The use of curricular materials in physical education: rationality and professional development of teachers

Abstract

Curricular materials are instruments used in the school context as mediators of the teaching-learning process. During its use in the educational practice use are materialized both the model of teaching and the way to conceive the curriculum. The aim of this work is to present two basic ways of understanding the use of curricular materials supported by two different professional rationalities, relating both to the professional development of teachers. In this way, the general characteristics of the way of understanding these curricular materials from a technical rationality and from a practical rationality are collected, differentiating the situations of proletarianization or teaching professionalization according to the type of rationality applied by teachers. Finally, some implications that these forms of use have for Physical Education and their teachers are discussed. They are related to the practical nature of this subject, the development of practical knowledge in students, the predominance of certain contents in teaching, the use of technologies for the control and measurement of physical activity, the influence of the tradition and the professional culture in the subject and the initial formation of the teachers.