Physical Education in the New Mexican Shool: holistic education in Primary School (Original)

Abstract

The New Mexican School emerged as an educational proposal following the 2019 constitutional reform, with the intention of reorienting the national education system toward a holistic, equitable, and humanistic education. From this perspective, Physical Education plays a strategic role to accomplish the principles of this school by promoting the development of cognitive, motor, social, and affective dimensions in primary school. This article aims to analyze the role of Physical Education in the New Mexican School as a tool for the comprehensive development of children, based on a theoretical-descriptive study with content analysis of official, academic, and regulatory sources published between 2020 and 2024. The article examines the school's guiding principles, its humanistic approach, its curricular foundations, and the challenges of its practical implementation in the classroom. The results show that, although the New Mexican School incorporates principles of inclusion, critical thinking, healthy living, and interculturality, its effective implementation depends on teacher training, pedagogical contextualization, and the creation of school environments that foster active and meaningful learning. Physical Education emerges as an ideal means to consolidate the holistic vision of the school, contributing to the formation of critical, healthy citizens committed to their social environment. It is concluded that the articulation between the philosophical principles of the New Mexican School and educational practice in Physical Education constitutes a fundamental path to strengthening basic education in Mexico.