Comparison of the beliefs of teachers in Aracati (Brasil) and Valencia (Spain) about choosing Olympic combat sports

Abstract

Problem Statement: The supposed violence that comes with the practice of combat sports entails has caused the rejection of numerous social spheres, pedagogues and teachers of Physical Education dismiss these sports as content for their classes. Approach: This study investigates the factors that determine the choice of combat sports by Physical Education teachers, according to what they know, what they think, and what they need of these Olympic modalities. These variables are directly linked to the role of the PE teacher and the selection of the five Olympic combat sports (taekwondo, Olympic boxing, fencing, Olympic wrestling, and judo) for their syllabus in order to find out: what do they know? What’s their opinion? And what do they need in order to include them in their syllabus? Purpose: A descriptive analysis is carried out from which the percentage of frequency is extracted, within the classification of the initial CCDCEF Questionnaire in its scales of: Know, Think and Need, of the sample teachers from Aracati (Brazil) and Valencia (Spain). For figure it out we rely on the Teacher Belief questionnaire regarding Combat Sports in the Physical Education classrooms, where the results of 79 teachers from Aracati and 81 teachers from Valencia are compared. Results: The main factors that justify their scarce presence refer to the fact that teachers consider their practice risky and dangerous, and that social pressure has a negative influence on these sports. Conclusions: Teachers are willing to invest time in learning and understanding the basics of the five Olympic modalities to introduce them in their classrooms. The creation of adequate and adapted curricular materials for the introduction of combat sports, especially for taekwondo, Olympic boxing and Olympic wrestling in schools, is necessary to reduce the prejudices that teachers and society have towards these modalities.