The Body at School: A Forgotten Dimension
In late November 2020, the Ministry of National Education launched the “30 Minutes of Daily Physical Activity at School” initiative to combat physical inactivity among children. This was already a significant problem before the COVID-19 pandemic, and widespread lockdowns have made it even more pressing, as initial scientific studies have shown.
Sylvain Wagnon, University of Montpellier and Fabien Groeninger, University of Montpellier
Beyond this measure—and the awareness it implies—the role of the body in learning remains an open question. Isn’t this one of the great oversights in the history of French education? How can we envision an education system today that takes into account the whole child, in order to foster the fulfillment and empowerment of all?
The Emergence of Physical Education
The ministry’s proposal to promote physical activity among students is in line with the international “Daily Mile” initiative. Launched in Scotland in 2012, this program involves having children in all schools run one mile—more than 1,500 meters—every day.
The stated goal in France is to combat the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle, and physical activity there is limited to motor skills. In Finland, however, the “Finnish Schools on the Move” initiative is much broader in scope and aims to integrate physical activity into the daily school schedule, rather than confining it to a single activity.
On a voluntary basis, more than 90% of Finnish schools participate in the program. Recess periods are scheduled regularly so that children do not remain seated for more than two hours, while relaxation exercises help students focus on all their school activities.
In France, physical education has certainly been part of the school curriculum for a long time, and the Third Republic even assigned it civic, patriotic, health-related, and economic objectives. Gradually, the sporting aspect was taken into account—particularly under the Popular Front with Jean Zay, who saw it as a means of promoting social justice and equality. But it wasn’t until 1962 that the discipline was officially established as an institutional subject.
Nevertheless, physical education and sports remain a subject that must constantly reaffirm its legitimacy in the face of so-called “intellectual” disciplines. This turbulent history of the relationship between physical and intellectual education partly explains why physical education teachers were not fully integrated administratively into the National Education System until 1981—they had previously been under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Historical Taboo
The pioneering work of Pierre Arnaud, Georges Vigarello, Jacqueline Descarpentries, and Bernard Andrieu has highlighted this prioritization of cognitive learning over physical learning, largely for religious and political reasons. The body, perceived as an obstacle and a source of disruption, is excluded from the school setting. It is an obedient, tamed, and standardized body that the French school system has shaped through the centuries-old classroom model, where children sit all day long.
There is a real, long-standing taboo surrounding the body in schools—specifically, regarding knowledge of the body and taking children’s biological rhythms into account in the learning process.
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The recurring question is whether the body is part of the person being educated or whether it simply accompanies that person to school. Earth and Life Sciences (SVT) curricula address this understanding of the body, as well as education on health, hygiene, and sexuality. Yet the body remains a subject of debate, poorly understood, and burdened by numerous stereotypes.
In a report by the French Institute of Education, Marie Gaussel clearly highlights the many educational and political aspects of the body’s role in schools, but above all its consistently marginal status.
Prioritizing Learning
The mind-body dualism characterizes the French educational system through the dichotomy between cognitive learning and physical, manual, and emotional learning. However, this hierarchy between body and mind reflects a misunderstanding of the mechanisms of learning, motivation, and interest in children—mechanisms that have been highlighted by child psychology and the “New Education” movement since the late19th century.
Specific activities, such as yoga, are beginning to be incorporated into school curricula. However, it would also be important to offer activities that help develop the various facets of a person’s personality.
Marianne Lenoir ’s work in educational science emphasizes the importance of taking the body into account when understanding well-being at school, as well as motivation. This is also a key aspect of alternative educational approaches—whether the Freinet, Decroly, Montessori, or Steiner methods—which reminds us that the concept of holistic education—that is, taking into account the various facets of the human being and refusing to compartmentalize cognitive, physical, and psychological development—is a long-standing one. As early as 1869, the anarchist educator Paul Robin had made it a central issue of individual and collective emancipation.
Could a holistic education be the future of the French public education system? The body cannot be reduced to curriculum components: It is an integral part of any comprehensive discussion of our education system. Current debates highlight the need to transform the practices and goals of the French education system and the the need to move beyond the compartmentalization of academic disciplines. This is just one step among many toward reimagining a new approach to education that respects learners’ individuality.
Sylvain Wagnon, Full Professor of Education, School of Education, University of Montpellier and Fabien Groeninger, Research Associate at Lirdef (Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Research s in Didactics, Education, and Training), University of Montpellier
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Readthe original article.