The Ideals of Finnish Female Gymnastics as Reflections of the General Educational Culture of the Time

Authors

• Aino Sarje Jyväskylän yliopisto

Abstract

The first female gymnasts in Finland in the 1880´s set fairly radical aims for the educational work of girls and women. The educational cultures of the next generations of female gymnasts reflected the then prevailing educational objectives and the original goals developed with time to become more and more conservative. In my article I will describe how gymnastic style, the ideal gymnast and the pattern for the teacher were shaped from the 1880's to the 1960's. I will also outline what elements female gymnastics adopted from the educational ideologies of different times: public education, Herbartism, Deweyism and reform pedagogy. There is no earlier research on the subject.