19世纪中期,英国学校开始引入体育运动作为重要的教育手段。1850—1914年,体育教育从培养贵族精英儿童的公学扩展到为工人阶级子女开办的初等学校,对提高英国儿童身体素质、陶冶道德情操等方面起了重要的促进作用。然而,这一时期内体育教育始终有明显的阶级区分。公学的体育课程以足球、板球等游戏为主,初等学校的工人阶级儿童接受的则是枯燥的军事操练。20世纪初在社会进步力量的影响下,体育比赛被初等学校纳入正式课程,工人子女开始享受到初步的体育福利。 In the mid-19th century, British schools began to introduce sports as an important means of education. From 1850 to 1914, the expansion of physical education from the cultivation of elite elite children to the elementary schools for working-class children played an important role in promoting British children’s physical fitness and cultivating moral sentiments. However, physical education has always had a clear class distinction during this period. Public physical education courses to football, cricket and other games dominated, working-class children in elementary schools to accept is boring military drills. At the beginning of the 20th century, under the influence of the progressive forces of society, sports competitions were put on formal courses by elementary schools and workers and children began to enjoy initial sports benefits.