Between the prescribed and the lived in physical education lessons

Abstract

This study examines physical education (PE) curriculum development in an elementary school. Our goal was to understand the daily construction of a curriculum. We sought to analyse the theoretical and methodological framework and documents that a PE teacher uses each day while putting a curriculum into practice (lived curriculum). The data collection instruments included participant observation, interviews and document analysis. The analytical process revealed the influence of internal and external factors that affect both the authorship and the autonomy of a teacher working on the daily construction of a lived PE curriculum and that create tensions, struggles and conflicts.

Keywords:

• School physical education
• Curriculum
• Teaching
• Pedagogical practice

Notes

1. It is called the ‘EMEF: EducandoemEquipe’ (‘EMEF: Educating as a Team’), a fictitious name chosen by the school’s administrative staff.

2. This research project was duly approved by the Ethics Committee (record number 03783312.0.0000.5542). A signed consent form was obtained from each subject involved in the study as well as an institutional authorisation.

3. The study was held in the period of 6th March and 14th August 2012 (7 am to 12 pm).

4. Fictitious name selected by the teacher who collaborated in this study.

5. Resulting in a field journal of 101 scanned pages.

6. Note that the PE teacher who is Isabella’s colleague is not the primary subject of this study. However, as a result of the integrated pedagogical work strategy, we could not disregard the colleague’s presence. Thus, we took all necessary measures relating to requests for permission and the monitoring of his work.

7. This document was drawn up within the teaching unit in which the teachers recorded their classes. It functioned as a planning notebook. In the document, daily records were maintained of the teachers' classes and therefore of all of the activities in the PE project.

8. We must emphasise that for the first and second years, the theme of the education program was ‘Toys and Playing’, which was a project that involved various educational games such as checkers, chess, dominoes and puzzles.

9. We must emphasise that we monitored the development of two projects in ‘EMEF: Educating as a Team’. However, we chose to analyse the project developed for the third year and the third grade because of the systematisation and development of this project in the classroom.

10. This researcher, who was also a professor of PE, performed his field research in 2011 on the ‘EMEF: Educating as a Team’. In addition to performing his research, this professional participated in in-house training sessions organised by the PE teachers at the school. He taught two workshops at the school: one in gymnastics and another in constructing kites from recycled paper.

11. The idea of this training in school came after attending several continuing education meetings offered by Sedu/Serra. As a result of the dissatisfaction with the direction given to the training dynamics, it was determined to systematise the workshops within the school environment with specific content based on the experiences of each teacher in the group. In this particular case, there were four teachers (three PE teachers belonging to EMEF and the researcher). The workshops taught during this training were as follows: capoeira, games and play, constructing kites from recycled materials, general gymnastics and basketball. These workshops were held on the teachers' planning days.

12. The discussions began on 19 March and continued during the subsequent planning sessions (26 March and 2 April). The first version was finally drafted on 10 April 2012. However, the teachers began to develop the first activities related to the project on 22 May 2012.

13. The project was developed with six third year (A, B, C, D, F and G) and four third grade (A, B, C and D) classes, totalling 10 classes.

14. As described in the project, ‘in the Brazilian peripheries, there is a “cultural time” specific to flying kites that occupies an important part of schoolchildren’s vacation and leisure time, which is another important reason to include such content in school and specifically in PE classes. It is also worth mentioning that we have witnessed many news reports in recent years on incidents involving the use of kites: fatal accidents, crimes, court battles against the use of powdered glass-coated kite lines, and festivals, among others' (Physical Education Pedagogical Project, 2012, p. 2). This project was developed by the school and by the teachers and does not correspond to the Pedagogical Political Project that each school develops institutionally.

15. This Brazilian military dictatorship began with the coup of 1964, when the military overthrew the constitutional government of President João Goulart and remained in power until 1985. This period was characterised by the lack of democracy, suppression of constitutional rights, censorship, political persecution and repression of those who were against the military regime.

16. Based on this diagnosis, it was possible to advance towards establishing a relationship between the theme and the activity to be developed.

17. This strategy was used at various times during the manufacture of the kites, the tails, the tether and the other toys; the strategy emphasised the value of the experiences and knowledge of the students who assisted the teachers and their colleagues at various times.