Health studies in the physical education curriculum of a public university: Reflexivity, agency and structure

Abstract

This study examines how professors influence the configuration of Health as an academic topic in the curriculum designed for Physical Education (PE) instructors. It focuses on a doctoral thesis that analyzes professors’ CVs and selection processes at CEFD/UFES between 1990/2017. Focusing on Anthony Giddens’s structuration theory, it discusses how the data hegemonically point to ‘biologization of the curriculum’ and how professors’ agency and the structure of policies for curricula and graduate studies influence those processes. Furthermore, these data also point out the emergence of broader perspectives connected to Social Sciences/Humanities and Collective Health. This work goes beyond ‘disciplinary’ discussion about the curriculum and underscores professors’ presence as a factor in the analysis of training policies in PE.