Abstract
Introduction: After more than a decade monitoring physical education instruction in Brazilian elementary schools we noticed an exponential increase in circus activities in both curricular physical education (PE) and in after-school programs. The purpose of this study was to analyze the children's participation and gender preferences in circus activities, with regard to recent studies reporting substantial gender inequalities in Brazilian PE.Method: A qualitative study, based on multiple-cases design, was conducted in two public and six private Brazilian elementary schools. Data collection consisted of 17 semi-structured interviews with PE teachers and school administrators and in situ observations totalizing more than 130 h. The data were analyzed using Content Analysis (thematic categories).Results: Boys and girls showed high participation levels in both curricular and extracurricular PE circus activities. In grades 1–5, participant activity preference was not linked to gender in either curricular or extracurricular situations and overall physical engagement was high. Gender preferences between activities were identified in grades 6–12: girls for aerial activities (trapeze, silks) and boys for juggling activities. Teacher preferences played an important role in the process of linking activities to specific genders both through modeled behavior and gendered encouragement of participants.Conclusion: Circus instruction engages children of all genders and is thereby an effective activity to counter low participation in PE for boys and, especially, girls. Although circus activities are not inherently gendered, gender preferences are cultivated by teachers through gendered behavior modeling (their activity preferences) and encouragement strategies (guiding students to activities based on gender), which is often observed in traditional PE school activities and sports.
Highlights
After more than a decade monitoring physical education instruction in Brazilian elementary schools we noticed an exponential increase in circus activities in both curricular physical education (PE) and in after-school programs
Drivers of Implementation In most of the schools the implementation of circus instruction in PE was initiated by individual teachers (Schools 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8)
Many PE teachers have reported feeling intimidated to initiate teaching new disciplines, including circus, teachers who implemented circus activities demonstrated “teaching courage” through their perseverance and problem-solving attitude during the implementation process (Ward, 2001)
Summary
After more than a decade monitoring physical education instruction in Brazilian elementary schools we noticed an exponential increase in circus activities in both curricular physical education (PE) and in after-school programs. As with other areas of contemporary society, gender asymmetry and inequality influences the way students access and experience school activities including sport, art and education (Garcia, 2007; Evans, 2017; Stride et al, 2018). Teachers’ approaches for students of different genders influence student participation and preference for different activities (Garcia, 2013). For this reason, there have been sustained efforts in Brazil to promote gender equality in school PE, using a critical approach to navigate the internal (curricular, administrative) and external (social, cultural) tensions and conflicts of school programs (Cardoso et al, 2005; Ferreira et al, 2016). We are interested in overall participation in circus activities, but interested in whether participation in circus PE activities replicates or reduces the gender asymmetry seen in other PE activities
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