Paulo Freire and school physical education

contributions to the systematization of knowledge based on the gnosiological cycle

Abstract

Since 1980, school physical education in Brazil has undergone a process of critique and reconstruction, motivated by the need to overcome mechanistic and technicist approaches that reduced teaching to the mere repetition of gestures. In this perspective, Paulo Freire’s thinking emerged as a fundamental reference for curricular re-signification. This study, of an essayistic nature, aimed to analyze the phases of Paulo Freire’s gnosiological cycle and its applicability to the construction of physical education curricula that consider the concrete experiences of students mediated with a critical educational praxis. The results indicated that the analysis of the category “gnosiological cycle” highlighted the relevance of articulating concrete experience, reflection, and transformative action, indicating pedagogical possibilities for school physical education to be configured as a space for the critical construction of knowledge. It may be concluded, therefore, that Paulo Freire’s legacy offers powerful theoretical and methodological support for the development of a physical education curriculum committed to social transformation and to the appreciation of body culture.