Abstract des Autors

Taking into consideration German children as well as juveniles and their upbringing, in particular the conditions of their childhood, various scientific studies have shown an increase of physical inactivity in Germany. The consequences are obvious: physical inactivity leads to a decrease of physical ability and to a rise of hypokinetic diseases. Thus, a concentration on fitness training seems to be a "must" for physical education in future, especially for secondary schools, because juveniles' loss of physical performance is more dramatic than that of any other age set. Despite the fact that the positive effects of fitness training on both physical ability and health are carefully verified, the realization of this objective is regarded as quite difficult by training scientists as the specific circumstances of PE are barely suited to it. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse the necessity as well as the effectiveness of PE at school with reference to developing fitness. In doing so, it is firstly described in how far fitness training can be justified based on pedagogical arguments. Secondly, these arguments result in the conceptualization of a specific didactical notion of fitness training. The focus of the paper, however, lies on the presentation of several quasi-experimental field studies which have examined, if a pedagogical leitmotif such as fitness can be realized under everyday circumstances at all, whether specific framework conditions, e.g. a certain number of lessons or a specific period of time, are necessary to do so; and whether potential adaptations are stable over a certain timeframe. Verf.-Referat