An "other" physical education thought from the perspective of children

Abstract

Today, in our opinion, both from society in general and from the pedagogical proposals regarding the corporal and its motor expression in childhood, the multidimensionality and needs of boys and girls who live in educational institutions are not being addressed. Where are we? where are we going? and where do we want to go in Physical Education? These are questions that challenge us to reflect on the meaning, significance and contribution of the discipline to society, motivating us to propose an "other" Physical Education, conceived from childhood as a counterproposal to the logics of individualisation, performance and competitiveness present in the educational system, so typical of market societies. In this framework, we first present tensions present in the current educational system that perpetuate proposals closer to the physical-sporting approach to Physical Education, rather than related to children's motor skills that encompasses the expression of the globality, self-valence and particular stamp of being in the world of each boy and girl. Secondly, we propose the foundations of this "other" Physical Education thought from the perspective of childhood, referring to the meanings of the body and motor skills in children's development. Meanings that dignify their playful-exploratory experiences, their possibilities of being with them, of being with others, and of being with and in nature. We conclude, beyond a homogeneous recipe book, by inviting educators to re-create, together with the children, itineraries of vital fulfilment that allow the development of the capacity to be, to live together, to be able and to know how to do.