Professional learning in physical education in Brazil: issues and challenges of a complex system

Abstract

ABSTRACT In any field of knowledge, professional learning can be seen as a complex system: it involves the interaction of several components and these components change over time. Social needs, labor market, body of knowledge, faculty members, body of students and course curricula have been pointed out as some of these components that, when interacting, give the system a highly dynamic character. Moreover, considering the hierarchical characteristic of complex systems, it is necessary to take into account that professional learning develops itself in a context called university – that is immersed in an enormous identity crisis due to three major revolutions: knowledge, communication and digital. Other constraints that condition the functioning of professional learning come from the educational system. In Brazil, these constraints are complicated, varied and unstable, which results in the constant need to change their intrinsic dynamics. Furthermore, when one looks at a specific component of professional learning – body of knowledge – it becomes clear that it belongs to a field of knowledge whose historical trajectory of development also needs to be taken into account. Physical Education is still an incipient field of knowledge that faces serious ambiguities concerning its epistemological basis, which produces uncertainties regarding their academic and professional identities. Of course, without clarity of identity, a professional learning system is inevitably compromised. From a complex systems view, it is proposed that initial professional learning courses in Brazilian Physical Education should train professionals to act as hierarchical complex systems capable of remaining far-from-equilibrium and adapt themselves to the increasing demands of their professional settings.