Dr. Szabó Lajos: A magyar ifjúság testi nevelésének története (A Sportmúzeum Kincsei 5. Budapest, 2004)
A tornatanító képzés megszervezése
IT WAS THE CYMANSTIC SCHOOL of Pest opened in Hungary by Ignotius Clair in 1833, the students of which received a degree, a so called master of gymnastics, that entitled them to teach the subject of gymnastics, but it was not a pedagogical diploma. After the suppress of the 1848-49 War of Independence, and the following Hapsburg absolutism the problem of training gymnatic teachers was postponed to thenext decades, The Physical Training Institute in Pest (the legal successor of the Clair Institute), continued existing with the support of Earl Manó Zichy and issued about 62 decree in "physical training educator" between 1849 and 1863, The April 1861 copy of the Orvosi Hetilap (Medical Weekly) published the ideas of a physician Tivadar Bakody about organizing a central physical training institute for training educators. Baron Joseph Eötvös, minister of education of the legal/official Hungarian Government established in 1867 wanted to solve the problem by establishing a public institute for training gymantic teachers taking the Swiss, Swedish and Danish examples, But this idea could not be realized because of his sudden death. Finally it was Bakonyi and his colleagues who organized gymnastic educator training within the framework of the National Gymnastic Club (NTE) . The first real gymnastic educator course was launched on November 15 1868. Earlier they had organized 6 week long courses for teachers of other subjects. 9 person graduated from the first course. The subjects and teachers were as follows: history of gymnastics (Elek Matolay), anatomy, physiology (Ferenc Torday). theory and practice of gymnastics (Ernő Bokelberg). Later fencing was also introduced (József Keresztessy). The issued decrees made the educators able to work in elementary- and secondary-, public-, and teacher training schools, and doing activity in clubs, too. So instead of the long-term plan of Eötvös, gymnastic educator training became dependent on private clubs.
