Volleyball Circle Circuit: Social Representations of Gender in School Physical Education.
gender; school physical education; social representations; elementary school.
This research emerges from the concerns observed by the researcher in everyday school life regarding gender inequalities that influence the occupation of court spaces, engagement in bodily practices, and opportunities for protagonism in Physical Education classes. The study is based on the understanding of the school as a social space that, far from being neutral, can legitimize and reproduce historically constructed inequalities. The relational dynamics experienced in students’ bodily practices are permeated by symbolic and subjective conditioning factors that extend beyond institutional boundaries and shape boys’ and girls’ dispositions, contributing to girls’ withdrawal from classes and to the legitimization of male dominance over court spaces. Such conditioning factors are expressed through Gender Social Representations, as bodily practices addressed in Physical Education classes are associated with the symbolic male universe, potentially relegating girls to the position of intruders or inappropriate participants when seeking to appropriate these practices. This process may be intensified when teachers share social representations grounded in deeply rooted gender stereotypes, contributing to the naturalization of hierarchies and asymmetries in everyday school life. Therefore, the general objective of this study is to investigate the Gender Social Representations that influence students’ participation in Physical Education classes in Elementary School through a sociopedagogical intervention entitled the Volleyball Circle Circuit. As specific objectives, the study seeks to identify such representations in the school context, analyze their impacts on student participation, and propose more equitable coeducational practices grounded in the teaching of basic volleyball fundamentals, playfulness, and cooperation as strategies for promoting critical reflection on the factors that condition female participation and for challenging distorted gender representations naturalized in the school environment.
Keywords: gender; school physical education; social representations; elementary school.