The origins of Georges Hébert’s Natural Method of Physical and Moral Education

Abstract

This study aims to resume the founding characteristics of Georges Hébert's Natural Method of Physical and Moral Education, observing the author at a historical and cultural level and the relationships with the various authors of the time, studying the works that characterized him and mainly analyzing his Experimental method. He devised a method that was first applied in a military environment at the "École du Bataillon de Lorient" and later in a sports environment at the "Collège d'athlètes de Reims". The Method was accredited thanks to the intense activity of literary production, in particular he devoted himself to his most important work: L'Éducation physique, virile et morale par la méthode naturelle. Today we reread Georges Hébert, since he was one of the first scholars to classify human movement, defining the 10 families of "natural exercises". The reinterpretation that emerges from it finds elements that put the body and movement in the natural environment back at the center.

Keywords

• Natural Method
• Physical and moral education
• Hebertism
• Outdoor education