School physical education in the Third Polish Republic. Considerations in the context of the issues of value, obligation as well as cultural heritage

Abstract

In the article, based on the selected texts, the authors attempt to trace and capture the reasons for the phenomenon of avoiding PE classes in the Third Polish Republic in the context of the issues of value, obligation and cultural heritage. Taking into account that the examples could have been chosen in a biased way, the texts from various fields of knowledge were used. The changeability of understanding concepts of the value and obligation in perceiving and valuing ourselves, perception and the world around us, followed by the development of PE are discussed in the first part, starting from the Athenian system of kalokagatia and successively through selected, modern, leading European countries to deliberations on education and PE in the axiological space of the functioning of the First and Second RP and the PPR (PRL). In the second part, reference is made to the political and economic changes that took place after 1989 and their relation to school and PE education. In the summary, the view was expressed that over the centuries it is difficult to find in our cultural heritage a model of the value and duty of PE to the present day, outside the period of the PRL. There was a proposition to introduce the Australian model of PE, where PE is the subject of the secondary school-leaving examination.