Physical activity in the natural environment in degrees in physical activity sciences and sports of the Spanish public institutions

a study on the subjects offered in the undergraduate level

Abstract

We carried out a diagnosis of Adventure Bodily Practices (PCAs) disciplines in Physical Education courses at Spanish public universities. We collected data by consulting university websites and found 53 disciplines in 29 institutions. We subject the collected documents to a content analysis. One group of disciplines focuses in a generic/conceptual way on PCAs while other deals with specific practices, such as surfing or skiing. Generics are in the early years and are almost all mandatory; the specific ones are in recent years and are mostly optional. There is no explicit conceptual distinction between activity and sport or between natural environment, nature and environment, but, in general, they refer to unregulated spaces. The universities of Huelva and INEFC-Pirineus offer in-depth studies in PCAs, with six and eight subjects, respectively, standing out among other institutions.