O corpo no ensino superior: um estudo com os professores do Curso de Licenciatura em Educação Física

Abstract

Given that universities are the learning environment for a new generation of professionals, it is imperative to investigate and analyze the demands of the body in undergraduate teacher development courses. This paper aims at investigating the perception of the body in the discourse of teachers who work in undergraduate courses in Physical Education in the southern area of Goiás state. In the beginning of the development of this research I approach the teacher development course and its assumptions in building a professional identity that overcomes the Cartesian Platonic dichotomy that generated the idea of the body as a machine and as an object. Then, I address the Bodiliness Theory as an attempt to overcome the historical dichotomy between body and mind present in Physical Education. After that, I present the influences that have determined the conceptions of the body throughout history, from the Greek civilization to nowadays. Then, I present reports of the influences experienced by the body at school for further reflection upon the students’ conceptions of the body in the beginning of their undergraduate studies. As a methodological procedure, I employed the qualitative and exploratory research. As an investigative technique, interviews were recorded both on audio and video and analyzed by means of the Development and Analysis of Meaningful Units Technique. Based on the results from the meaningful units analysis, it was possible to identify, in the teachers’ discourse, conceptions that show an understanding of the body that is close to an existential understanding, and, because of this, it might be necessary to offer a proposal that guides and sustains them as a guide to their educational and formative practices concerning the bodiliness. In that sense, the Corporeity Theory is presented as a possible approach to the body, which could redefine it in Physical Education classes, not only by the body in motion, but arising from the body of the human being that is actually moving.