educational reforms for a longer time than the Czech Republic, so we can gain some valuable information from them, which might help to reform Czech physical education.

Fig. 1
Fig. 1 Development of the PE in the USA, Germany and the Czech lands (The picture summarizes the most important events in the PE history of the three countries.Here are what are supposed to be, simplifi ed and transparently shown, the periods and the most important changes in PE.) Klíčová slova: historie, koncepce tělesné výchovy, Česká republika, Spolková republika Německo, USA.