Methodologies of physical education teaching in Brazil: an epistemological analysis

Abstract

This study focuses on the historical trajectory of school Physical Education (PE) in Brazil and the analysis of the theoretical matrices that underpin its teaching methodologies. It aims to discuss the trajectory of school Physical Education in Brazil, highlighting its epistemological foundations and its contributions to the constitution of teaching methodologies in the area. The methodology consisted of a theoretical-bibliographical research with a qualitative approach based on classic PE works published since the 1980s to categorize pedagogical proposals. The results and discussions show the transition from Trends focused on biologicism, militarism, and sports performance to critical and democratic models, as well as differentiating pedagogical proposals into Approaches (non-propositive), Conceptions (propositive but not systematized), and Perspectives (systematized). It is concluded that understanding these matrices is essential for teacher training in PE, allowing the overcoming of merely technical and reproductive practices in favor of a critical, reflective, and socially referenced pedagogical performance. The analysis reveals a field in constant paradigmatic dispute, where PE ceases to be just a movement technique to be understood as a field that produces interpretations of corporeity.