Physical Education of Schoolchildren as a Managed Learning Process: Theoretical and Methodological Foundations, a Systems Perspective, and Modelling

Objectives. To synthesize contemporary scientific approaches to interpreting physical education of schoolchildren within the logic of a managed learning process and to clarify the role of pedagogical control, modelling, and age-related developmental regularities in shaping learning outcomes. Materials and Methods. The study was conducted as a narrative review of publications addressing physical education theory, pedagogical control, modelling of the learning process, age-related developmental regularities, and the teaching of physical exercises in general secondary education. The analysis was carried out from systems-based and learning-oriented perspectives on the organisation of physical education. Results. The review supports interpreting physical education of schoolchildren as a managed learning process in which learning outcomes emerge through the interaction of pedagogical control, modelling, and learners’ age-related developmental characteristics. Age-related regularities are best treated as parameters of learning models that define the boundaries for valid interpretation of pedagogical-control results. Pedagogical control acquires a regulatory function only when embedded within a model of the learning process. The synthesis also allows the learning of physical exercises to be interpreted as the formation and dynamics of learning states that can serve as objects of pedagogical control and regulation. Conclusions. The proposed synthesis enables interpreting outcomes of physical education as consequences of the organisation of the learning process rather than as autonomous normative indicators. This narrative review delineates theoretical and methodological frames for further research aimed at empirically testing models of managed physical education and refining tools of pedagogical control in general secondary education practice.