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Parallel with attempts to introduce mandatory Physical Education, several Croatian schools held Physical Education classes on a voluntary basis: Rijeka (1855), Zagreb (1857), Zadar (1858), Split (1860), Samobor (1864), Rakovac and Karlovac (1867).
In 1874, the Croatian Parliament, Sabor, adopted the Act on the structuring of public schools and preparatory schools for public teachers in the Kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia.It was the first legal act in the area of education in Croatia. It introduced, among other things, mandatory Physical Education classes. Physical education became a mandatory class in primary (public), civic and teaching schools in the area of the Vice-Regency, Banovina, of Croatia. Also adopted were teaching plans and programmes (teaching basics): Physical education should promote the strengthening of the body, the agility of the spirt, skill and politeness in motion, and spiritual freshness. Thus, it is not just the will towards order, joint labour and submission to social order that are strengthened, but the confidence in the self is developed.
In primary (public) schools, between 1 and 2 hours of Physical Education were planned each week. Civic schools were to hold Physical Education classes for a total of 2 hours per week, while civic schools for women (higher girls’ schools) were to have Physical Education for a total of 1 hour per week.
The greatest challenges encountered at the start included: a lack of trained teachers to conduct Physical Education, the absence of literature on the subject, non-existent venues for physical exercise, as well as a shortage of equipment.
Secondary schools had regular Physical Education classes only in the city of Zagreb and then only between 1883 and 1893 when they were abolished. Mandatory secondary school Physical Education was only introduced in 1920 and it has remained so continuously until today.
In order to teach Physical Education classes in civic and secondary schools, a teacher had to gain special qualifications. To that end, special examination commissions were established in 1878. The exam was theoretical (both written and oral), as well as practical. Applicants were, among others, required to know: the history of gymnastics, the goal and tasks of gymnastics, A. Spiess’ gymnastics system, professional literature, anatomy, physiology and first aid. For the practical, applicants needed to show not just a high level of training in specific exercises, but also knowledge of the methodological procedures for teaching new exercises.
Franjo Bučar envisioned and led the Course for gymnastics teachersbetween 1894 and 1896, which is today considered the beginning of higher education in the field of kinesiology in Croatia. Bučar’s Course was a two-year gymnastics course attended by 30 individuals and had its foundations in Sweden’s gymnastics system and modern sports. Following the graduation of the first generation of attendees, the Course was not retained, but its impact on the introduction of modern sports and on the development of Physical Education in Croatian cannot be understated.
The education of kinesiologists continued immediately following the end of the 2nd World War at the Higher School for Physical Culture in Zagreb, which began operation in June of 1945. Immediately following its abolishment in 1949 as part of an effort to centralize and gather all professional forces in the newly-established State Institute for Physical Culture (abbreviated DIF), in Belgrade, Zagreb saw, as an alternative, the establishment of a Middle School for Physical Culture.
Today’s Faculty of Kinesiology of the University of Zagreb was established in 1959 as the Higher School for Physical Culture. This institution was integrated into the system of the University of Zagreb in 1967 and, as of the academic year of 1973/1974, it began working under the name of the Faculty for Physical Culture of the University of Zagreb. Under that name, the Faculty continued to operate until the year 2001 when it changed its name into the Faculty of Kinesiology.
Miroslav Singer (Vienna, 1821 – Zagreb, September 1876) is widely accepted as the first teacher of Physical Education in Croatia. Working from 1855 in Rijeka’s Lower Real Gymnasium as the teacher of fencing, he eventually moved to Zagreb where he helped establish practice venues in the gymnasia he worked in, the Great Royal Real School at Vraz’s Walkway and the Great Royal Upper City Gymnasium. In the summer of 1875, he organized and led a school of gombanje in Monastery Street. In cooperation with Andrija Hajdinjak, he wrote the booklet German-Croatian names for physical education and names for fencing 1875) and his text in Italian, titled Scuola di Ginnastic per fanciulli, fancuille e adulti (1857) was preserved, wherein he expresses and justifies the need to practice gymnastics.
Franjo-František Hochman(Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslavu. April 20th 1850 – June 23rd 1893) is a noted sports official of Czech origin. In Zagreb, he worked as a teacher of physical education in public and higher schools where he replaced the previously used German system with the more advanced system practiced by Czech Sokol (Falcon) movement. In a time when the Croatian language didn’t even have terms for aspects of physical education, Franjo Hochmann wrote two handbooks: The Guidebook for Physical Exercise in Public Schools (1878) and Physical Exercise in Public Schools (1884.).
Ivana Hirschmann(Sveti Nikola kraj Zeline, February 23rd 1866 – May 8th 1943), the only woman to attend the Course for gymnastics teachers in 1896, graduating as a teacher of physical education in secondary schools. Since 1891, she worked as a temporary assistant teacher of physical education in the Civic Girls’ School and as of 1908 as a permanent teacher of lower public schools with an education in gymnastics. During her long and rich career, she worked at the Women’s Lyceum in Zagreb (1892 – 1920) and until her retirement in 1923 she taught physical exercise in the Expert School, Higher Girls’ School, State Higher Girls’ School, Teachers’ School attached to the Real Gymnasium, Women’s Real Gymnasium, State Preparatory School and was the first gymnastics teacher in Croatian schools that had passed the national exam.
Marija Fabković(Prague, February 8th 1833 – July 24th 1915) was hired in 1868 by Zagreb’s Higher Girls’ School as a teacher. Five years later, she passed the exam to teach in civic schools in the field of biology, mathematics, French language and Physical Education. Between 1886 and her retirement in 1896, she worked as the teacher for Physical Education at the Lower City Girls’ Primary School. She is noted for her efforts to promote the role of physical education in the development of children, particularly girls.
Andrija Hajdinjak(Prelošćica, August 16th 1847 – Zagreb, November 11th 1885) was a Croatian sports official and publicist. This noted teacher and pedagogue of Physical Education was also one of the founders of the society of the Croatian Sokol (Falcon) Movement. Over the years, he wrote a handbook for teaching physical education in the Croatian language, Physical Exercise in Public Schools (1875), prepared the first Croatian book on sports terminology, the booklet German-Croatian names for physical education and names for fencing (1875) and the book Games for children of both genders (1878). (1878.).
Stanko Gnjatović(January 7th 1872 – November 16th 1926) following the completion of the two-year course in Zagreb held by Franjo Bučar, started as a temporary public teacher and was assigned to the Royal Men’s Teaching School and Little Real Gymnasium in Petrinja. His work and execution of exercises were adapted in accordance with the capacities of the schools in which he worked, he advocated for the spreading of Physical Education, especially Swedish gymnastics. At the Royal Little Real Gymnasium at which he worked and organized Physical Education; he organized the Boy’s Olympics of Secondary School Students in 1907..
Vladimir Janković worked as the teacher of physical education at the First Men’s Real Gymnasium in Zagreb, where in 1932, with a handful of students, he formed the Association of Physical Exercise. One of his major accomplishments is certainly the idea of renovating the Secondary School Play Field, which was completed in July of 1935. Janković was an author of a large number of published works on the basic question of the need and reasons for practice and exercise in the development of children. His publications include the following works: Basic of Physical Upbringing (1947), Meaning, Task and Organization of School Physical Exercise in the Vice-Regency of Croatia (1940), Expert Literature on Physical Upbringing in Croatia up to the First World War (1953), Physical exercise in school and the formation of personality (1950).
The greater majority of these publications was used in various periods as literature for the subject of gymnastics in teaching schools, as well as qualification courses and exams for teachers of gymnastics in secondary schools. While a few cases are simple translations of literature in foreign languages into Croatian, the majority of the publications are a result of the work of local authors.
The 6 most notable authors are: Andrija Hajdinjak, Augustin Jaromir Löffler, František Hochman, Franjo Bučar, Ivan Tomašić and Ivana Hirschman.
Beginning in 1878, the monthly publication Sokol (Falcon)), became the first specialized and expert magazine for the field of physical exercise in Croatia. Its editors were Andrija Hajdinjak and Franjo Hochman. The magazine Sokol (Falcon) egularly published numerous articles related to the general field of physical education, the methodology of physical exercise, professional and expert information, the biographies of noted representatives in the field of physical education, as well as a wealth of information from the country and beyond. When the magazine Sokolstopped being published, Croatia was left without a specialized publication until 1890, when Franjo Hochman re-starts regular publications with the magazine Gymnastics. This magazine for school and social gymnastics was regularly published for nine years. The first three issues were edited by Franjo Hochman and, following his death in 1893, the position of editor was assumed by dr. Franjo Bučar. Franjo Bučar’s editorial policy was characteristic, but clearly defined and the magazine during his work published numerous articles from the fields of pedagogy, medicine and the technical sciences, as well as practical instructions for working at schools. A particularly valuable contribution was the comprehensive and systematic approach, as well as methodological instructions, aimed at current programmes for Physical Education classes, which was especially important in the absence of expert literature.
The aforementioned improvements allowed teachers to more easily hold Physical Education classes, which simultaneously increased in quality and became better adapted to the students and their needs. In order for Physical Education to truly become a living part of society and so that the public might become more familiar with it, public exercises and sporting events were held showcasing the skills and knowledge gained by the students.
Among these events, the most famous of which were The First Secondary School Gymnastics Ceremony organized at the instruction of the Royal State Government at the play field of Zagreb’s lower city secondary institutions, on June 17th 1905, followed by the 1967, the Sporting games of primary and secondary schools of the Socialist Republic of Croatia. Today, sports competitions are organized by the Croatian School Sports Federation, where boys and girls of primary schools, or those from secondary schools, may participate provided they have the status of a regular student of the school in whose name they are participating, as outlined in the Education and upbringing in primary and secondary schools act.
Unfortunately, we are now witness to a large number of schools without sports halls, those whose halls are too small, those that had not been renovated or even invested in since their construction, those that lack necessary equipment and those that fail to meet established standards to conduct Physical Education classes. According to the Development Strategy for School Sports in the Republic of Croatia (2009 – 2014), a total of 290 (33%) of primary schools don’t have their own sports hall, while the situation in secondary schools is even worse, with 200 of them (51%) not having a hall and, with that, not even the basic material conditions to hold Physical Education classes.
