usually the PE at school it is seen as a complementary subject, as if it were less important than Mathematics, History or Portuguese Language. Is it true? It is necessary to understand that Physical Education is a compulsory subject in the school curriculum and that it has its own characteristics, as we will see below.
The term Physical Education presupposes the idea of controlling the body or, even, controlling the physical. Educating, since the 17th century, is an action that is closely related to corporal discipline: a separation proposed by Descartes, between body and mind, becomes the basis of the entire educational process western. This is a very visible fact in classrooms: the body remains seated and still, without “disturbing” the mind's exercise in reasoning and learning.
At first, Physical Education, when included in the school curriculum, was seen as a time to practice gymnastics, with the purpose of making the body healthy. After many reforms in the very idea of Physical Education, it is currently a complex discipline that should, to at the same time, work on your own specifics and interrelate with the other components curriculum. According to the National Curriculum Parameters (PCNs), an official document of the Ministry of Education, Physical Education at school must consist of three blocks:
| Games, Gymnastics, Sports and Fighting | Rhythmic and expressive activities |
| knowledge about the body |
According to the document, these three parts are related to each other and may or may not be worked on in the same class.
The first block, “games, gymnastics, sports and fights”, includes activities such as artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, volleyball, basketball, high jump, swimming, capoeira and judo. The second block covers activities related to body expression, such as dancing, for example. The third block proposes to teach the student basic concepts about the body itself, which extend to from the anatomical structural notion, to the reflection on how different cultures deal with this instrument.
If we analyze a class in which the teacher works only the four team sports (volleyball, basketball, football and handball), from the perspective of an Education Physics that aims at the student's reflection on himself and on the society in which he is inserted, we will soon realize how poor the experience of the body becomes in these classes. In this sense, it is essential that the understanding of oneself, of their culture and of other cultures is broadened, in order to make the Physical Education subject effective as an educational curriculum component.
Physical Education has an educational advantage that few disciplines have: the power to adapt the content to the social group in which it will be worked. This fact allows for a freedom of work, as well as a freedom of evaluation - of the group and of the individual – on the part of the teacher, which can be very beneficial to the general educational process of the student.
By Paula Rondinelli
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Physical Education from the São Paulo State University “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” – UNESP
Master in Motricity Sciences from the São Paulo State University “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” – UNESP
Doctoral Student in Integration of Latin America at the University of São Paulo - USP
