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This special edition is about the complexities of Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) and focusses on the unique and often underrepresented setting of Brazil. All researchers in PETE deal with complexity; we acknowledge that is the nature of doing research. But since the 1990s there has been a growing awareness of the need to think about complexity in different ways (Ovens [2017]. Putting complexity to work to think differently about transformative pedagogies in teacher education. Issues in Teacher Education, 26(3), 38–51. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from ; Ovens et al. [2013]. Complexity thinking in physical education: Reframing curriculum, pedagogy and research. Routledge). In particular, there has been increased resistance to overly reductionist forms of research that seek certainty and generalisability. What has emerged is the need for increased attention to the social–cultural–material environments in which teacher education takes place, particularly in the way such environments are agentic in constituting phenomena such as PETE. There has also been an appreciation that the essence of such phenomena cannot be distilled from the messiness of its context and generalised unproblematically. Such an awareness has provoked researchers to engage in more generative ways with the multidimensional, relational, dynamic and unpredictable nature of educational practice. Alongside this is the need to represent and document the diversity of PETE practices in order to understand how those practices emerge from, respond to, and consist of multiple connections, configurations, agents, interpretations and meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil is the largest and most influential country in South America with a population of about 211 million. The reality is a country with a wide gap between rich and poor. Many of its issues of (in)equity are related to a complex mix of factors, such as its large population, ethnic and cultural diversity, class and income disparity, late slavery abolishment, unstable democracy and political governance. At a national level, the former Brazilian government attempted to address the challenges outlined above by passing new legislation in 2007 that expanded the services and scope of the federal universities, particularly in respect to increasing access to tertiary education and providing increased support and infrastructure for people of middle- and low-income families. In this paper we analyse a PETE programme offered at one university in the Brazilian Northeast in response to changes introduced as a result of the 2007 legislation. Drawing on the perspectives of graduates from this programme, we examine how they see the complexity of social justice and equity issues from their experience in the course. Data were generated through focus group and individual interviews with former students. We supplemented this with document analysis of key policy and curriculum artifacts produced by the programme, and consultation with professors from the course to better understand the former students' experiential dynamics. Each participant expressed a strong affinity for and orientation towards social justice as an integral aspect of school physical education. The curricular restructuring enables students to engage with a broad range of content underpinned by ethical, political, aesthetic, epistemological, pedagogical and theoretical-methodological principles. We consider that this curricular orientation seeks to meet the regional and local needs so that future physical education teachers, in turn, intervene with a more critical socio-cultural perspective in their teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the impact of early childhood in physical education (ECPE) practicum experiences on pre-service teachers' (PSTs) perceptions on the development of the knowledge base. Specifically, this study focused on how PSTs bridged the gap between knowledge learned during campus classes and practicum experiences in an early childhood (EC) public school. Eighteen PSTs participated in practicum experiences embedded in two ECPE courses from a physical education teacher education program in Brazil. Data collection included focus group interviews. Data analysis was conducted through thematic categorical content analysis using a hermeneutic perspective to code the internal structure of the theme and their relationships. Participants initiated their practicum experiences based on academic knowledge in ECPE. Nonetheless, the findings suggest that new knowledge was generated through multiple and repeated practical lessons within their own singularities. These contextual singularities allowed PSTs to re-elaborate their knowledge and produce new ways to respond to different teaching situations. Participants acknowledged the importance of knowledge of students, the benefits of implementing different teaching styles and the need of improving common content knowledge in ECPE. The findings of this study indicate that the partnership between university and school was an effective way to bridge the gap between theory and practice. This partnership provided identification and application of teachers' knowledge base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research demonstrates the benefits of educating for social justice in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) programs. This body of research shows that social justice pedagogy enables student teachers to create a sense of social agency and community purpose in their teaching that positions them with more certainty when facing the political and professional hurdles embedded in a teaching career. The social justice perspective allows PETE educators and student teachers to work together in order to become conscious of the power structures in society that lead to social inequities. Although there are comprehensive studies on social justice and critical pedagogy in PETE, there is much to learn about how PETE educators conceptualize and practice critical pedagogy. Particularly in Brazil, there is limited research that confronts and analyses data from the myriad of emancipatory pedagogical PETE practices around the country, in order to turn those practices into a coherent body of critical narratives and shared knowledge. The purpose of this paper is therefore to explore the challenges, struggles and pleasures that two PETE educators faced in understanding and enacting critical pedagogy in Brazil. A theoretical framework based on Freire's critical pedagogy is employed to discuss the complementary narratives presented in this paper. We proclaim our hope that critical pedagogy might point to some avenues for political democratic struggles in a moment when public Education in Brazil is under severe attack promoted by the right-wing forces that currently sit on the presidential and the ministry of Education chairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the American presence and influences in the physical education press to understand the way in which that presence influenced and contributed to the production of a sports culture in the first half of the twentieth century. As historical sources, the study uses periodicals in the field that were published in the period 1932–1950. As a theoretical frame of reference, it uses the repertoire of the New Cultural History in terms of strategy, tactics and devices. It is written in a narrative way, following Ginzburg's style, presenting data and contextualizing them with the historic scene. Clues enabled us to infer that the American presence, which was catalysed by the Brazilian Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), sought to shape a sports culture from physical education and society. This effort reflected the yearning of Brazilian intellectuals for modernisation and an attempt at cultural colonisation by the government of the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this paper was to analyze 90 children's books dealing with Physical Education and Sport published in Brazil. Five study variables were established: literary genres, mediums, pagination, status as part of a collection related to sports, and the version of the publication. To develop the investigation, the technique of documentary analysis was utilized. Results: a) the literary genre "narrative" presents the biggest incidence in the children's books (with 93,33%); b) the medium "paper" is predominant in the children's books (with 90%); c) books not paginated are more frequent among the ones published in Brazil (with 73,33%); d) a little more than half of the children's books (51,11%) is part of a collection related to sports; e) there are a predominance of original children's books (with 96,67%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to analyze the consistency between the procedures used by the trainees teaching Physical Education -- UFPB, when the completion of supervised training in public schools in João Pessoa (PB), pedagogical and they adopt. We analyzed 159 lesson plans, with recording the results of its application, the reports coming from ten trainees for 2008. The documents were assessed by the technique of content analysis of Bardin (2008). It is the materialization of the teaching of trainees, their theoretical and methodological consistency and certain procedures correspondence between the didactic and pedagogical proposals adopted. The results indicate consistency in the use of the proposals, but also point to the difficult task of continuous interaction and rapprochement between the theoretical and planning teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the effectiveness of neuroscience in the development of different areas of knowledge, adoption of the teaching of this discipline in physical education programs is proposed so students and professionals might learn teaching strategies they can apply in practice and, in doing so, provide comprehensive care to the population, primarily to persons with neurophysiological disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Physical Education has been changing throughout its history both in its nomenclature and its purpose. The interest on the Stage in Supervised Physical Education, discipline of a higher percentage in the curriculum of the course, aroused doubts about its methodology, its practical implementation, supervision and guidance to the course of its implementation. The Stage Supervised should be a moment of reflection of educational performance, time to relate the knowledge gained in IES (Higher Education Institutions) with the actual situation on stage. The study aimed to find evidence in the literature and answers to clarify issues regarding the supervised practice. In the discussions and results was possible to verify many views in terms of the contribution supervised vocational training, positive and negative aspects that strengthen the idea that transcends the bureaucratic supervised, it is a collaborator and essential tool for the Vocational Training Physical Educator. As proposed for the situation found, we suggest the creation of a "core of Stage" in the IES that guides the student-trainee on issues regarding of the supervised and its achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The curricular stages (obligatory and non-obligatory) in Physical Education needs be recognized as an important moment for knowledge acquisition. This perpective gives the real value for the knowledge of both theory and practice in the process of professional development in the area. The aim of this article is to reflect about the experience of the stages in the Physical Education Course taken at Federal University of São Carlos. This investigation will indicate all difficulties and possibilities during the last ten years of course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's insights on the outdated curricula of physical education in Brazil concerning on exercise immunology. Topics discussed by the author include the history of Brazilian education, lack of exercise in patients, and significant role of lymphocytes and macrophages in improving the efficiency of aerobic exercise in mice.