Tensions and challenges for a pedagogical practice in physical education designed from the perspective of children

Abstract

This article reflects on some of the issues inherent to the hegemonic adult-centric logics of a traditional physical education that has permeated the world of children, where a mechanised approach to discipline prevails, with a class structure based on the physiological curve of effort, where control and discipline are the backbone of its functioning, covered with gender stereotypes typical of the culture in which we live, among other key elements to consider. In these realities of physical education in the early childhood stage, adult voices prevail over children's voices, the prominence of teachers over that of boys and girls, competitive games over the logic of playful exploration typical of childhood, the logic of control over a democratic conception of the classroom, especially at an early age, and gender stereotypes predominate over motor practice for all. In this sense, this paper, after a general approach to the problem that we wanted to make visible in physical education classrooms in the childhood stage, three central tensions and some possible approaches to eradicate them are raised. These tensions are: i) children's protagonism in collaborative play -versus- the primacy of adult voices in competitive games, ii) democratic motor practices focused on emerging children -versus- hegemonic practices that deny the initiatives of boys and girls, and iii) motor practices for all -versus- motor practices covered with gender stereotypes. To conclude with some reflections that allow us to think about the pedagogical practice of physical education from the perspective of children.