With the arrival of the first German Mission (1927), led by Dr. Francisca Radke, who was responsible for founding and directing our Institute, physical education was incorporated, with contributions from two Germans: Miss Gertrud Fuerser as a gymnastics teacher and Professor Hans Huber in sports and hiking. At that time, the Instituto Pedagògico Nacional, created for the training of female teachers, developed activities such as body gymnastics, apparatus exercises, sports, games, walking, jumping, running, swimming, and excursions.
By 1970, with the arrival of the second German Mission and after the IPN had already been established at its campus on 127th Street, the Physical Education area greatly benefited from the importation of Olympic gymnastics equipment and apparatuses from Europe. Some of these are still preserved and used today, including parallel bars, balance beams, horizontal bars, pommel horses, vaulting horses, gym boxes, and trampolines.
Currently, the area is composed of 13 teachers, and the focus on gymnastics has gradually been replaced by sports practice itself. Training programs have been introduced in different disciplines, while physical education continues to serve as a fundamental cross-curricular axis within the Institute. Likewise, several competitive sports are offered after school, including basketball, women’s and men’s volleyball, artistic gymnastics, women’s and men’s soccer, and ultimate.
The area guides pedagogical practices toward both traditional and innovative approaches within the evolving process of physical education, recreation, sports, leisure time management, and extracurricular activities. The purpose is to create educational spaces aligned with global, national, and local standards, and especially with the institutional objectives of the PEI. The contents are structured and presented systematically and progressively, as they are conceived around the students’ biological, psychological, social, and physiological maturity and development, as well as their psychomotor skill level. This is achieved through holistic education based on the cultivation of sports and gymnastics activities, dance, games, guided exercises, among others, as well as activities that promote values and respect for the body.