Physical Education Without Boundaries

During an exchange programme in Jyväskylä, Finland, teacher-training students from the University of Magdeburg are learning how education, sport and health are integrated in Europe.

Rounders in Finland, dancing as a warm-up exercise, and then a sauna instead of a lecture theatre: for Elicia Vetter and Lucie Kolbe, physical education this summer term looked rather different from usual. Normally, the two teacher training students attend their modules in their minor subject, sports science, on the campus of Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. This time, however, their studies took them to the University of Jyväskylä in Finland for five days.

There, they took part in an international sports science exchange programme. The so-called ‘Blended Intensive Programme’ forms part of the ‘Specialization in the Field of Physical Education’ module at the University of Magdeburg and is a format within the European Erasmus+ programme – the EU’s education programme – which promotes stays abroad, exchanges and joint teaching projects involving students, lecturers and universities across Europe. For the past four years, it has been bringing together students and lecturers from various European universities. The aim is to gain an insight into physical education teacher training in different countries, compare teaching ideas and learn from one another.

For the students from Magdeburg, internationalisation thus took on a very concrete form: not as a buzzword in a strategy, but as a joint PE lesson with students from Finland, Poland and Spain. They planned teaching units, presented German methods and discussed how topics such as inclusion, health literacy and physical activity can be incorporated into everyday school life.

In total, over 40 students from Germany, Poland and Spain met in Jyväskylä with their Finnish hosts. “The aim was to learn about physical education and teacher training in other European countries. At the same time, we were to demonstrate what a typical PE lesson looks like in our own country,” says Lucie Kolbe.

Among other things, the Magdeburg group opted for a dance-based warm-up and a game of Brennball – a game many of them still remember from their own school days. What sounded simple at first quickly turned into a professional comparison: How is a lesson structured? How can all the children be involved? How can physical activity, team spirit and health awareness be combined?

Alongside the PE lessons, the programme included workshops, joint debriefings and an evening programme. For Elicia Vetter and Lucie Kolbe, this part was particularly important. After all, if you want to understand how people learn and teach in another country, you also need to experience what life is like there. In Jyväskylä, the visit coincided with the period around 1 May, which is celebrated on a particularly grand scale in Finland. There were games evenings, parties, excursions and a visit to a sauna village.

“All in all, it was a very intense time,” the two students say, looking back. From morning until afternoon, the programme consisted of events at the university, and things often continued into the evening. But the exchange was well worth it: “During that time, we had the opportunity to get to know Finnish culture, learn about a different higher education system, broaden our academic horizons beyond our own campus, engage in plenty of academic exchange and make friends with many wonderful people from Finland, Spain and Poland.”

The programme thus also represents a development that further strengthens the university through its international focus and its membership of the European higher education alliance EU GREEN, in which a total of nine European universities collaborate on research and teaching.

For Elicia Vetter and Lucie Kolbe, one thing stands out above all: physical education does not stop at national borders. Anyone who goes on to teach a class themselves will take back from Finland not only new exercises, but also a different perspective on school, physical activity and Europe.