booklet of human development on active schools …...6 pnud 2016 boolet of huan development //...

Booklet of Human Development on Active Schools in Brazil2 0 1 6

Booklet of Human Development on Active

Schools in Brazil2 0 1 6

101

Booklet of Human Development on Active Schools in Brazil: 2016. – Brasília: UNDP: INEP, 2016. 68 p. : il., graphs. color.

ISBN: 978-85-88201-33-0

1. Human Development. 2. Active Schools. 3. Education. 4. Physical Education. 5. Brazil. I. United Nations Development Program. II. National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (INEP).

CDD 370.11

REALIZATIONN I k y FA B I A N C I CUNDP Resident Representative in Brazil

D I D I E R T R E B U CqUNDP Country Director in Brazil

M A R I A I N ê S F I N IINEP President

SUPERVISIONM A R I S T E l A M A R q U E S B A I o N IAssistant Resident Representative for Programme - UNDP

COORDINATION A N D R é A B o l zo NCoordinator of the National Human Development Report – UNDP

PAU l A ko R S A k A SResearch on Active Schools Coordinator – Human Development Programme by Sport (PRoDHE) /USP

TECHNICAL TEAM UNDP S A M A N T H A D oT To S A lv E , vA N E S S A G o M E S z A N E l l A , lU I S A k I E l I N G , R A í S S A T E I x E I R AINEP E D UA R D o D E S ão PAU loResearchers E D I S o N D E J . M A N o E l , lU I z E . P. B . To U R I N H o DA N TA S , o S vA l D o l . F E R R A z , DA lTo N F R A N C I S Co D E A N D R A D E , J E ovA N I S C H M I T TTechnical Coordinators J o S é A N I B A l F. A . M A R q U E S , E D UA R D o N . P. D I C I l lo

TECHNICAL RESEARCH COMMITTEE DA N I E l A C A S T R o – Sports Network for Social Changeí TA lo D U T R A – Ministry of EducationD E B o R A H M A lTA – Ministry of HealthG I S E l E B . A . R o D R I G U E S D E S á – Ministry of HealthTA í S P o R To o l I v E I R A – Ministry of HealthC á S S I A DA M I A N I – Ministry of SportsA N D R é A E w E R To N – Ministry of SportsM A R Co A . R . D E A N D R E A z z I – IBGE

INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERM I N I S T Ry o F E D U C AT I o N

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT (for the initial idea that gave rise to the research)lU I z C l AU D I o Co S TA - Ministry of EducationJ o S é F R A N C I S Co S oA R E S - INEP

UNDP BRAZIL EDITION Graphic Design: DATA D oT E S T ú D I oImages: B R U N o F E R N A N D E S A N D S H U T T E R S To C kEnglish translation: A l P H A Ô M E G A T R A D U çõ E SPrinting: G R á F I C A C A P I TA lFirst Edition: J U ly 2016Print run: 100 Co P I E S

BOOKLET OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT // ACTIVE SCHOOLS IN BRAZIL 1

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

06

40

59

HUMAN DEvEloPMENT IS MovEMENT

wHEN ME A SURING ME ANS kNowING

BEFoRE wHAT IS ME A SURED

BIBl IoGR APHIC REFERENCES

02

26

57

PREFACE N Ik y FABIANCIC

AC T IvE SCHool IN THE SCENARIo oF

BR A zIl IAN SCHool

CoNClUSIoN

01

20

52

INTRoDUC T IoN

AC T IvE SCHool IN THE CoNTE x T

oF HUMAN DEvEloPMENT

wHEN kNowING ME ANS TR ANSFoRMING BEFoRE

wHAT IS kNowN

T he history of research, whose first re-sults we present now, started in mid-2014, when UNDP, Ministry of Educa-tion and INEP found themselves faced

with the common motivation to influence the official mechanisms of research related to the theme of sport and education, as well as public policies related to them.

The United Nations act strongly in promoting sport and physical activities as vectors of human development. At the international level, the Unit-ed Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) advocates for the use of these practices in development cooperation. Current-ly, more than 20 UN agencies develop coordinat-ed programs based on sports and games in sev-eral countries. At the national level, several UN agencies work in a coordinated theme through the implementation of campaigns and projects throughout the country, in addition to conduct-ing research on the subject.

In the case of this initiative, it was important to establish a Technical Committee, responsible for guiding the work in terms of their method-ological approach, consisting of the Ministries of Education, Health and Sport, as well as repre-sentatives of the IBGE and the Sports Network for Social change (REMS). Set out the basic guide-lines, a high quality technical team was assem-bled under the University of São Paulo and the Federal University of Santa Catarina, to under-take the investigation.

Preface

As a result, today we have a conceptual proposal about what it could mean to des-ignate a school as active and, in addition, elements that allow an approach to the measurement of this phenomenon. All the relevant data national bases were visited and analyzed, a national telephone ap-proach, with representative sample for the country, was held (reaching around 600 schools) and ethnographic works in all re-gions are nearing completion.

The goal of this whole effort is one: col-laborate in the reflection always current on how to make the school a space con-ducive to human development, improving the understanding of the role of physical and sports activities in this context and, consequently, the educational policies in the area. We hope to be contributing to the debate and, at the same time, collect sub-sidies for the final phase of this initiative, which will culminate in the proposal of a set of policies capable of Brazilian schools, most active schools. ◊

By NIk y FABIANCIC

BOOKLET OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT // ACTIVE SCHOOLS IN BRAZILPNUD // 20162 3

INTrODUcTIONT he development of people, even if it seems

a regular process of unveiling traces and characteristics which allow baby, child, adult and elder to conduct their lives in a

minimally competent manner, means above all else building, creating, innovating, recreating from already built. If, at a first impression, we are object of development with its moving walkway of phases and stages, a closer look at this process presents another perspective: we are subject of our own development.

The school as human intervention comes from Antiquity, but school as we currently know is es-tablished between 7th and 9th Century. If school from Antiquity was the space of creative idle-ness, free thought, notwithstanding guided by doctrines of wise men and masters, the modern school is the space of development by electing a child as its pedagogical subject by excellence. At school, it is not worked on what it is, but what might be. Nevertheless, the modern school has not escaped conflicts of human thought that set up opposition between natural and cultur-al. Thus, on one hand, pedagogical trends align themselves, and on the other hand, in detriment to a more dynamic school, beyond dichotomous views. Not rarely, the child and young at school were treated as being object of development, and their bodies as strange objects to education, ex-

cept for approaches seen in the body as a mean to educate the individual.

In this booklet, we present, discuss and bring illustrative data for a concept of Active School. A school is considered as Active while organizing a personal, social and institutional space intended to Hu-man Development, understood as process of increasing capacity and, consequently, possibilities of people’s choice. There are three key issues for this concept. Firstly, the school is the place to build the civiliz-ing process of a society, and in this way, children, young people and teachers in-teract and make themselves as subjects of knowledge, subjects which recognize themselves within a culture, embrace and promote values which are precious to them. Secondly, the school may be the space to take advantage of making chil-dren and young people physically move, strengthening actions to know and trans-form the world. Just watch the arrival at school, students leaving classroom, breaks between lessons, and then we see the alive, latent and pulsating movement of child’s body. In its dynamics, the body movement is not connected to this or that public policy or school’s pedagogical pro-posal, given that it is essential for children and young people living, as well as all individuals. It may be limited, but never extinguished. The body movement, be-ing present and constant part of children and young people’s lives, needs to speak loudly in the school routine. The move-ment covers the routine of all, and then ensures from the most basic interactions of the life, such as expressions which pro-duce culture in the human being. Above all, the movement enables knowing in movement, process by which the individ-ual tries and processes a tacit knowledge with impacts on its perceptions of the

If, AT A fIRST IMPRESSION, WE ARE OBjECT Of

DEVELOPMENT WITH ITS MOVING WALKWAy Of

PHASES AND STAGES, A CLOSER LOOK AT THIS

PROCESS PRESENTS ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE:

WE ARE SUBjECT Of OUR OWN DEVELOPMENT.


world and in the world on its transactions and competencies to act and transform its surroundings. The movement is system-atized under body practices with impacts on all individual dimensions, biological-ly, psychologically and socially. Thirdly, school is meeting. Meeting with the other, meeting with itself, meeting of body and mind, meeting as an exercise of otherness, meeting as an exercise of self-knowledge, the meeting as convergence from natural and cultural, biological and social.

The Active School sets up a civiliz-ing process of meetings: children, young people and teachers as subjects of knowl-edge; movement with knowing; individ-ual with its development, discovering the development as the building of itself. This idea of Active School will be presented and discussed as a concept making sense in philosophic terms – given that it di-alogs with long lasting issues concern-ing our existence – and scientific terms

– to be guided by what is known from multi-causal relations between move-ment and brain, movement and health, movement and education, and biopsy-chosocial development. ◊

NOT RARELy, THE CHILD AND yOUNG AT SCHOOL WERE TREATED AS BEING OBjECT Of DEVELOPMENT, AND THEIR BODIES AS STRANGE OBjECTS TO EDUCATION, ExCEPT fOR APPROACHES SEEN IN THE BODy AS A MEAN TO EDUCATE THE INDIVIDUAL.

The foundations for an Active School;

The possibilities of operationalizing the concept of Active School for collection and analysis of its presence in Brazilian schools.

1 2 3THE DOCUMENT IS PROPOSITIONAL, WHEN INqUIRING ABOUT:

The systemization of an Active School in the Brazilian pedagogical universe;

The characteristics of the school routine while providing a culture of Active School;

4 5 The challenges to become the school into an Active School.


D evelopment may mean many things, but we want to highlight here the sense that it has for the life of any individual: changes that occur over people’s life, common to

the most of them and allowing them to act com-petently and transform the environment in which they live. This sense is essential and brings closer the development of living itself. In fact, living is development. In this way, the development is dis-tinguished by universality, given that it is com-mon to all people. However, the development is also characterized by major variations, since it is guided by life history of each person. But what does it imply in building a deeper look of develop-ment, being directed to guidelines of encouraging Human Development in the world, basic premise on United Nations Development Program (UNDP)?

As mentioned previously, the human devel-opment is understood as the process of increas-ing capacities and, consequently, possibilities of people’s choice. Notwithstanding, many people still understand development as a gradual process whose changes in baby and children’s life natu-rally occur, without effort from those who take care and especially develops itself. Although the development of an individual may seem an album of chronological portraits of its life, the pictures

capture moments of a process in which the person needs to act effectively in its environment. In the beginning of life, the person needs support of parents and rela-tives, caregivers in general, to perform its role on the development, but the person is always active in the process. An assess-ment in the photographic album of that person will denote that its expressions as a baby change not only over the time, but with situation. The posture in which it is kept also varies. Its clothing and objects which are around and within easy reach demarcate the situation. The newborn denotes in its expression much ability to copy the face of who finishes up the image. The 8-month baby already “abstracts” the act of taking a picture using hands. At a certain time, the parents do not take the picture anymore, but child does itself, like self-portrait, a “selfie”, as called nowa-days. There are changes from a portrait to another, but they do not surrender by a ruler tamed in the progression. Each portrait is a table of composition in which parents and children interact to announce not only a time, but their history. Thus,

1 Human Development is movement

chapter


changes do not simply happen, but are made from a network of relations: individual-physical environment; individual-social environment: individual-individual; individual-caregiver; in-dividual-group, etc. This conception means what we refer as process in which individual is subject of development. The Active School, as we will see further, is based on this possibility for individual performing the role on its development.

In the conception of individual as subject of development, it is considered that processes of change occur as the individual acts - we high-light as an active way - in the social and phys-ical environments. The individual explores its degrees of freedom (set of biopsychological el-ements) when taking action and achieving re-sults, it explores the means and ends influencing those in their surroundings (parents, caregiv-ers, siblings, relatives, friends, teachers, etc.), but also being influenced by them. Also, their actions bring internal consequences, changing the flow of generic and neural influences. The development corresponds to transitions whose individuals go through from building its own experience in the social and personal space, and that is why it is subject of development.

It is important to highlight that in this con-ception, it does not make sense to talk about a sequence of development, but development paths (MANOEL, 2008). The paths are made step by step towards a certain state of development. There is more than one path for the same de-velopment state. Specific cases illustrate paths coming to dead ends or uncommon paths which we may consider as innovative1. Whereas cases of virtuous individuals in arts (including here music, dance, body expression, theater and sports) are example of those who run along sim-ilarly uncommon and harder paths. However, there are still paths which are friendly - easy to follow, not requiring much effort, focus on economy - provide great views (experiences). These tend to be followed by many people and are those that get closer to the concept on the sequence of development in a traditional view of this phenomenon.

There is a set of elements, including what is genetically and culturally inher-ited, which may contribute so that many people follow the same path, or actually, very similar paths, whose distance seems to be the only and main avenue. In this conception, it may be contemplated the idea of phases and stages associated to age groups in childhood and adolescence. But these - phases and stages - are references, starting points for a deeper analysis on the context of development where individual - baby, child, young, adult and elder - runs along the own process of development.

from analysis of economic indicators to the effort to improve socio-economic in-dicators as a path to development. Ama-rtya Sen defines human development as “a process of increasing actual freedom that people enjoy” (SEN, 2000, p. 17) and, therefore, “the condition of free and sus-tainable agent emerges as key driver for the development” (SEN, 2000, p.19). Two ideas are the central issues it this concep-tion and it is relevant for discussion pro-posed here: the sense of freedom as mean and end of development and the role of the people as development agents.

At Sen’s perspective, increasing peo-ple’s freedom understands both the essen-tial end as the main mean of development. Freedom as ultimate purpose of develop-ment represents from the individual free-doms expressed by economic facilities, political freedoms, social opportunities, guarantees of transparency and protec-tive security. These, in turn, are also so-cial provisions as instrumental freedoms - means of development - which mutu-ally complement themselves and are ca-pable of directly increasing the capacities of people to live more freely. According to the author, success or failure of a society is related to the degree of freedom whose its members enjoy; as they have more free-dom, it is increased the potential of people to take care of themselves and influence the world around them, effectively acting

(...) HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (...) AS A PROCESS Of INCREASING PEOPLE’S CHOICE SO THAT THEy HAVE CAPACITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES TO BE WHAT THEy WANT TO BE.”“ ( W h a t i s h u m a n d e v e l o p m e n t , u n d p , 2 0 1 2 )

From the development concept in which the individual is subject of its own development, we find out the concept of Human Development con-ceived by the Indian Economist Amartya Sen, materialized by the Pakistani Mahbub ul Haq and proposed by UNDP in order to idealize public pol-icies that focus on promoting quality of people’s life around the world:

Such conception made a major change in the debate on developing countries, moving focus

1 Oliver Sacks develops the idea that individuals with disabilities follow quite different courses of development, acts of creation and innovation, cf. Sacks, O. (1995). Um antropólogo em Marte. São paulo: cia. das Letras.

pnud // 201610

on the process of development, under condition of development agent:

Thus, the freedom proposed as mean and end of the development recommends that the scope of development intended - increasing people’s freedoms - cannot provide another way but the guarantee of practicing these freedoms throughout the process, precisely when recognizing peo-ple as agents of it. It is important to note that it is not established a simple cause-ef-fect relationship in which more freedom generates more development. It is defend-ed a dynamic and reciprocal interaction among freedom gains to act on their own development - increasing the capacity of people - and the rise of freedom to act on its social environment.

This is the matter in which Sen seeks to clarify when social opportunities are discussed, such as health and education. For example, the process of education af-fects the capacity of people to live better and have a healthy life, while impacting on freedom of participating in political and economic activities. Therefore, both of them impact on development of a society.

The education, as one of social op-portunities, is focused on discussion in a more detailed way; and, in the perspec-tive presented, it is also planned in a di-alectical relationship, both as one of the development measures, and as a driver of it. It is assumed that education - to act by increasing freedom towards this develop-ment and result in the expansion of oppor-tunities - must itself assume the centrality of the people in educational practices and policies, such as subjects of development.

At this point, it important to think of relation that is the title of this section: Human Development is Movement. The current perspective and proposition of UNDP Brazil is that the relation between development and human movement are close. We refer here to human movement as the set of motor actions which all of us undertake to live. This set understands

PURPOSES AND MEANS Of DEVELOPMENT REqUIRE THAT PERSPECTIVE Of fREEDOM IS

PLACED IN THE CENTER Of THE STAGE. [...] PEOPLE SHOULD BE

SEEN AS ACTIVELy INVOLVED – GIVEN SUCH OPPORTUNITy – IN THE CONfORMATION Of ITS OWN DESTINy, AND NOT ONLy

AS PASSIVE BENEfICIARIES fROM RESULTS Of RESOURCEfUL

PROGRAMS Of DEVELOPMENT. THE STATE AND SOCIETy HAVE

WIDE ROLES IN STRENGTHENING AND PROTECTING HUMAN

CAPACITIES. THEy ARE ROLES Of SUSTAINMENT, AND NOT DELIVERy

UNDER PURCHASE ORDER”

( s e n , 2 0 0 0 , p . 7 1 ) .

“both actions of daily lives as walking, eating, washing, dressing, as well as oc-cupational actions - body movements from working environment, and also ac-tions that we undertake during our free time. UNDP Brazil recognizes this last set of actions as an essential role in Hu-man Development, because of these ac-tions, each individual can make options and choices that will greatly contribute to its development. It is understood here physical and sporting activity carried out under the purpose of health, culture and leisure. Let us see three scenarios so that we can better express the understanding enmeshed between Human Development and Human Movement.

Maria das Mercedes arrives together with her grandson, a strong and tall young man. Maria das Mercedes walks with her grandson’s help. She complaints about feeling discomfort and back-ache. The screening team evaluates her case as not being a case of emergency and she gets a round green label on the clothing. It means that she will wait up to four hours to be assisted. In the first moment, Maria das Mercedes does not understand the reason for waiting so long, and asks for help to all attendants who pass by. All of them explain to her that her case it not serious and she needs to be a bit more patient. Gradually, Maria das Mercedes calms down and starts to talk to a person next to her. After telling her story, pain and discomfort seem to disappear and Maria das Mercedes reveals us that she lives in the District of Mooca, but she came to São Paulo when she was very young, trav-eling many days from countryside of Piauí to be here. She was 20 years old when she arrived here. And since then, she has been living in the District of Mooca about 70 years. Then, we found out that Maria das Mercedes is 90 years old. It does not look like. At this point, she is already standing up, talking and giving advices to everyone sitting and waiting their turn. And again she says: “I am 90 years old, but I do not keep standing at home. I do everything like cleaning, washing and cooking. I go to street market and I do not remain sitting down. People who remain sitting down shrink. And Maria das Mercedes continued over there without pain or complaints and was “healing” a lot of people who were less than half of her age. ◊

9 AM, Sunday, Emergency Service of Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade de São Paulo [Medicine Clinics Hospital for University of São Paulo], São Paulo

SCENARIO #1

pnud // 201612 13BOOKLET OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT // ACTIVE SCHOOLS IN BRAZIL

Two women in their mid-thirties walk quickly, protecting themselves from the cold falling on the street with a lot of trees. They are domestic workers go-ing to the houses where they work for. one of them complaints about her boss to the other. She says: “I told my boss that I needed to leave at 5 on wednes-day and Friday to have enough time to get at the gym before aerobics class gets started. And imagine that she told me that I do not need doing gymnas-tics because I already exercise all day at work! what does it mean? - asks her friend. And she answers: “My boss said that sweeping, washing, cleaning, scrubbing and everything else that I do all day are already enough to exer-cise for the day! This is to tell me that I do not need to leave at 5 or lose my time at the gym! Imagine! As if these things we do at work were like gym activities! Do you believe it? ◊

7 AM, Tuesday, Upper-Middle Class Neighborhood of Cotia, São Paulo

SCENARIO #2

I shared my time between São Paulo and Muzambinho. In São Paulo, I was focused on studying and obtaining mas-ter’s degree. In Muzambinho, I used to work as a professor at Escola Superior de Educação Física [Higher School of Physical Education]. Classes used to take place mostly at evening shifts, but I was always at school, staying at the library, meeting with students who wanted to do research. In the late afternoon, I used to going back home at Rua 7 de setem-bro, not sure about the house number, but I remember that next to me there was an empty lot. From the bedroom window where I used to sleep, I had an outstanding view of this lot, empty as I said and flat, great for a soccer field; but do you believe that a group of 9-11 year old children decided to make this space as a volleyball court?! I was ready to wit-ness something amazing. It is important to remember that volleyball was the sport of the moment, the team that later became known as the silver generation had media attention and was on Tv. Children wanted to play volleyball. And almost every afternoon, they used to go

1983, Muzambinho, Minas Gerais

SCENARIO #3

there and play “volleyball”. There was no marking on the floor, there was a crook-ed line made from tree branch dividing “court” into two approximately equal parts. The children divided themselves and started the game. Someone hit the ball using hands and hitting is best verb to describe the action. The ball was not delivered, it was splashed, but it did not matter, since the ball was in its air path where all was trying to make it stay in the air, as much as possible, and tried to send it to the other side of the court. And over there, in that world of hands trying to make the ball challenges the law of gravity, it was possible to hear screams like “wiliam” tosses the ball to “Renan” who passes to “Bernard” or “Bernard” tosses the ball to “xandó” and... Score!!! There was also a “net judge” who was in charge of judging the hidden move-ments and ensuring the proper conduct of the tilt. For the experienced spectator,

that was anything but volleyball, but the kids did not care. The ball could touch the floor, twice, three times, there could be conduction, all was fair and the game was happening. I stayed there watching from the window they playing for six months. Gradually, the field was turning into an actual field, every week a new mark used to ap-pear, getting close to a volleyball court. Slowly, hitting the ball gave way to touch the ball, bump and spike. And the game did not stop. No pedagogical sequence, no queues, no educational exercises, only the game and, gradu-ally, the block was appearing, as well as feint, and then people like Bernard, wiliam, Renan, xandó, among others, were in the court and taking positions, each one at your pace and individu-ality. All of this without influence of an adult. Within six months, children built their own sport pedagogy. ◊

I STAyED THERE WATCHING fROM THE WINDOW

THEy PLAyING fOR SIx MONTHS. GRADUALLy,

THE fIELD WAS TURNING INTO AN ACTUAL fIELD,

EVERy WEEK A NEW MARK USED TO APPEAR,

GETTING CLOSE TO A VOLLEyBALL COURT”.

“ MATyAS REHAk / SHUTTERSToCk.CoM


For each of these scenarios, we see different situations which set why the thesis on the rela-tion between Human Development and Human Movement. In the Scenario 1, we see a madam who must have certainly faced, and perhaps she will face, prejudice for being woman. Accord-ing to description from where she came and how she came to São Paulo, the district where she lives, there are signs that she possibly had few opportunities or degrees of freedom of choice with respect to their development. However, it is important to note that before the obstacles which she faced during her lifetime, before social mishaps that could have affected her path, she recognizes that in her experience of living the movement was essential so that in its 90 years of existence, she is still active. This capacity of moving seems to be source of resilience, as she denotes in her final speech: “life is movement,” which could be the title of this document. This sentence is almost an aphorism that would join to another: life is development. So by deduction: Development is Movement.

In the Scenario 2, the domestic worker who claims about her boss also shows an understand-ing of physical activity that goes beyond what is prescribed, including academic means concern-ing physical activity and health. It is common to see actions to promote health through physical activity indicating the need to have a daily energy expenditure of at least thirty minutes of vigorous activity, which may be walking to the bakery (in-stead of going by car), or fix the house’s yard. The worker shows that physical activity is more than energy expenditure! Physical activity is a specific time of an action space that cannot be confused with what is instrumental and occupational. It is a time of day when the person chooses to dedicate for itself to exercise the right to move. This makes physical activity itself by the person has a signif-icant social context, since it chooses to do, who are the people to do with and how to do. Reducing physical activity to energy expenditure is losing what makes us appreciate the body movements and experience sensations and feelings when we are moving ourselves and with others.

The first two scenarios were reported here on purpose because they reflect per-sonal, social and cultural deprivation con-texts in which our characters, neverthe-less, seek within so many strings the right to exercise what life offers them at first: the capacity to move. So even within limits, the reported cases illustrate how physical activity can be an important instrument to enlarge people’s choices. This possibil-ity directly affects the concept of Human Development and in the approach of ca-pabilities. In both situations, people make possible choices in their socioeconomic and cultural reality, and fight for them by judg-ing them important to their lives and their development.

THE fIRST TWO SCENARIOS WERE REPORTED HERE ON PURPOSE BECAUSE THEy REfLECT PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DEPRIVATION CONTExTS IN WHICH OUR CHARACTERS, NEVERTHELESS, SEEK WITHIN SO MANy STRINGS THE RIGHT TO ExERCISE WHAT LIfE OffERS THEM AT fIRST: THE CAPACITy TO MOVE

It is important to note that these choices have in physical activities a centrality that makes them an end and a mean for development. Phys-ical activity is a mean because people can per-sonally and socially progress in capacity and skills (biological, psychological, social and cul-tural) that transcend the physical activity itself. Physical activity is a mean because people gain sense and private meanings for each one and this is only possible by those who move it. It allows a non-transferable and personal experience, a pleasure for pleasure of moving.

The last scenario includes a long-term ex-perience of children and also denotes the role of the agency in developing. Children - in this case, boys - opt for a sporting practice unknown to them, and not typical of its kind (in the 1970s

and 1980s, volleyball was considered a “girl” sport). They organized or self orga-nize in an example of pedagogy of inde-pendent agent, as registered in the defi-nition of Human Development: a process of increasing choices, so that there is the capacity to wish and perform what they want to and if they can be.

The school environment is essential to the scenarios reflected here. The school as educator of persons in their individu-ality and their sociability can, and above all, must be the place where the child and the young people learn your agency in the development supported and mediated by the school, and can build the capabilities to exercise that agency. The possibility of building and exercising the agency in their own development is what can make a truly Active School. Before moving forward in the treatment of how we envision a school which can be active, we will highlight a few points about the term activity from the expression of physical activity.

Activity is a generic term used to de-note movement, behavior or action of an organism and, that is why it is usually followed by an adjective to better qualify it: motor activity, physical activity, sports activity, among others. Activity, and also development, is a multifaceted concept and the qualified adjective is referring to different purposes and various concepts. All physical activity needs energy and in-formation2. The energy and information-al dimensions do not represent opposite poles, but extremes of a continuum. The energy results from a number of metabolic processes that facilitate muscle contrac-tions with intensities and varying dura-tions, according to the direction (inten-tionality) and the context in which they are held. Direction and context involve the dimension of the activity information. The information controls the system energy, optimizing their spending as far as possi-


ble. It consists of a number of processes called ex-ecutives: attention, perception, decision making, memory, programming, control and evaluation. Although the terms activity, physical activity, motor activity or physical exercise are often used as if they were synonyms, there are important implications in the sense that they assume and the epistemological bases sustained (Table 1).

The association of the term physical activi-ty to the energy dimension is given by classical definition of the term, such as any body move-ment produced by skeletal muscles which results in energy expenditure. From this definition, it is noted that concepts that are getting closer to the term physical activity, its focus, type of inter-vention, level of analysis, approaching a knowl-edge basis for biological and medical fields. However, when seeking its approach to the con-ception of Human Development in the perspec-tive of people’s freedom as agents of their own

development, this term does not seem to be the most appropriate one.

Thinking of Human Development as the expansion of people’s choices so that they have capacities and opportunities to be what they want to be, it would be more appropriate to treat the term activity in its informational dimension. This is be-cause it is argued here that physical from Physical Education, activity and sport do not refer to the muscle, strength, speed or energy expenditure. Physical is referred to move the body concretely. It refers to the body’s senses given by proprioception, which gives the measure of all things and thus giving subjects their own measures, telling the person who it is and giving sup-port to their identity.

The informational dimension of the activity recognizes that, what defines an

action is not the movements carried out, but the purpose wanted, the intention desired. When the means to carry out the action necessarily involve movements, we can call it motor action. It is mo-tor action because the means for achieving such purpose consist of body movements, and how they are implemented has direct influence on the success of the action. The notion of motor action, similar to the concept of Human Development, involves the degree of freedom of choice that broadens the practice by experimentation.

The approach between Human Development and the motor action converges toward a process in which action is a right and an act of knowing about what it acts and how to act. It is important to remember the concept of activity proposed by Leontiev (apud Valsiner, 1988) is about every activity involving an afferent-efferent circular structure, in which the individual acts on ob-jects and their representation, is not a reflection of the object properties, but the result of individ-ual’s activity on it. Along with this conception, there is the conception of incarnate cognition by Francisco Varela, remembering that one of the great contributions by Jean Piaget was to show that “cognition is based on the concrete activity of all organism, i.e., the sensory motor coupling” (VARELA 1999, p.8).

Individual and environment are inseparable, even they are distinct by a biological fact: The or-ganism exists only because there is environment, and vice versa. It was only possible to a body turns into several directions thanks to the trans-action history - experiences - between it and its physical and social environment. Our body emerges from several transformations from such experiences, and this is the origin of an incarnate cognition. Our retina is not a physical structure

without life that simply responds to light stimulation: the retina processes infor-mation with biological value (value of life, survival) to the organism. Proprioception is about the body posture from actions, i.e., by evaluating tensions made in a minimum magnitude, but strong enough to give the body position indicators and parts of it. Perception and action make a cycle without one preceding the other. To notice it, it is necessary to act and to act is necessary to notice. So perception cannot be separated from action. Physical activity cannot be separated from mental activity. Physical and mental activities are insepa-rable elements of the same system that is recognized in body experiences.

The circularity between perception and action, between action and percep-tion, makes it possible to learn notions and concepts about facts and events,

TABLE I. DIMENSIONS Of PHySICAL ACTIVITy

CHARACTERISTICS ENERGy DIMENSION INfORMATIONAL DIMENSION

ACTIVITyphysical activity Motor activity

physical exercise Motor task

Movement action

INTERVENTION training practice

fOCUSphysical capacity Motor Skills

physical Fitness Body practices

MECHANISMMetabolic Functions executive Functions

energy expenditure Control/Coordination

ANALySIS LEVEL Biochemical/physiologic psychological/Sociocultural

PHILOSOPHICAL ORIENTATION

Dualism Monism

Mind-Body Incarnate cognition

THINKING Of HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AS THE ExPANSION Of PEOPLE’S CHOICES SO THAT THEy HAVE CAPACITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES TO BE WHAT THEy WANT TO BE, IT WOULD BE MORE APPROPRIATE TO TREAT THE TERM ACTIVITy IN ITS INfORMATIONAL DIMENSION.

2 the activity is only possible for the body if there is free energy for work and available information to mediate the energy processes, cf Manoel, e. de J. (1989). Development of human motor behavior: a


things and objects through motor action, which many people call learning by movement. The place of body and body movements in school has been and continues to be defended from that perspective. The physics teacher at school can make use of body movement of his students so that they learn concepts of classical mechanics. However, it is important to highlight the learn-ing arising from own body movement. During the presentation of this booklet, we call “know-ing in movement”. It provides a non-transferable and personal knowledge to the other (different from concepts of Mechanics which once learned by a person may be transmitted to someone else). It is an experience in every sense of building a personal meaning of itself and the world. The experience of movement has outlines from an

aesthetic experience and, as such, may be liberating (BRACHT, 2012). Without prejudice to the learning movement, we highlight here the learning or knowing in movement.

The concept of experience can be treat-ed either as a product of a process and the own process itself. The experience as a process is the dynamics established be-tween an organism and the environment in which it acts (in this sense, the concept of activity by Leontiev is mixed with ex-perience). This dynamics involves explora-tion, but also the use and transformation of the environment and the agent (the in-dividual). Thus, the experience as a prod-uct refers to the results of this dynamic and they consist of an effects class ranging from psychological to biochemical pro-cesses, of which a specific class of result is what is called learning. The experience is both a function of external environmental conditions and the organism nature expe-riencing it.

For all this, it is important to consid-er that experience gives the sense and context for sporting and physical activ-ities. In this logic, the term activity or motor action is most relevant as it does not determine the development, nor the development determines it, both co-act together, having experience as the tissue that surrounds and makes them influenc-ing reciprocally. It is within this multi-faceted relationship that it can envision how to establish links between activity and Human Development.

At this point, we turn to the school space in order to reflect the extent to which this space can feature an Active School, achieving the notion of physical activity in the field of body experience as a fundamental axis for an active pedagogy. ◊

PHySICAL ACTIVITy CANNOT BE SEPARATED

fROM MENTAL ACTIVITy. PHySICAL AND MENTAL

ACTIVITIES ARE INSEPARABLE ELEMENTS

Of THE SAME SySTEM THAT IS RECOGNIZED IN

BODy ExPERIENCES.


2 Active School in the context of human development

chapter

T he proposition for an Active School from an appreciation of what is considered as one of the problems of industrial soci-ety: the sedentary lifestyle. Throughout

the history of humanity, the life of individuals and communities has always been supported by physical activity: search and production of food, transportation, construction and use of tools and the house itself. Subsistence and survival of hu-man beings depended on their capacity to move. However, with the changes that began because of emergence of agriculture (about 10,000 years ago) and especially with the Industrial Revolu-tion (about 300 years ago), there was a growing urbanization of human conglomerates, followed by changes of ways and means of production and consumption. Technological advances have caused, and continue causing changes in the re-lation between human being and environment, resulting in a drastic decrease in the need to move in order to perform actions in daily life.

Etymologically, the term sedentary derives from Latin sedere, which means sitting. In oth-er words, sedentary is a person who performs much of their daily activities sitting. And a per-son sitting - looking at a monitor both at work and at home, moving around and sitting in a vehicle, could easily be a caricature of the con-temporary human being. This shows that, in re-cent centuries, on a scale not previously known, the economic and technological development has had great success in avoiding the need to do physical activities in various contexts, including in the school environment.

Evidences that a sedentary lifestyle is asso-ciated with the increase of chronic degenera-tive diseases in the world population are very compelling and it is said that this lifestyle can negatively impact on human health. Current-ly, on the one hand people live longer and suf-fer less with hunger and infectious diseases, on the other hand, the occurrence of the civiliza-tion diseases has increased, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disorders strongly related to new habits. According to World Health Organi-zation (WHO), health is “(...) a state of complete

physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infir-mity” (WHO, 2015) and, in its report Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health, it is affirmed that physical inactiv-ity has been identified as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality in the world and indicates physical activity as a factor to prevent diseases:

“(...) REGULAR MODERATE INTENSITy PHySICAL ACTIVITy REDUCES THE RISK Of CORONARy AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES, DIABETES, HyPERTENSION, COLON AND BREAST CANCER, AND DEPRESSION. MOREOVER, PHySICAL ACTIVITy IS A KEy DETERMINANT Of ENERGy ExPENDITURE, AND THUS IT IS fUNDAMENTAL TO ENERGy BALANCE AND WEIGHT CONTROL

( o m s , 2 0 1 0 , p . 1 0 ) .


for planning and development of Active Schools - a growing trend in many coun-tries - defined as those that integrate op-tions of physical activity to the school rou-tine: before, during and after school.

Propositions for health policy, in fact, have gone through school context, as ex-ample of WHO report launched 15 years ago with notes for effectiveness of educa-tional policies that promote active life in schools, supported by assumptions that:

Such initiatives recognize in the school an opportunity to scale a long-term policy aimed at changes in the involvement of children and young people with physical activity. In this pol-icy, the Active School is seen both as a place to practice systematic physical activity by children and youth, as a place to learn about physical ac-tivity related to health and especially to make sense in its practice, plan your practice and un-derstand how it can and should be part of their daily lives. Based on evidence, there is a con-sensus that routine involvement (and pleasant) with physical activities during this stage of life, connected to the understanding of relation be-tween physical activity and health promotion,

5 Designed to move active schools: a practical guide for school leaders. available at: http://e13c7a4144957cea5013-f2f5ab26d5e-83af3ea377013dd602911.r77.cf5.rackcdn.com/resources/pdf/en/active-schools-full-report.pdf. access on November 27, 2015.

4 Designed to Move is a platform of global action, leaded in Brazil by United Nations Development program (UNDp). available at: http://pt.designedtomove.org/

may positively impact on the relations of these young people with physical ac-tivity when becoming adults and in their capacity to make appropriate decisions about what to do and how to adopt and maintain an active lifestyle.

In Brazil, as in the rest of the world, physical inactivity rates have not de-creased despite the comprehensive body of knowledge produced in recent decades have proven the benefits of physical activ-ity. DIESPORTE (BRAZIL, 2015), research conducted by the Ministry of Sport pre-sented in 2015, revealed that 45.9% of Bra-zilians are sedentary and, among these, 45% of sedentary people stopped prac-ticing regular physical activity between 16 and 24, exactly in the period between ending of school life and starting of adult life. Even though the school is not the only responsible for the people’s habits, the fact that 48% of sedentary people recognize that started practicing physical activity at school, indicates the potential of Brazilian school in influencing to adopt an active and lasting lifestyle in the adult life.

of Brazilians are sedentary

45,9%of sedentary people stopped

practicing regular physical activity between 16 and 24

45%of sedentary people recognize

that started practicing physical activity at school

48%

In the search to understand and intervene on this issue, which has been increasing over the last few centuries of human history, it is that the term physical activity ceases to be considered as merely accomplishments of body movements, and started to be seen as a systematic process of personal exercising, making a possible response for the problem of sedentary lifestyle.

THE CHALLENGE Of PROMOTING AN ACTIVE LIfESTyLE AND THE ROLE Of SCHOOL

a ny body movement produced by skeletal muscles which results in energy expendi-ture, ranging from daily actions like walk-

ing to go to work or carry shopping, or doing gymnastics or practicing sports, is considered a physical activity. Many times, physical activi-ty expression is confused with physical exercise characterized by a planned sequence of move-ments that is systematically repeated in order to raise the efficiency and physical fitness, such as improvement of ardiorespiratory resistance, strength or body composition (BOUCHARD; SHEPHARD, 1994). Physical exercise, as well as sport, dance or active transport (walking or cy-cling) are categories of physical activity. The con-tribution of regular involvement with physical activities for the individual’s health is pungent and it has presented issue of sedentary lifestyle on the world agenda. On the forefront of this move-ment, which has been strengthening since its emergence in the second half of the last century, there are global initiatives to promote a more ac-tive lifestyle, as an example of Designed to Move platform (DTM), launched in Brazil in 2013 called Designed to Move. Similar to other initiatives, DTM has a multi-sectoral character and seeks to mobilize organizations to collectively act, based on two major actions: making children more ac-tive and reintegrating physical activity in the people’s daily lives4.

As main strategy to promote physical activi-ty among young people, this platform presents a document published in 20155 with guidelines

The practice of physical activities in the early years of life is essential to be willing, necessary skills and favorable experiences to maintain a regular habit of physical exercises throughout life. In addition to that, this participation helps to maintain the health condition acquired during adult life and contribute to healthy aging;

The opportunities for physical activity are an essential right of every child and youth and its provision is of responsibility of parents, local community, educational system and society as a whole;

An active school is a healthier school and with better performance and a better place to work, study and be (WhO, 2000).

SoURCE: DIESPoRTE (BRAzIl, 2015)


Despite the school being a place where a sig-nificant number of individuals systematically be-gan the practice of physical activities, the school also presents an ambiguous setting that, on the other hand, it ends up valuing sedentary behav-ior. Almost all the developed countries, children and young people spend much of their lives at school, a trend that is beginning to be observed also in Brazil, with the implementation of policies for full time education and extension of the school shift. However, the physical architecture and di-dactic and pedagogical routines of school, in its current format, give priority to an organization of its spaces and times, reinforcing, and often, de-termining a sedentary lifestyle in their students. The image that best represents the educational institution, for several centuries, is students sit-ting at desks during long periods, either listening to the teacher, writing, participating in a discus-sion, or making assessment exams, among others.

Added to this, the report on the status of school Physical Education in the world published in 2014 by UNESCO reveals that in most countries, despite the existence of legal provisions and gen-eral rules, offering the subject is not something universally ensured during the school years, not for all students. According to the document, the Physical Education classes present an increased attendance of cancellations than other subjects, besides teachers reporting that they do not have the same professional status as those of the most prestigious subjects in school, such as Languages or Mathematics (UNESCO, 2014).

Notwithstanding, the document also pres-ents criticism to curricula related to subjects in which prevail sporting characteristic con-tent with competitive emphasis. The said report is concerned because the curricular nature of Physical Education in school would ensure con-tact and access to some kind of systematic phys-ical activity for all students. However, the doc-ument reveals the reality in which these classes are not guaranteed and nor their quality.

The evidences pointing out toward that com-mitment to practice physical activity during the school age would be positively associated with

general improvement of physical health has not been sufficiently compelling for reflecting changes in the school rou-tine. It is noted that there are still gaps among propositions of public policies in-tended to encourage physical activity in school, its implantation and generation of effective impacts. Most recently, aim-ing to strengthen this movement, new researches have been presented in sup-port of physical activity in schools, due to advances in neuroscience, which have found positive relationships between physical activity, cognitive functions and school performance. These results bring new elements to the discussion, so far

NEW RESEARCHES HAVE BEEN PRESENTED IN

SUPPORT Of PHySICAL ACTIVITy IN SCHOOLS, DUE TO ADVANCES IN

NEUROSCIENCE, WHICH HAVE fOUND POSITIVE

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PHySICAL ACTIVITy,

COGNITIVE fUNCTIONS AND SCHOOL PERfORMANCE.

very focused on its impacts on the dimension of biological health.

If we consider the notion of a school that encourages an active lifestyle, we see that such school is Active School becomes a rich context for Human Development whose axis (not exclusive) is phys-ical and sporting activities. The de-bate about Active Schools involves some controversies that are at the core of the discussions on the edu-cation field for over a century. One of them, if not the most important, refers to the concept of full-time education at school, but mind-body dichotomy so strongly in Western thoughts made the body marginal-ized in the school, and thus, phys-ical and sporting activities became mere objects in the school environ-ment. As if it was something that brings joy or passion, but never knowledge to children and youth.

This is one of the reasons why, even today, the idea of an Active School runs into obtuse thinking of some educators and education managers who see the body as a machine, even tricky to trans-port minds. Below, we present the results of our conceptual and documentary research on Active School in the Brazilian pedagog-ical thinking, in order to seek a conceptual and pedagogical align-ment for proposition of a vision of Active School in line with Brazil-ian scenario. ◊


emphasizes learning through concrete actions based on finding solutions to real and daily issues of the school communi-ty. Among many thinkers who influenced such educational chain, John Dewey (2011) is analyzed with further details, because their propositions exhibit relation to the concept of Human Development of Mah-bub ul Haq and Amartya Sen by semantic construction of their ideas.

As ul Haq and Sen set out freedom as a key issue - mean and end - of development, Dewey (1979) considers freedom as a fun-damental element in education, defending the exercise of freedom both in the learn-ing process: mean; as a purpose: formation of free subjects. According to Dewey, free-dom is fundamental so that student is sub-ject in educational experiences and its own development. He recognizes that “educa-tion is a social process, is development” It is not preparation for life, it is life itself” and therefore, anything that is expected from young people as adults should be ex-perienced in school. Similarly, it reaffirms the centrality and active role that students should have in the educational process as agents of their own development, in con-trast to the passivity prevailing in the most traditional models in school, reinforcing the appeal for a school founded on demo-cratic relations. The active school organiz-es space and time for children and young people (and their parents and families) to have experiences which provide building their autonomy, capacity to choose, their reflexive thought about their human and social condition in a group and in a society. Thus, active school is a development con-text, but it should not be confused with human development.

The expression Active School, which originates from John Dewey’s thought, highlights students as subjects of edu-cational experience, keeping close rela-tionship with democracy. It is even more

3 Active School in the scenario of brazilian schoolchapter

F or education experts, the term Active School refers originally to the movement of progressive education, also known as New School, which arose in America and

Europe in the late nineteenth century and gained strength in Brazil in the early twentieth century. Several pedagogical proposals set out this move-ment under the influence of teachers as Maria Montessori and Célestin Freinet, and philosophers like John Dewey. In Brazil, these ideas were intro-duced at the same time by Rui Barbosa and gained strength in 1932 with the release of Manifesto of the Pioneers of New School, written by Fernando de Azevedo and signed by Anísio Teixeira, among other intellectuals of that time. The Manifesto de-fended the universalization of a public, lay and free education and suffered harsh criticism from Catholic Church and the government with the in-stitution of New State.

In brief, this movement proposed pedagog-ical approaches so that students learn to live in a democratic society from experiences within school contextualized in daily life, in contrast to models of traditional education based on teach-er’s exclusive authority, students’ passivity and information transmission.

Currently, there are references to Active School based on similar conceptions, in which the educational process is focused on students and meaningful learning. This learning happens in pedagogical actions contextualized for students to experience and discover knowledge in order to ensure that they learn what they need to live out-side school. Experiences, especially with mixed grade school and in rural areas, arise from Co-lombia (MOGOLLÓN; SOLANO, 2011) and influ-enced in Brazil in creating Active School Program (BRASIL, 2010) by Ministry of Education in 1997 still in force as one of the actions of FUNDESCO-LA Program, primarily assisting the Center-West, North and Northeast. Therefore, the term “ac-tive” to qualify the school referred to, and still refers to as above mentioned examples, a vision of education in which students have a key role as learning agents/subjects, recognizing the insepa-rability between theory and practice, and which


interesting to note that Dewey reflected on the importance of physical activity for school learn-ing. By explaining the centrality of experiences in education, he dealt with relationship between freedom of movement and freedom of thought:

( d e W e Y , 1 9 7 9 , p . 6 3 )

“THE LIMITATION WHICH WAS IMPOSED ON ExTERNAL ACTIONS By STRICT ARRANGEMENTS Of TyPICAL TRADITIONAL CLASSROOM WITH ROWS AND fIxED DESKS AND MILITARy REGIMENTATION Of THEIR STUDENTS WHO COULD ONLy MOVE fROM PERMISSION SIGNS ESTABLISHED; THEy STRICTLy RESTRICTED MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL fREEDOM”

Dewey defended students’ freedom of move-ment as a necessary condition to exercise free-dom of thought. Moreover, he highlighted im-portance of movements by own nature of the learning process:

It is important to highlight that phys-ical activity referred by Dewey, in this case, there is nothing to do with physical activity emphasized by public policies to promote health, with energetic empha-sis and biological and medical basis. Its view concerning education is grounded in learning by experience and, the move-ment has a purpose in itself. The educa-tional experience happens by didactic relationship between action and reflec-tion, in which the second is meaningless without the first. Physical activity in ed-ucational experience is characterized by motor actions, in which the individual imagines and realizes the physical and social world, anticipates situations, judg-es the context so that their movements suit to the environment, or in such a way that environment suits them. The move-ment allows the subject to test hypothe-ses about their transactions with physical and social contexts. It is a dynamic prob-lem-solving process in a concrete, incar-nate and situated sense.

Of course, there are moments when intellectual activity is so intense, not necessarily demanding a physical activity or visible body movements. However, the capacity for this kind of intellectual activity arises later [...]. Therefore, it is necessary to provide younger people brief intervals of time for silent reflection that may only be considered as periods of true reflection, if occurring after more concrete actions that are used to organize what was obtained during periods of activity, using hands and other parts of the body, besides the brain.”

In short, he plead in favor of practicing free-dom in education field, from learning by expe-rience that happens in the dynamic relationship between individual and environment, and stu-dents are individuals and learn concepts, atti-tudes and techniques by making, moving. In the conception of the individual as subject of devel-opment is considered that processes of change occur as the individual acts - we highlight as an active way - in the social and physical envi-ronments. The individual explores its degrees of freedom (set of means available to solve a certain situation) when taking action and achieving re-sults. The development corresponds to transi-tions whose individual goes through from build-ing its own experience in the social and personal space, and that is why it is subject of develop-ment in the educational process. Thus, if ed-ucation is one of the constituent elements for development as instrumental freedom (mean) which expands individual freedom (end), some manners of education should be more consis-tent with this view of development and, in this case, the philosophical principles premised by the movement of Active School and their authors in the late nineteenth century seem to get closer an educational approach in line with approach of Human Development, a century later. Interest-ingly, it is also in the late twentieth century that new proposals for educational policies will be named as “Active School”, but on this occasion centrally focusing on promoting physical activi-ty in the school context, without necessarily re-turning the original principles of the concepts.

ACTIVE SCHOOL IN THE 20TH CENTURy AND THE ROLE Of PHySICAL ACTIVITy IN EDUCATION

I n the mid-1990s, the expression Active School starts to denote a not well valued dimension since then within the school institution. If,

originally, the Active School was the one where the student learns by doing, experiencing, in the recent decades, the term has a new meaning and

is now also used to refer to a school com-mitted in ensuring physical activity in the school life and an education that contrib-utes to the adoption of an active lifestyle throughout life.

The oldest studies found making ref-erence to Active School related to the pro-motion of physical activity in the school context are consistent with the period in which sedentary lifestyle started to be considered as a primary and indepen-dent risk factor for cardiovascular disease by American Heart Association (AHA). Thereafter, evidences in favor of an active life were rapidly accumulating and forced the proposition of public policies to pro-mote physical activity in many countries, as the document Physical Activity and Health - A Report of the Surgeon General, from US, considered the most important one of the decade by experts (NAHAS; GARCIA, 2010).

Specifically, with respect to chil-dren and young people of school age, the WHO report (2000) that issued a warn-ing to schools to take responsibility for promoting an active life may be seen as a synthesis of the movement that had been maturing over the end of the last century, with a positioning which highlighted the urgent need to ensure opportunities of physical activity and knowledge on phys-ical activity for children and young peo-ple in school and outside of school. From researches about physical activity and health in childhood and adolescence, and also notes to organize health promoting schools. It originated several educational programs for their development.

In general, these proposals emphasized the health dimension, concerned with the total number of physical activity prac-ticed by children and young people under the influence of WHO recommendations for school children, at least, 60 minutes of daily physical activity from moderate

“( d e W e Y , 1 9 7 9 , p . 6 5 )


to vigorous intensity, preferably aerobics; add-ed to practice of physical exercises at least three times a week to improve muscle resistance and bone strength. Curricular reforms proposing the increase of weekly hours for Physical Education classes (AUSTRALIA, 2015) and the inclusion of regular physical exercises as compulsory curric-ular component and health education as a cross-cutting issue are examples of strategies used to promote physical activity at school that assign a key role to Physical Education as a curricular component capable of causing changes desired to increase the quantity of physical activity prac-ticed by students (CALE, 1997).

In a review of several studies (CALE; HAR-RIS, 2006) on the issue, there are evidences of curriculum changes in Physical Education that were really important to raise the level of phys-ical activity practiced by students in the school

environment and improve physical fit-ness of them, but there was no evidence for increasing levels of physical activity outside school. No positive relations were found consistent between offering classes on health education and increase of prac-ticing physical activity, a fact that seems to be related, at least in part, to the model of theoretical class usually used with em-phasis on the information transmission, instead of an approach that combines ex-perience with decision-making, accord-ing to the authors.

From critical analysis of these initia-tives, more robust ecological models of Ac-tive School (NORTHERN IRELAND, 2015), (FINLAND, 2015) started to be proposed by understanding the behaviors related to physical activity are influenced by intrap-

ersonal (biological and psychological), interper-sonal (partners, family, etc.) and environmental (infrastructure, institutional policy, legislation etc.) factors. The basic premise is that not only the curriculum, but everything that happens in school may enhance or inhibit physical activity: teaching-learning strategies used in classroom; what students do in their free time during breaks and recreation; availability, security and main-tenance of facilities, equipment and materials for students and school community; the conditions for active school transport; partnerships with other organizations promoting physical activity as clubs and community centers, as well as pol-icies promoting physical activity.

It is important to highlight that these more recent approaches of Active School are not ex-clusively based on arguments in order to en-courage health, even though they are import-

ant. Proposals and programs has sought support for their premises in the progress of researches on Neuroscience suggest-ing positive effects of physical activity on cognitive functions and school per-formance (FINLAND, 2012). The guide of guidelines itself for Active Schools pub-lished in 2015 by Designed to Move brings such advances among their main argu-ments. Investigations on this relation-ship have analyzed physical activity at school in four different situations: phys-ical activities located at school; studies on recreation; physical activity in the class-room; physical activity in extracurricular activities. In all cases, it seeks evidence that physical activity may positively im-pact on students’ intellectual perfor-mance in general or specifically in the academic performance. And, in fact, the results are positive to denote convergence between physical activity and the vari-ous dimensions of intellectual activity in school (TOMPOROWSKI; LAMBOURNE; OKUMURA, 2011). A word of caution is in order to highlight that these results should be treated with consideration to the extent that it is also recognized that there is no simple cause-effect relations, when it is about understanding the role of physical activity in intellectual activ-ities of children and youth. Several fac-tors need to be considered as psychoso-cial factors, level of physical fitness and health factors, and other mediators such as age, gender and culture.

Some points may be highlighted here. First, it is that there is a tendency to sus-tain physical activity as an important el-ement of people’s development based on their energy dimension (metabolic). This beneficial effect of the physical activity in the energy dimension has been declared by researchers from the Public Health area in view of its direct relationship to combat metabolic problems of a seden-

BRAZILIAN PHySICAL EDUCATION WENT THROUGH

MAjOR CHANGES IN PERSPECTIVE TERMS Of

PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES THAT DESERVE TO BE TREATED

IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND AND EVALUATE HOW fAVORABLE IS BRAZILIAN EDUCATIONAL SCENE fOR A PROPOSITION

Of ACTIVE SCHOOL.

tary lifestyle. Secondly, it is noted that a recent concern demanding a link between physical activity and academic development and cogni-tion operationalized in executive functions. This draw authorities’ attention of education field creating a more favorable scenario for installa-tion of Active Schools.

Brazilian Physical Education went through major changes in perspective terms of pedagog-ical approaches that deserve to be treated in or-der to understand and evaluate how favorable is Brazilian educational scene for a proposition of Active School.

ACTIVE SCHOOL, PHySICAL EDUCATION, CURRICULUM AND THEIR THEORIES

a n Active School is, above all, a school. A social institution with mission that de-fines it: education. Thus, the concept of

Active School should simultaneously meet both educational dimension and health care and de-velopment of their students. Therefore, it is nec-essary to consider that experiences developed at school or from the school should be constituted as school activities, because if they are not, the school will be distorting its purpose.

Greek Paideia - for many people, the root of contemporary school and one of the most signifi-cant ancient heritages - proposed “the formation of human being through organic contact with the culture” (GAMBI, 1999). The culture which con-stitutes the community because “education is not an individual property, but belongs in essence to community (...) it is the principle by which the human community preserves and transmits its physical and spiritual peculiarity” (JAEGER, 2001). In short, education “is, therefore, the act of receiving and initiating young people in the world, enabling them to control, enjoy and trans-form public traditions that form our common symbolic inheritance” (CARVALHO, 2008).

Within these educational perspectives, body practices should also be taught at school, be-cause they are human activities built and modi-

fied throughout history, and are a cultural heritage that is a fundamental aspect of any society.

It should be noted that selecting what should be taught implies the adoption of criteria that justify the choice of curric-ulum content and is, implicitly or explic-itly, based on the matter of type of citi-zen who is desired to make the process of education. All curriculum theory has an informative and critical role. The first establishes rules guiding development and practice of the curriculum and, the second refers to the values governing the life of the citizen and society. Historical-ly, these roles have been pointed out in the proposition of curriculum theories to the detriment of both, becoming a seri-ous problem (YOUNG, 2014). It is known that purposes and directions reflected to the school educational processes change, once the socio-historical context (eco-nomic, political, cultural, scientific) and

the involved interests also change. As a result, in general, the objectives and content of educa-tion should follow these changes and, therefore, school practices also need to change (BETTI, FERRAZ, DANTAS, 2011).

EDUCATION IS NOT AN INDIVIDUAL PROPERTy, BUT BELONGS IN ESSENCE TO COMMUNITy (...) IT IS THE PRINCIPLE By WHICH THE HUMAN COMMUNITy PRESERVES AND TRANSMITS ITS PHySICAL AND SPIRITUAL PECULIARITy”

( J a e G e R , 2 0 0 1 )

In the specific case of curricular com-ponent of Physical Education, adopting and maintaining an active lifestyle, for all that have been stated over this docu-ment, it is essential issue in educational policies and public health, and the school has been assigned a key role in promoting knowledge and skills focused on the issue of the active life in our society. Therefore, a demand is currently identified for the Physical Education purposes that a few decades ago have not been constituted as an imperative issue.

The etymological meaning of the word curriculum, curriculum in Latin, is pro-gressive movement, race track, path to be completed. In the educational context, the notion of curriculum has covered several propositions encompassing curriculum standards proposed by school systems, syllabus with courses and activities, set of education plans for teachers, things that happen in lessons and experiences lived by students in school, among others. This process comes from the fact that curricu-lum is a historical and cultural construc-tion, suffering influences from different directions given by process of education in general terms and, specifically, to the different roles of curriculum components (FERRAZ; CORREIA, 2012). From reflec-tions on human nature, culture, society, conception of learning and development, different curriculum theories have been differentiated in the proposition of what is considered as valid and important to deserve the label of learning content (SIL-VA, 2009); (LOPES; MACEDO, 2011).

Curriculum theories in Physical Ed-ucation have influenced the elaboration of official curriculum of the federal, state and municipal public networks, in addi-tion to publications that express the theo-retical and methodological advancement of School Physical Education which, in turn, guide teaching practice in schools.

“


Therefore, it may be identified and analyzed dif-ferent perspectives of structuring curriculum programs in Physical Education which will cre-ate opportunities to practice physical activities for their students and learning of knowledge re-lated to physical activity, health and well-being in different ways.

In the current situation for these curriculum theories, three proposals are identified: tradi-tional theory, critical and post-critical theory (FERRAZ; CORREIA, 2012); (NEIRA; NUNES, 2009). The relevance of the analysis of these dif-ferent curriculum perspectives is to seek under-standing how each of them reinforces, denies or ignores the central ideas included in the vision desired for Active School, in which is understood as a physical and social space offering body expe-riences by its cultural value as an end in itself, as well as its functional and occupational relevance, considering as elements: curriculum, environ-ment and community. This commitment to phys-ical activity should cover students, families and community surrounding the school.

TRADITIONAL CURRICULUM THEORIES IN PHySICAL EDUCATION

I n traditional curriculum theory, the main focus is on Physical Education curriculum is related to the object of curriculum subject study: hu-

man movement and body culture of movement - from the premise that, throughout its existence, the human being built knowledge and practices related to the body and its movement - should be treated in Physical Education. Thus, the decision about what to teach limits the knowledge on this object (human movement and body culture of movement) that are expressed in body practices of game, sport, dance, gymnastics and wrestling; Besides basic motor skills and physical capacities that support these expressions of body culture of movement. This curriculum perspective high-lights for pedagogical treatment through organi-zation and development of the content.

In traditional curriculum theories, an im-

portant issue for the dialog with the Ac-tive School is encouraging the adoption of a physically active life and the importance of knowing its relationship to health and well-being. However, this category of analysis - traditional curriculum theory - has many aspects. This stems from the fact that Physical Education, throughout its history, has been influenced by move-ments arising from specific social needs in different historical moments. In spite of importance of these social movements in the consolidation of different perspec-tives related to Physical Education con-sidered nowadays, a detailed historical analysis is beyond the purpose of this document. In this way, under the scope of said traditional curriculum theory, some current aspects of School Physical Educa-tion will be presented below, and its rela-tionship with the notion of Active School will be considered.

Physical education focused on health - one of these traditional aspects derived from movement protecting physical ac-tivity in the 1990s and fostered the cur-rent notion of Active School - emphasizes the content directly related to the notions of physical activity and physical exercise focusing on physical fitness. The classes are discussed theoretical and practical knowledge related to physical activity and physical exercise as cardiorespirato-ry resistance, strength, muscular resis-tance, body composition and flexibility. As a result, it is possible to identify classes that promote to practice physical activity through various practices on gymnastics, game, sport, among others, in order to stimulate the development and mainte-nance of physical fitness consistent with functional capacity and health encour-agement (NAHAS; CORBIN, 1992).

Another aspect related to tradition-al curriculum theory is called sporting Physical Education, which uses biological

dimensions for pedagogical practice, but expands the perspective of action. In regard to sporting performance expressed by mechanical efficiency and control of movements, its focus on content is directed to techniques, tactics and strategies that include the various sporting modalities and pre-sporting games and enhancement of biologi-cal systems to support these activities. As a result of the assumptions adopted in this aspect, it is possible to identify classes whose level of mod-erate and intense physical activity is quite con-templated. However, researches have shown that intense participation in the activities do not hap-pen with all students; less-skilled students need special attention from teachers.

As of 1980s, approximately, other curriculum aspects emerged, in which may also be consid-ered in the range of traditional theories, since its focus of attention is on the content related to human movement, body culture of movement or culture of movement. In this way, it is proposed the basic objective of disseminating system-atized knowledge so that at the end of school, the student is able to participate and take advan-tage of programs for gymnastics, dance, sport, game, wrestling, among other corporal practic-es, being evaluated their suitability and qual-ity in order to promote health and well-being. In addition to that, it is aimed to contribute to the formation of a critical consumer of sporting events and the information conveyed by media, through conceptual and perceptual elements that enable it to assess and reflect on aesthetic, techniques and social and economic implica-tions of these expressions (FERRAZ, 2001). In this respect, information, knowledge and move-ments are learned in Physical Education classes so that students may increase their repertory of movements related to the culture of movement, as well as meeting their wishes, mobilizing their potentialities and becoming aware of socio-cul-tural connections of body practices from indi-vidual and collective point of view.

The fundamental difference between this and other aspects previously presented is in the fact that, even recognizing the presence of expres-

sions for movement of culture as content in School Physical Education, does not justify their choices due to simple cul-tural tradition (sport) or a biological need of human being (health). In essence, it is argued to be essential considering body practices as human and cultural con-structions with meanings inherent to the various social groups that produce and transform them. In other words, gym-nastics is part of School Physical Educa-tion, not only because it is good for the body (health), but because it was creat-ed in a specific historical moment that should be pedagogically addressed as a school knowledge. A telling example may be found on the issue “Body, Health and Beauty” pointed out in guidelines from curriculum proposal of the Physical Edu-cation in the State of São Paulo (SEE-SP, 2008), which deals with content such as different standards of beauty conveyed by media; various practices of physical exercise; eating habits; diseases result-ing from physical inactivity; prejudices related to gender, ethnicity, physical per-formance; appeal to the consumer and market interests in body products; the right to leisure in the corporate world. In this way, these contents are analyzed and problematized, indicating possibilities to implement students’ lives. The adoption of this perspective for Physical Education curriculum results in time division be-tween physical activity itself and exhi-bition activities, analysis and discussion of concepts and theories, research papers and seminars. As a result, the class peri-od is divided between practice of physical activity and theoretical reflection.

The second perspective of curriculum theory in Physical Education is the one guided by critical theories in education. It is argued that the concept of class has a fundamental and central role for curricu-lum programs, arguing that it is an essen-

tial factor for the socioeconomic understanding of individuals and, thereby, benefiting the un-derstanding of justice and social conflicts. In re-gard to the connections between power, ideology, social class and body practices, the main focus of the curriculum attention is directed to relations of power, especially, relations of socio-econom-ic class. In this way, the emphasis of content falls on these implications about expressions of body culture of movement to form a critical citizen of existing social arrangements, enhancing capital instead of labor, benefiting an economically priv-ileged minority and excluding the majority of the population to access material and cultural goods for well-being and quality of life.

The criticism from society based on the val-ues of capitalism, the market logic, profit above all, belief in the need for product consumption and modes of body practices for a “beautiful and healthy” body constitutes the focus on Educa-tion Physical. As an example, this approach re-fers to physical activity to health defined as the result of life conditions (food, employment, lei-sure, access to health services, transportation, education, etc.) and argues that these aspects are arising from social organizational manners of the production. It is focused on the main content in the process of community empowerment to act and intervene in society in order to improve health and, therefore, quality of life. Therefore, it is argued that the subject may not be indi-vidually liable for sedentary lifestyle, without considering the social and economic conditions that make it difficult or impede the commit-ment in a physically active life. It also points out that changes in individual behavior to increase the level of physical activity contribute slightly to obtain the necessary conditions to promote health, i.e., social justice, income, equity, sus-tainable economy, among others. Therefore, it is identified that this approach reduces the time spending physical activity in Physical Education class, emphasizing the need to reflect on how, why and from which interests, the knowledge of the body culture of movement was produced and validated.

Most recently - by incorporating as-sumptions of the curriculum critical the-ory in Physical Education - it has been proposed a third perspective called as post-critical curriculum theory, based on cultural studies in critical multicultural-ism, feminist studies, philosophy of dif-ference, among others. It is increased the focus on relations of economic power and social class for matters of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, among other issues. In brief, the expectation seeks to analyze matters of identity and difference, rela-tions of local and global power, and the own dynamics of multicultural societies.

Therefore, questioning of knowl-edge hegemony and culture of dominant groups, at the expense of minorities and less-privileged groups from the cultur-al, economic and social point of view, is emphasized in the contents. The funda-mental issue for this curriculum theory is the analysis and reflection on “why” certain content is important to the school education, and not another. What are the interests, from the point of view of power relations between different groups (social class, gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality) that make this knowledge is in the cur-riculum? Therefore, dialog, respect and understanding among different cultures of many or multicultural societies have been constituted in an important educa-tional challenge to fight against violence and social conflicts.

In short, the capacity of education to the acceptance of diversity is what at stake. For school, that is a challenge, because their operating standards tend to homogenization and standardization (SACRISTAN, 2001). The main focus is related to struggle for meanings. In the specific case of physical activity and re-lations with health, physical inactivity is recognized as a current and characteris-tic phenomenon of certain social groups;

however, it argues that practices of hegemonic physical activity to combat physical inactivity, for example, exercising at gyms or sporting prac-tice may not be identified as “the best” coping possibilities of the problems arising from phys-ical inactivity. Therefore, it is proposed to expe-rience and analyze the different body practices and their struggles for meaning in the universe for the culture of movement, i.e., it indicates the need to problematize the overvaluation for prac-tices of dominating culture, showing market in-terests linked by mainstream media.

It is our perspective that building a proposal of Active School may not be attached to one or another system, since these systems are formed from a dichotomy between nature and culture. The systems mentioned here have been made in the scope of gym and sought to build world views, true paradigms to format a way of look-ing at reality. Nonetheless, the reality is multi-faceted and, therefore, it requires several view-points. By building a conception of Active School (as may be interpreted below), we work on the logic of complementarity between systems from the idea that it is not possible to understand and promote Human Development with a unique viewpoint, the nature or culture6. The attention to look itself from different angles, look through microscope, look using opera glasses and also look through telescope7, it provides us a deeper look on the reality in which we seek to act.

6 We discussed the principle of complementarity and its role for a deeper understanding of human development in Manoel, e. de J. (2015). Nature//culture; Nature x culture; Nature ~ culture: the concept of development in the constitution of physical education at school. In M. Sitgger (org). educação Física + humanas. campinas: editora autores associados.

37CADERNo DE DESENvolvIMENTo HUMANo // escolas aTivas no brasilPNUD // 201636

pnud // 201638

REDEfINING THE ACTIVE SCHOOL fOR BRAZIL

B ody practices are the object of intervention in different curriculum theories in Physical Education. Some emphasize their energetic

dimension in the classroom, focusing on prac-ticing and encouraging physical activity; oth-ers, in a more comprehensive way, highlight the understanding in the role of physical activity in cultural dynamics, in the development of people and quality of life, at the expense of body ex-perience itself; others still seek to balance action and reflection, approaching the idea of learn-ing by experience, defended in this document. Clearly, educational researches are still needed to identify the potential to change the students’ behavior to adopt an active lifestyle, from each curriculum theory in Physical Education.

As stated above, in essence, the curriculum expresses the path to be completed and, in this sense, the curriculum of the School Physical Ed-ucation has a key role in defining conditions that benefit or limit the configuration of an Active School for beyond classes, and also influencing design of extracurricular programs, recreation free time between students’ classes, as well as activities with family and community, at school and its surroundings.

The Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education (LDB) (BRASIL, Law No. 9394, 1996; Law No. 10.793, 2003) defines Physical Education It seeks to develop a pedagogical

reflection on the collection of representation forms in the world in which human being has been produced throughout history, exteriorized by body expression: games, dances, wrestling, gymnastic exercises, sports, juggling, contortion, mime and others, which may be identified as forms of symbolic representation of realities experienced by human being, historically created and culturally developed.

“( C o l e t i v o d e a u t o R e s , 1 9 9 2 )

as a compulsory curriculum component, integrated into school’s pedagogical pro-posal and adjusted to different age groups and conditions of students. The law text is clearly intended to overcome the tra-ditional disconnection between Physical Education and school’s pedagogical proj-ect that often places it as an activity estab-lished in school, instead of a subject with its own school knowledge inserted within the framework of school culture. In view of LDB, the publication of the National Curriculum Parameters (PCNs) that guid-ed educational reforms of School Physical Education in the country states that the purpose of Physical Education in school is “to ensure the access for students to the practices of body culture, contribute to the building of a personal style to exer-cise them and provide tools so that they are able to enjoy them critically “(BRASIL, 1998, p. 24).

The critical curriculum theory is the prevailing instruction of the School Phys-ical Education in Brazil, and one of his

a pRopositionalSyNTHESIS fOR

aCtivesChool

2it pRomotesthe learning of body practices;

1 it meet With daily needs of physical activity recommended for children and young people, considering evidences of their relationship with health, welfare and development;

3it pResents theoretical knowledge that allow students’ autonomy and freedom related to individual performance and policy in relation to body practices in their lives and community.

7 We use this analogy based on Lewis carroll in the passage of his book through the looking-glass and what alice found there (1871) in which alice got in the train and the transport auditor inquires her about what direction she goes, due to the uncertainty demonstrated by alice, the auditor looks at her, occurring the following passage: “During all this time, the auditor was looking at her, first through the telescope, after that, using microscope, and then, opera glasses. Finally, he said: You are traveling on the wrong track”. (p. 139, carroll, 1871/1965).

main works (COLETIVO DE AUTORES, 1992) states that as a school subject:

It may be deducted that physical ac-tivity for Brazilian School Physical Edu-cation overcomes a restrictive intention-ality to health benefits. It assumes the influence and knowledge to the adoption of an active lifestyle in the later stages of development, the stimulus for develop-ment of executive functions and, allied to that, academic performance. It also takes responsibility for human traditions named body culture, that as traditions from other nature, their roots remind a variety of practices, knowledge and val-ues inherited and re-created, mostly in historical existence for centuries. Their meanings derive from the diversity of so-cial and economic demands, but also in political projects and conceptions of man/woman and the world. ◊

39CADERNo DE DESENvolvIMENTo HUMANo // escolas aTivas no brasil

as a result of our research, we present a conception of active School that provides its students with a set of body experiences at school: by physical education classes and other subjects, school holidays and extracurricular activities; and from the school: in its relations with other institutions and moments of students’ life. this set of body experiences have as basic assumptions:


4chapter

T he process of building conception of Ac-tive School was designed in complemen-tary stages, from quantitative analysis of aspects related to physical activities

- infrastructure, curricular and extracurricu-lar activities, human resources - contained in the national databases. Such analyzes provided important references for building the sample of the national telephone approach carried out with 572 schools, which reveals many potentials and also current challenges of education in Brazil, to ensure opportunities of physical activity in the school routine and promote an active lifestyle among students and the school community.

In addition to descriptive analysis, the re-sults of telephone survey were also treated by Item Response Theory (IRT) in a first attempt to build a “ruler”, being able to measure how active the Brazilian schools are. The created ruler al-lowed that schools were classified into high, me-dium or low levels of “activism”. From this clas-sification, 20 schools were selected to carry out an ethnographic field research in order to reveal elements capable of bringing a greater under-standing on culture of physical activity present in several schools in the national country. This last step is still ongoing.

With the conceptual-theoretical and system-atized documentary research in previous sec-tions, we found signs of what it would be a hu-man training space that may be named as Active School. We identified twelve actions that would characterize this space and the challenge was to find a tool that would allow us to gauge the di-mension of schools potentially or effectively ac-tive in Brazil.

Measuring is one of the dearest human acts. Measuring means, before and above all, an act of knowing what is measured. And this is the link with epistemic act that makes measuring some-thing so dear to science.Measuring involves the quantification of objects, events and processes and, because of that, we come across numerous expressions of the same issue. However, the num-bers are expressed in accordance with certain trends, denote relations, enabling to the science,

not only describing it, but also find regu-larities in the diversity of nature. Regular-ities that, once described, reveal patterns. Our purpose was to find a scale that could show us Active Schools, and that also could potentially identify Active Schools or with few conditions to be active.

For any case, we face the challenge of finding a “ruler” for something not well defined or not considered as directly ob-served, even though, we conceptually have our object defined. The dilemma was to measure something, before knowing it. Considering the dimension we learned about what an Active School is, but keep-ing in mind that we are not sure how to measure it, because it is not presented as directly observable entity; we chose to use

MEASURING IS ONE Of THE DEAREST HUMAN

ACTS. MEASURING MEANS, BEfORE AND ABOVE ALL,

AN ACT Of KNOWING WHAT IS MEASURED. AND THIS IS THE LINK WITH EPISTEMIC

ACT THAT MAKES MEASURING SOMETHING

SO DEAR TO SCIENCE.

Measuring Active Schools in Brazil when measuring means knowing before what is measured


N o N - M A T E R I A l G o o D S

M A T E R I A l G o o D S

33,000S C H o o l S

C H I l D H o o D E D U C A T I o N

82,000S C H o o l S

E l E M E N T A R y S C H o o l

4,400S C H o o l S

H I G H S C H o o l

a relevant theory to gauge systems or states char-acterized by what is called as latent traits. We mainly used TRI (ARAÚJO; ANDRADE; BORTO-LOTTI, 2009) to characterize these traits that are indicators of a mode to operate or state organi-zation, such as proficiency in a particular field of knowledge, level of quality of life, or in our case, the degree to which a school is active.

TRI was developed as a way to deal with the limitations of the Classical Theory of Measures in which indicative result of a state is skewed, be-cause there is a dependency relation between the measuring instrument and characteristics under examination. TRI provides, firstly, to consider each item in a particular way without arrange-ments attached to the questionnaire or test from which it was generated. This makes it possible to evaluate various and different databases among themselves, since TRI works with the “item” and not with the test of which is resulted Secondly, TRI estimates parameters of items and individuals in a measuring scale, and from there, we may say that there is a ruler and power expectation to submit a “school” to a test and gauge it in a continuous way from Active School to Non-Active School.

However, TRI or any tool will not measure the degree to which a School is Active without first knowing what an Active School is. To find out what we wanted to measure, we did an exercise to use the results of our conceptual-theoretical research as glasses (criterion) to view in existing databases on Brazilian schools related to which could be an indicator for the degree of activism in this universe. After this identification, we would have a set of questions or data that, once ana-lyzed, it could have the results submitted to the application of TRI.

In this way, we access databases offered about Brazilian school, specifically “Prova Brasil in 2013 [Brazilian Exam in 2013]” and the School Census 2013. The three levels of basic education were considered, comprising nearly 120 thou-sand schools analyzed, as follow:

The data allowed performing the exercise of thinking in training spaces to an Active School.

According to data obtained, we were able to reflect on what material goods and non-material goods would be that support and make an Active School. For material goods, it was considered that each school presented in terms of appropriate locations and facilitators of body practices such as indoor or outdoor courts or courtyards, and the availability of these locations on weekends. For non-material goods, the data collection focused on the presence or absence of Physical Education as a com-ponent in the curriculum, in addition to the offering of physical activities and ex-

tra-curricular sports on the weekends, promotion of sporting events for community, among others.

It should be noted that it is our understand-ing that material goods are necessary condition, but not enough for an Active School. The pres-ence of non-material goods would be the main catalyst to generate previously systematized actions in the twelve actions that make an Ac-tive School. Due to the combined use of Classical Theory of Measures for building indicators and Item Response Theory to create scales in these indicators, it was possible to define a method-ological path to identify potential information on the data to qualify non-material goods and material goods in relation to an Active school.

As databases had limits to inform us about the indicators for an active school, it was decided to build a questionnaire with questions directed to indicators who could provide elements to charac-terize school’s latent trait concerning the degree to which it may be considered active. Eight items were defined in order to best represent the twelve actions that ideally characterize an active school.

TELEPHONE SURVEy TO LEARN A LIT-TLE BIT ABOUT SCHOOLS AND ACTIVE SCHOOLS

B y impetus to address an expressive sam-ple of Brazilian schools, studies were conducted to define the criteria for the

composition of the sample. The initial sam-ple was comprised of 3,000 schools, being 600 full schools and 2400 substitute schools, having as a goal achieving 600 schools. In proportion to the offering of education-al levels in Brazil, 810 schools were made available (162 full schools and 648 substitute schools) for each one of child level, elemen-tary I and elementary II. As high school, the number of schools available was 570 (114 full schools and 456 substitute school). In addi-tion to stratification by level of education, the sample was subdivided into relevant cat-egories to five geographic political regions in the country (North, Northeast, Center-West, Southeast and South), to the location of schools in relation to the urban center from municipalities in which they were located (urban or rural), to IDEB of these regions, to the type of institution (public or private),

• Policy of encouraging physical activity at school (curriculum);• Extracurricular sporting and physical activities;• Opening for using school facilities on weekends;• Possibilities to practice and perform physical and sporting activities during breaks and recreation;• Existence of short breaks for physical activity during classrooms;• Regular Physical Education classes with annual learning expectations;• Opportunities to participate in sporting events;• Relations with other institutions (sporting clubs).

• Infrastructure dedicated to the practice of physical and sporting activities;• Existence and availability of materials to be used in activities beyond the curriculum component in Physical Education;• Availability of physical space to practice physical and sporting activities on weekends;• Sufficient human resources and proper training.


and to classification of proxy (from the data ob-tained in the School Census and Prova Brasil, both in 2013). In this sense, the exchange of a full school for a substitute one could not be simply made by educational level. For each full school, 4 substitute ones were selected, whose character-istics were similar to all requirements presented above. Below an idea of the universe for schools interviewed.

economic indicators). It is also sought to balance about sampling errors, keeping them in values that would not make it im-possible these interpretations on the scope and implications of data. Its purpose was to know potentialities from schools to be considered Active Schools in structural, organizational and pedagogical terms, analyzing the opportunities given and the conditions available for encouraging physical activity through telephone in-terviews of their managers. According to the results found, disparities in social and economic development among Brazilian regions seem to affect the opportunities and conditions offered by schools so that students and school community commit themselves in physical activities. Such fact is featured in the differences found in rela-tion to various items surveyed: conditions offered for development of Physical Educa-tion as a subject - attendance and weekly class hours, specialist teacher responsible for the subject; offering of extracurricular activities, and available infrastructure.

The universe of surveyed rural schools also proved as very different from urban public and private schools, generally in-dicating less opportunities and precarious conditions to practice physical activity.

The cross-linking data on the regions and type of school draws attention. If rural schools are those that have a lower percentage of Physical Education teach-ers responsible for the subjects, these schools in the North (11.7%) and North-east (24.8%) are those with the worst sce-narios. It is important to highlight, how-ever, that understanding the analysis of regional differences is more complex than data may suggest. There are excellent schools in regions that have achieved low values in some results, as there are very precarious schools in areas that showed better results in the research. Therefore,

SCHOOLS WITH PHySICAL EDUCATION TEACHERS By REGION (%)

PhysIcal eDUcaTION aT schOOl

MID

-WES

T

No

RTH

EAST

No

RTH

So

UTH

EAST

SoUT

H

BRA

zIl

BRA

zIl

62

37

29

8281

56

SCHOOLS WITH PHySICAL EDUCATION TEACHERS By TyPE Of ESTABLISHMENT AND LOCATION (%)

PRIv

ATE

PUB

lIC

RURA

l

URB

AN

56

74

51

31

71

DISTRIBUTION Of SAMPLEAccording to levels of education

27,6% (158 schools)ElEMENTARy EDUCATIoN I

27% (154 schools)

ElEMENTARy EDUCATIoN II

26% (149 schools)CHIlDHooD EDUCATIoN

19,4%(111 schools)

HIGH SCHool

The telephone survey was a first approach to the universe of schools. That is why, it is not be considered as definitive. It is important to declare and recognize that such sample, although its size, may not be considered as representative in the strict sense for the universe of Brazilian schools. Nonetheless, care was taken to ensure lato sensu representation, for example, using IDEB indica-tors to ensure in the sample schools in different emphases, including socioeconomic, given the good correlation between both (IDEB and socio-


tutions, extracurricular activities and on week-ends, involvement of families and communities in planning and management - that are independent of legislation and go beyond the compliance with rules governing the school management and cur-riculum duties must have great relevance to the definition of what is understood as Active School, as suggest great value assigned by school to these practices. In this study, the percentage of schools that positively responded to these issues was gen-erally quite low, indicating aspects to be more ex-plored in educational programs and policies.

The results of this study reveal the schools’ potential to be more or less active; and the find-ings offer some degree indications to which ap-proach or distance itself from concept of an Active School. The data show which aspects considered as parameters of an Active School are more or less frequent in the reality of schools surveyed, point-ing out those that affect positively most of them, and others still are as challenges for educational policies that wish to value physical activity in a comprehensive and integrated manner to the

school’s political-pedagogical project.As already mentioned, it was possible

to make a “rules”, i.e., a measure of Active School calculated using the TRI, according to data obtained. The issues, that included the tool for telephone survey, were posi-tioned on an average scale 0 and standard deviation 1. A “new score” was also made, based on only 17 items that calibrated. The first school at the “ruler” obtained the score by TRI of 2.24 (the maximum would be the value 5). In this way, knowing the School’s score and according to items placed on the scale, we can check which items are per-formed/met by this or any other school.

The Table 2 presents the issues from telephone survey tool with the respective values (the higher the value, the greater the importance of such issue), indicating the contribution of a given item for a com-position of Active School.

Our expectation was that Active Schools would be highlighted in the set

9

11

18

45

BREAK fOR PHySICAL ACTIVITIESSchools in which there are breaks during lessons for practicing physical activities (%)

Childhood Education

Elementary Education I

Elementary Education II

High School

any understanding of Active School must nec-essarily consider the particularities of the local context of schools in relation to opportunities and available conditions, but also with regard to the needs and interests of these populations by physical activities, once the way of life and the body culture of territories - geographical or ru-ral/urban regions - are also different. The study also shows a trend of school’s educational pro-cess value body movements at the beginning of basic education instead of final years. The data showed that physical activity is more present in the early years, especially in childhood educa-tion, and gradually decreases towards the high school. Probably, this is because the movement, plays and body games are considered import-ant resources for learning and development of children, including language acquisition and mathematical reasoning, while the educational process in the final years of basic education seem to benefit cognitive dimension by traditional

methods that predominantly emphasize intellectual and not very active activities.

On the other hand, opportunities to practice outside the curriculum increase as progressing in levels of education, in a high-er level in Elementary II and Middle. There-fore, the establishment of parameters of an Active School must assume analysis for the set of opportunities to practice physical ac-tivity in different cycles of basic education due to differences identified.

The legal framework also seem to be rele-vant to execute actions in favor of practicing physical activities at schools, provided that attendance and quantity of Physical Edu-cation classes and the presence of specialist teachers seem to be related to requirements provided in legislation about these issues. On the other hand, school’s own initiatives to promote physical activity - guidelines established, partnerships with other insti-

25

43

44

60

ExTRACURRICULAR PHySICAL ACTIVITIESSchools that offer extracurricular physical activities (%)

o P P o R T U N I T y o f P R A C T I C I N G P H y S I C A l A C T I v I T I E S o N W E E k E N D S

Are opened on weekends for practicing of

physical activities

20%Offer physical

activities programs on weekends

16%Are used by community

on weekends for physical activities

34%

Childhood Education

Elementary Education I

Elementary Education II

High School

pnud // 201648

sUrvey of indicators we refer to school’s non-materi-al goods. However, the results shown in Table 2 show us that this marking was given by factors that are linked to infrastructure. The trend of this result does not change due to the building of ruler calculated by TRI (Figure 1).

The results of applying the ruler indicate that an element from infrastructure such as having athletics track (Q31D) or swimming pool (Q31E), are important for a school to have a higher de-gree of activism. It is interesting to note that the analysis of the frequency response, we note that many schools have indicated not having a protagonist attitude to defend the importance of practicing physical and sporting activity, con-sidered by us a non-material good of an Active School (Chart 1).

The frequency of positive response about the existence or absence of policies to promote phys-ical activity at the school indicated that fewer than half of schools surveyed have such policies (44.9%). For only two regions in Brazil, more than half of schools reported having promoting poli-cies in the Southeast with 50.1% and in the South with 59.3%. Even so, it is revealed that the ab-sence of a policy or specific guidelines to promote physical education denotes that the presence of Active Schools is an exception, instead of a rule in Brazil, from the perspective adopted by us.

The telephone survey helped us to oppose the systematization of the concept of Active School

qUESTIONS ON TELEPHONE SURVEy TOOL

qUESTION – DESCRIPTION ITEM

Are movement activities/physical education classes taught by a physical education teacher? Q18A -0,82

Does school have learning expectations every year during movement activities/physical education classes? Q19A -1,70

Does school offer regularly extracurricular sporting/physical activities? Q20A 0,24

Do students attend the school on weekends to practice sporting/physical activities? Q29A 0,69

Does school offer sporting/physical activities programs for students on the weekends? Q30A 0,91

Outdoor courtyard / outdoor court Q31B -1,39

Athletics track Q31D 4,52

Swimming Pool Q31E 3,14

Rooms (muscle strengthening / gymnastics / wrestling / dance) Q31f 2,27

Changing room Q31G 1,64

Bicycle stand Q31H 2,41

Does school organize events that promote sporting/physical activities? Q33A -1,65

Does school participate in extern events of sporting/physical activity? Q34A -0,71

Does school open on the weekends for using physical activity/sporting facilities by students’ parents or residents in surroundings, besides students? Q35A 0,65

Is there any participation of parents and guardians in planning and managing sporting/physical activities for the community? Q36A 1,31

Does school have a specific guideline to promote physical activity in your daily life? Q37A 0,46

Is there any school partnership with other institutions in order to facilitate or make it possible the practice of sporting/physical activity by its students? Q38A 0,97

TABLE 2 (conducted in conceptual and theoretical research) with data from a profile made by the existing national bases. This oppo-sition allowed us to balance on the most appropriate indicators to characterize the degree of activism in schools. The own-

Center-West 44,5% 55,5% 5,2% 10%

Northeast 42,8% 57,2% 5,4% 11%

North 23,6% 76,4% 6,1% 12%

Southeast 50,1% 49,9% 4,1% 8%

South 59,3% 40,7% 4,7% 9%

BRAZIL 44,9% 55,1% 2,6% 5%

REGIONyES NO

ESTIMATE STANDARD DEVIATION ERROR

CHART 1: ExISTENCE Of SPECIfIC GUIDELINES

ership of infrastructure - material goods - on indicators of actions to promote sporting and physical activity should be carefully interpreted. For example, the athletics track showed a value at the rul-er of 4 (out of five), however, this may not be interpreted as if the track was in itself

fIGURE 1: POSITIONING Of THE MEASURE ITEMS Of ACTIVE SCHOOL By TRI

-4 -3 -2 1-1 20 3 4

33A

19A 31B

34A

18A 20A37A29A 35A

38A35A

30A 31G 31f31H

31E 31D

49CADERNo DE DESENvolvIMENTo HUMANo // escolas aTivas no brasil


an indicator of Active School. On the contrary, it indicates that having an athletics track at school will result in having several other important in-dicators for an active school. That is, athletics track or swimming pool represents an epiphe-nomenon rather than a cause of an Active School. The trace of latency that we seek to identify is not static. It is characterized by trends and, not rarely, trends are misinterpreted or confused by cause and effect relations.

While the way as telephone survey was struc-tured by a set of views on what an active school is, we believe that it is necessary to “calibrate” the view focusing on the particular: the school entity. We do not speak about perspective of case study, but from understanding that such view on a school allows to learn school as a unique single entity. Although each view - general and particular one - seem inconsistent in relation to the other, taken together allow a broader view of our object: the Active School in Brazil. We will deal with that below when talking about the fol-lowing steps concerning investigation on Active School and Human Development.

There are still other indicators that allow to locate schools as a “location of physical activity” from the standpoint of Active School. Under-standing how the activities are performed and what objectives are; who participates and why; which level of quality happens these body expe-riences and results caused; it is still necessary to build a more comprehensive conception of Active School. The potential of schools, represented by opportunities and conditions investigated in this study, should be detailed from the knowledge of the proper context of each school, its capacity to mobilize and engage students, teacher, staff and family, and real impacts produced in the ways of school community’s life as a whole.

Let us return to the question: What is an Ac-tive School? It is a space and a time that is to me-diate the acquisition of knowledge, foster skills and structure opportunities to children and young people (pedagogical subject by excellence) in order to increase their choices in the present,

but above all, to give them conditions of understanding and effective exercise of building meaningful experiences from a perspective to become what they want to be, continuously and progressively.

The Active School highlights itself, go-ing beyond an institutional place where it transmits knowledge systematized in a curriculum. It involves this too, but it is structured in a physical and human space with axis for development in all its phys-ical, psychological, social and political dimensions. The established spaces will regulate several times of development (ROSSETTI-FERREIRA et al., 2000): the present where the action is implemented in a context that denotes what was lived in ethos or habitus of the place; both em-bedded in the cultural imagination that

denotes the history; and all being structured around individual expectations and marks and goals that express the prospective.

The implementation of an Active School bene-fits from numerous human activities established in the dimension of technique, science, daily life and art. Among this set of possible activities, we highlight the body activities of expression and introspection, sports and adventure, plays and games. We do this by an focus, and then, without prejudice to the other.

In this way, an Active School is a physical and human space where children and young people understand and incorporate body prac-tices, not only in the present times, time lived and history of Human Development, but also in the prospective time. Body practices corre-spond to physical activity, but go beyond to the extent that its systematization is not based on

criteria of energy expenditure, but also and especially, by senses and meanings that movement acquired and acquires in a historical context and, according to the individual intentionality.

It is worth highlighting that mo-tor activity, including body practices, is auxiliary and, therefore, it is a mean of Human Development when proper-ly practiced, as this activity is an end in itself, i.e., the practice provides senses, meanings, unique personal knowledge. Movement provides personal experienc-es that are the basis of living. When we move, we perform processes to imagine, realize, want, decide, plan, carry out and evaluate, and these processes are expand-ed when considering the physical and so-cial context, and so other processes take place: reconcile, cooperate, challenge, invest, overcome, compete. The develop-ment occurs to the extent that the indi-vidual acts - we highlight as an active way - exploring its degrees of freedom (a set of bio-psychological factors), taking action and achieving results.

Thus, the individual acts with itself and with others, explores means and ends, influencing those in their surroundings (parents, caregivers, siblings, relatives, friends, teachers, etc.) and being influ-enced themselves under development by the same means . Thus the individual de-velops when searching, preparing, creat-ing and recreating new ways of acting to exercise its choices and expanding them. And, therefore, we say that the individual builds its experience, which is the tissue from which the development is made. A School is Active when it provides children and young people with space and time so that they build, prepare and exercise ways of action in expanding and choosing paths that will constitute the develop-ment of each one. ◊

A SCHOOL IS ACTIVE WHEN IT PROVIDES CHILDREN

AND yOUNG PEOPLE WITH SPACE AND TIME SO THAT

THEy BUILD, PREPARE AND ExERCISE WAyS Of

ACTION IN ExPANDING AND CHOOSING PATHS THAT WILL CONSTITUTE THE

DEVELOPMENT Of EACH ONE.


5 Knowing Active Schools in Brazil When knowing means transforming before what is knownchapter

W hen we know something, we oper-ate on it and, therefore, we turn it into object. The act of revealing the Active School, and then, to know it,

it will allow us to act on and change it. However, the change is not unmistakable: knowing, oper-ating and changing the object, it impacts and also changes those who know. We began the journey of this survey by reading the concepts of Active School already established and then, we made our own building of Active School concept as a refer-ence to the concept of Human Development and the concepts of Activity and Experience. What may we conclude and what do we know?

T H E C o N N E C T I o N A C T I v E S C H o o l A N D H U M A N D E v E l o P M E N T :

Active School is a privileged space to promote Human Development. The children and young people may prepare and try actions:

T H E C o N N E C T I o N A C T I v E S C H o o l A N D A C T I o N :

• Allowing them to deepen in their culture universe of its time; • Providing them the means to incorporate and change habits which also promote their welfare;• Extending them the capacities to obtain, select, manage information in troubleshooting;• Giving them the exercise of the agency in their own development in tune with the society in which they live, but also with the capacity to contribute to its change.

• A school is Active when action is incarnate, understands and promotes the knowing to move;• A school is Active when the action is structured in significant body practices at a time and place, but also meaning and changing time and place of the subject.

2

the 12aCtionsWHICH MAKE SCHOOL AN

aCtivesChool

5

86

• Appropriate educational materials and sufficient quantity to meet with educational needs of all students

• Sufficient human resources and proper training to plan and execute promoting actions of body practices inside and outside the school curriculum

• Proper physical structure for body practices in different times in the school life

it Gives oppoRtunitY to diversified body practices in physical education classes and in other times different from school term (other classes, holidays periods, after/before school)

it estaBlishes goals for quantity and quality of body practices in the pedagogical political project; relations with other institutions in order to enhance opportunities of body practices for their students (sporting clubs, events)

3 4it has:1

7it expResses in its program the commitment with learning various body practices, both its organic knowledge (practical) and knowledge concerning its historical meanings

it ensuRes on its curriculum and outside opportunities for learning of a range of body practices which allow autonomy and freedom in the current and future involvement of students with an active life

PNUD // 201654 55BooklET of HUMAN DEvEloPMENT // acTive scHools in braZil

it deFends in favor of corporal

practices for all involved with school,

both inside and outside the curriculum,

disseminating information based

on evidence in a concise, consistent and accessible way

it involves all the community

in planning and executing policy of

physical activity/body practice in

the school life

it ReGulaRlY assesses the quality and quantity related to involvement of its students with body practices in school and outside


cONclUsION

The implementation of an Active School benefits from numerous human activities established in the dimension of technique, science, daily life and art. Among this set of possible activities, we highlight the body activities of expression and introspection, sports and adventure, plays and games.

Body practices correspond to physical activity, but go beyond to the extent that its systematization is not based on criteria of energy expenditure, but also and espe-cially, by senses and meanings that move-

What noW?

11

as mentioned previously, it is necessary to practice the look, the eyes, and change it. Our perspective is to embrace the active School from two looks: a wide look and another fo-cused look, one of them general and the oth-er one, particular/local/ideographic. For this, we are going now to some schools throughout Brazil. Guided by telephone survey and criteria already practiced in the sample definition for survey, we elect twenty schools from different regions in Brazil that have been visited by our researchers.

the purpose is to conduct a qualitative research having as reference anthropology and ethnog-raphy tool. We will make an immersion in these schools: feeling them, experiencing them, living them, but above all learning its dynamics as hu-man Development contexts that may be model of active School in their identities and peculiari-ties. a group of ten researchers were selected to conduct ethnographies, having spent a period of training and alignment concerning what it seeks to learn in the scope of this research on active School and human Development. ◊

9it ConsideRs the organization of school time and space, in the classroom and outside, free or guided opportunities for body practices

it values the involvement of their students with body practices in school and outside school

it oRGaniZes spaces and educational routines in the school term in order to reduce inactive physical time

12it teaChes through the subject of physical education and other curriculum activities a wide range of body practices which add ownership and freedom of choice facing opportunities present in their daily lives and over the lifetime, as well as empowerment so that student may get critically involved with its own body practice

10

W hat is an Active School? That was the question that triggered the whole investigative process that we re-ported and that is still ongoing. It

was revealed to us that Active School is a space and a time that is to mediate the acquisition of knowledge, foster skills and structure opportu-nities to children and young people (pedagogical subject by excellence) in order to increase their choices in the present, but above all, to give them conditions of understanding and effective exer-cise of building meaningful experiences from a perspective to become what they want to be, con-tinuously and progressively. Thus, Active School promotes the Human Development, at the same time in which Human Development enhances the degree of activism of a school.

The Active School highlights itself, going be-yond an institutional place where it transmits knowledge systematized in a curriculum. It in-volves this too, but it is structured in a physical and human space with axis for development in all its physical, psychological, intellectual, social, cultural and political dimensions. The established spaces will regulate several times of development: the present where the action is implemented in a context that denotes what was lived in ethos or habitus of the place; both embedded in the cul-tural imagination that denotes the historical time; and all being structured around individu-al expectations and marks and goals that express the prospective time.

THE ACTIVE SCHOOL IS STRUCTURED IN A PHySICAL AND HUMAN SPACE WITH AxIS fOR DEVELOPMENT IN ALL ITS PHySICAL, PSyCHOLOGICAL, INTELLECTUAL, SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND POLITICAL DIMENSIONS.


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ment acquired and acquires in a historical context and, according to the individual intentionality.

It is worth highlighting that motor activi-ty, including body practices, is both auxiliary for people’s development and as an end in itself. Movement provides personal experiences that are the basis of living. When we move, we per-form processes to imagine, realize, want, decide, plan, carry out and evaluate, and these processes are expanded when considering the physical and social context, and so other processes take place: reconcile, cooperate, challenge, invest, over-come, compete.

The development occurs to the extent that the individual acts in an active way, exploring its degrees of freedom, taking action and achieving results. The individual acts with itself and with others, explores means and ends, influencing those in their surroundings (parents, caregivers, siblings, relatives, friends, teachers, etc.) and be-ing influenced themselves under development by the same means. The whole process still happens by transitions in the way of acting from building of experiences by individual in the physical and social space, thus highlighting the individual as the subject of its development.

The Human Development, in turn, finds in this scenario the primary context to be made effective a process of real expansion of people’s freedoms. An individual who is subject of de-velopment and free and sustainable agent of this process may act as driver of the Human Develop-ment. It is possible to experience the expansion of their capacities and opportunities and, con-sequently, freedom of choice arising from them. The two main ideas of this conception: the notion of freedom as an end and mean of development

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Therefore, a School is Active when it is in this space which provides the context for Human Development, being the individu-als as subjects of their own development. ◊


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pnud // 201662

how many active Schools there are in Brazil? What to do, to implement policies and programs, so that the schools be more active? how to improve the data collection instruments to understand and monitor with quality what happens in terms of physical and sports activities in schools? What is the relationship, after all, between human development, while expanding the freedom of choice of individuals, and active schools?

these are some of the issues that gave rise research whose results are presented in this publication. the intention is to contribute to the debate, bring elements to construct a vision about active schools and, of course, point out possible directions of change. all so that, increasingly, schools set up as spaces that encourage the movement of children and young people, and the whole community attached to it, enriching their lives now and in the future. ◊

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booklet of human development on active schools …...6 pnud 2016 boolet of huan development //...

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