The “práticas corporais - educação física” textbook: a look at the “construção de valores” section

Abstract

Even though the textbook is a long-standing didactic material within the school education, its use in the subject of physical education is still emerging, and only in 2017 the Brazilian National Textbook Plan made it possible to achieve a teacher's handbook. With that in mind, the aim of this investigation was to examine the purpose of the section called “Construção de Valores” [Construction of Values] in the textbook entitled “Práticas Corporais - Educação Física 1º e 2º anos” [Body Practices - Physical Education 1^st and 2^nd grades] of the physical education curricular component. It was a bibliographic and documentary study, whose analysis drew on some writers of Critical Theory and Historical-Cultural Theory. The textbook under investigation includes the thematic units established in the Brazilian National Common Curricular Base (BNCC), and seeks to cover the dimensions of knowledge via topics that involve the conceptual introduction of the content studied, the experimentation and the analysis of motor activities and activities for students’ guidance and assessment, so as to prepare critical and creative students. The outline introduced in the handbook adheres to the BNCC guidelines and combines values and principles to maintain the current form of sociability. The “Construction of Values” section, despite highlighting paralympic sports practices, relegates that specific knowledge of physical education to a secondary role, in order to uphold the development of moral values. Finally, the organization and systematization of the textbook, while following the guidelines of national normative documents, promote pseudo-education.