Physical Education in the Preschool Education Curriculum in Greece: A Historical Review

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to register the process of Physical Education (P.E.) integration in Greek early childhood curriculum, as they were enacted by the legislation of the Greek State. The review of Greek early childhood curricula starts from 1895, where it was legislatively based the constitution of kindergarten schools, acknowledging and legalizing the establishment of private kindergarten schools, and goes through with the Integrated Educational Preschool Curriculum, as it was worded in 2003. It was noted that the first three curricula that were formed for the Greek kindergarten schools (the years 1896, 1962 and 1980)
are placed among the so called traditional since they contain guidelines according to which preschoolers should be educated, while the last two curricula (the years 1989 and 2003) are placed among the modern ones, with psychological direction, since their teaching goals are based on the findings of developmental psychology. From the review of the above-mentioned curricula, it is clear that the Greek State worded theoretically preschoolers’ participation in Physical Education activities from the first curriculum until the Integrated Educational Preschool Curriculum. The few research approaches that exist, study the influence of intervention Physical Education programs on the achievement of motor goals, such as the development of basic motor skills and the psychomotor development, as well as the implementation of motor activities as interdisciplinary tool for learning.