Ter (ou não) um professor de Educação Física na educação infantil? : um olhar a partir da produção científica brasileira

Abstract

Early Childhood Education (ECE) is recognized as an essential stage for the integral development of children, covering physical, emotional, cognitive and social aspects. Despite this, the presence of a Physical Education (PE) teacher at this level of education is not mandatory in most Brazilian municipalities, which raises debates about the quality of physical practices and their impact on the child's education. Objective: To analyze Brazilian scientific production on the insertion of PE teachers in EI. Methodological paths: The research is characterized as a bibliographic study, of the state of knowledge type. 41 articles were selected from the SciELO, Virtual Health Library and CAPES Periodicals Portal databases, using the descriptors “Early Childhood Education”, “Physical Education” and “Teachers”. The analysis followed steps that included the organization of the corpus, recording and categorization of themes, supported by content analysis and descriptive statistics. Results: The results indicated five main themes that portray production on the topic: interdisciplinary partnership, public policies, specific training for EI, perception of the school community and body culture of movement. It was highlighted that the presence of the PE teacher makes it possible to expand children's motor and cognitive repertoire, promoting meaningful bodily experiences. However, the lack of specific training, inadequate infrastructure and the devaluation of the movement as a pedagogical content emerged as recurring challenges. It was also observed that regions such as the Southeast and South concentrate the majority of scientific production, reflecting regional differences in incentives and infrastructure. Final considerations: The inclusion of the PE teacher in EI was analyzed as essential, both to enhance the integral development of children and to enrich the pedagogical environment. However, gaps were identified, such as the insufficiency of public policies that ensure the obligation of this professional. For future research, empirical studies are proposed that directly investigate the impact of the PE teacher's performance in schools that do or do not adopt the presence of a specialist, as well as analyzes of the initial and continuing training of these professionals.