Dario Škegro

Training and Education for Conducting Physical Education Classes in Croatia since 1875

This research analyzed the activities and events that enabled the establishment of an education and training system for physical education (PE) teachers in Croatia. The beginning of professional PE education in Croatia is related to its introduction as an obligatory subject in the elementary school curriculum of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in 1874. Most elementary school teachers did not have the knowledge needed to conduct PE classes. We recognized two parallel systems of training introduced in 1875: the first consisted of short training courses, and the second was the introduction of gymnastics as an obligatory course at teacher-training colleges. Twenty years after these obligatory PE classes were introduced to Croatian schools, Franjo BuČar organized and managed a two-year course for secondary school gymnastics teachers (1894–1896) after his return from a two-year educational programme at the Royal Central Gymnastic College in Stockholm (Sweden). This high school was the first for PE training not only in Croatia but also this region of Europe. In 1959, the first Croatian institution for PE education was established: the High School for Physical Culture in Zagreb.