Introduction

Known as a pedagogical instrument that optimizes the teaching and learning process, the Textbook (TB) is the target of opposing stances, i.e., sometimes the object of protection, sometimes of hostility. Present in a rudimentary, still manuscript form since the 13th century, in the process of expansion of universities ( ^{THOMAS, 1992} ), modern TBs began to integrate the school culture since the modern school, in the 19th century. It has been called by its detractors an ideological tool of the State, a crutch ( ^{MUNAKATA, 2012} , p. 63) to support poorly trained teachers, a capitalist product made for profit, an alienating instrument; its advocates, on the other hand, have called it a necessary, pertinent tool for the efficiency of schooling, and also a helpful intermediary resource between teacher and student. In spite of such controversy, it remains in use in school practices, but the Physical Education (PE) subject traditionally makes no use of it.

Brazil has the world’s largest TB production and distribution program,² mostly funded by the federal government through the National Schoolbook Program, created in 1985. However, Physical Education is the odd subject out in the curriculum of what is currently denominated Basic Education as it does not have the TB as its main didactic tool, nor is it in the scope³ of the Program. As a school subject, PE underwent a transformation process with the National Education Guidelines and Framework Law n. 9394 from 1996; since then, it began to seek more intensively a theoretical framework as a body culture of movement, thereby gradually overcoming models based on performance exercising, in line with a merely motor cognition. Due to these characteristics in its contents, and due to the lack of use of pedagogical literary instruments such as TBs, we inquire about the use of Physical Education textbooks (PETB) over its history as a school subject in Brazil, and in order to find answers to this inquiry, we surveyed academic output about the matter. The survey sought to outline a panorama of the national scientific output that chose PETB as its source and/or object of research, and also to identify the PETB used in the listed studies.

We conducted a similar investigation to that by ^{Souza Júnior et al. (2015)} , but we expanded the field of research to include other databases; we also considered journals and repositories without the criterion of qualis/CAPES⁴ – Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel –, in order to identify inquiries about the matter at various times in history, in an effort to apprehend any movements around the study of PETB according to ^{Choppin (2004)} , who emphasizes the need to produce documents of synthesis about the TB of the various school subjects so as to provide guidance for and facilitate future research.

We considered the following databases: CAPES⁵ (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel), SciELO⁶ ( Scientific Electronic Library Online ), LILACS⁷ (Latin America and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature), NUTESES⁸ (Brazilian Nucleus of Thesis and Dissertations in Physical Education and Special Education), CRUESP⁹ (Council of Deans of São Paulo State Universities), PROTEORIA¹⁰ , Oasis IBICT e BDTD IBICT.¹¹ The search descriptors initially used were “ livro didático educação física ” [“textbook physical education”]. In the database, we simultaneously searched in the fields “abstract”, “keywords” and “subject”, always using “and” and “or” operators. No chronological restriction was used in our searching as one of the main questions investigated was precisely the period of output on the subject, i.e., the first publication to be found would mark the beginning of our temporal scope.

After the methodological procedures of search, evaluation and selection, using the principles of exhaustivity, homogeneity and pertinence as suggested by ^{Bardin (1977)} , we came to the sources that were analyzed and considered in this study. The search results provided a total of 69 studies, but after we examined them in detail, we found that some of them, despite having the descriptors in their abstract, did not have PETB as their source or object of study. Once we finished that initial analysis phase, we selected 55 studies based on our procedures and search and selection criteria.

Having gathered the 55 studies that formed our set of sources, we proceeded to the coding phase, which consists in systematizing the raw data selected in the bibliographic survey, which allowed us to point out the quantitative and qualitative features of certain groups of elements ( ^{BARDIN, 1977} ). We sought to establish relationships between them which might indicate congruencies and similarities (approaches). The geographic/institutional location of the studies we found, for example, may indicate which segment of the scientific community is more interested in the matter.

The purpose of identifying the approaches that directed such studies can guide the dominant paradigms in that scientific context, as well as the tendencies in which those researchers were immersed. As we consider that a given knowledge form can influence other knowledge forms which build on it, it is common, at some points, for studies produced in the same period to denote a mutual intertwining. Given these questions, we sought to weave a web of interconnections in order to shed light on the academic interest in Physical Education textbooks.

To that end, we present below a quantitative and a qualitative analysis of the 55 studies we found, thereby providing answers to our inquiry about the existence of textbooks over the history of the subject of Physical Education in Brazil, by identifying the place, the period, the institutions and the journals in which they were produced and published, as well as the objectives that guide each of them.

Quantitative analysis of research with PETB

Of the 55 studies identified, we have: 07 theses, 17 dissertations, four monographs (end-of-course projects) and 27 articles. With regard to the place of production, we distributed the 55 selected studies according to the city where the authors’ institutions are located; for theses, dissertations and end-of-course projects, we considered the institutions they were produced at, while for scientific articles, the place of the journal in which it was published, as can be quantified¹² in the Chart 1:

* São Paulo State University Júlio de Mesquita Filho (Unesp), University of São Paulo (USP), State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro (UFTM), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), University of Santa Cruz do Sul (UNISC), Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), State University of Maringá (UEM), Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), University of Pernambuco (UPE), Pontifical University of Salamanca (UPSA).

Of the total of 55 studies, 40 were produced/published in the Southeast Region, which corresponds to 72.7%. The South Region is second, with 9 works published, i.e., 16.4%, followed by the Northeast Region with 4, i.e., 7.3%. We could not find any study for the North or the Central-West Region, while Spanish researchers produced two studies, corresponding to 3.6%. It is worth noting that of the 40 studies found in the Southeast Region, 30 are from the State of São Paulo, 24 of which were conducted at the UNESP in Rio Claro, which may be explained by the fact that this university has the Laboratory for Studies and Pedagogical Work in Physical Education (LETPEF, in Portuguese).¹³

Another fact worth mentioning is that of a total of 28 monographs (theses, dissertations and end-of-work projects), 9 were supervised by Professor Suraya Cristina Darido at the Unesp in Rio Claro; her supervision comprehended 2 of the 7 theses, 3 of the 17 dissertations and all four end-of-course projects. She is also the author/co-author of 12 of a total of 27 articles. In sum, she has participated in 28.6% of theses, 17.6% of dissertations, 100% of end-of-course projects and 44% or articles, thus allowing us to say she is a leading researcher in area of PETB.

Also concerning studies’ location, it is worth remembering that in 2006, the government of the state of Paraná published a collection of public TBs covering all school subjects, including PE, and since then, 10 studies can be found which analyze the PETB in that state ( ^{MARANGON, 2009} ; ^{ALVES; TIMOSSI; SANTOS, 2009} ; ^{PACIFICO, 2011} ; ^{PARAISO, 2011} ; ^{GILIOLI, 2013} ; ^{COSTA, 2014} ; ^{PALOMARES; ALTMANN; CAO, 2015} ; ^{CARLOS, 2016} ; ^{PALOMARES; CAO, 2017} , ^{CARLOS; MELO, 2018} ). Of these ten, four were produced in that state, two in the state of Santa Catarina, two in Spain, and two in the state of Rio Grande do Norte.

The table below presents temporal data for the 55 studies by decade of publication, as well as the number of studies separated by type:

The output period begins in 1993, due to the first source found. The second study came in 1999. It is worth noting that from 2001 to 2010, the studies started to be published in 2006, with two works, then in 2008, 2009 and 2010, with three studies each year. It was not until 2011, with seven works published that year, that research grows significantly to reach nine studies in 2012; 2013 and 2014 had four studies each; 2015 eight, 2016, 2017 and 2018 had three each; and 2019 one.

Table 1 also allows showing clearly that the number of theses and dissertations doubled from the second to the latest decade, which shows a positive tendency in graduate programs. In sum, of the 55 sources, only 12 were not produced in graduate programs in Physical Education; more specifically, four theses, three dissertations and five articles were produced in graduate programs and journals of education or history of education, i.e., 21.8% are in the area of education, and the other 78.2% come from graduate programs and journals of Physical Education.

With regard to theses, dissertations and end-of-course projects, we highlight the Graduate Program in Biosciences at the Unesp in Rio Claro, with 11 studies, the Graduate Program in Physical Education at the UFES, with four, and the Graduate Program in Education at the UFPR, with three studies. With regard to journals, we highlight Revista Movimento, of the UFRGS, with five, and Revista Motriz of the UNESP, with four articles.

Qualitative analysis of research with PETB

To conduct the qualitative analysis, we consider the approaches the authors present in their respective investigations, i.e., the way they took TB as their object and/or source. During a preliminary reading – called ‘floating’ by ^{Bardin (1977)} – in which we allowed ourselves to be influenced by impressions and directions, we considered, for methodological purposes, five main approaches. To establish the approach each study should fall into, we used the following question: what was the author’s main goal in conducting the study? Chart 2 presents the coding for this aspect:

Nearly half of the researchers were clearly concerned with analyzing the contents found in the PETBs. In approaching the history of education and the studies about textbook in Brazil, ^{Almeida Filho (2008)} points out that research about TB in the 1970’s and 1980’s was guided by concepts of ideology and capital, from a perspective that the cultural industry implied ideological goals oriented to the TB industry, i.e., to TB as merchandise. We could not find that tendency of perspective in our survey, perhaps because Physical Education is a subject in which the use of TB is not predominant in classes, except for ^{Costa’s (2014)} investigation, in which he inquires right from the title of his dissertation: “A Marxist Proposal?”.

Among the titles that analyze contents, there are eight studies analyzing gymnastics TBs used from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, with influences from the medical hygienistic thinking. ^{Souza (2011)} analyzes the books by gymnastics master Arthur Higgins. ^{Puchta (2015)} talks at length about the various manuals from 1882 to 1926. ^{Puchta and Oliveira (2015)} , about the book Ginástica doméstica, médica e higiênica (Domestic, Medical and Hygienic Gymnastics) , by German author Daniel Schreber, which originated another compendium, Homen forte (Strong Man) , by Domingos Nascimento, proposed as a school manual for schools in the state of Paraná, circa 1882, when teaching such practice became mandatory in that state.” ^{Antunes and Dantas (2010)} analyze the teaching perspectives found in four American PETBs, because in Brazil, as the authors say, “Physical Education textbooks were virtually inexistent” ( ^{ANTUNES; DANTAS, 2010} , p. 2). ^{Moreno (2015)} investigates de influence of Swedish gymnastics and Ling’s¹⁴ concepts on manuals in Portuguese produced from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, such as the manuals written by Pedro Borges, Antonio M. Ferreira, Paulo Lauret, Kumlien and Arthur Higgins. ^{Quitzau (2015)} compares two German manuals, Ginástica para a juventude ( Gymnastics for Youth ), from 1793, and A ginástica alemã ( The German Gymnastics ), from 1816, but he cannot find the use of these in Brazil.

With regard to the 15 studies that presented proposals, we can see their effort to overcome that prejudice that PE does not use books, that it is just about practice. Because current studies have overcome, in part, eugenicist, hygienistic, militarist and overly sportive conceptions, even though school practice still keeps some of it, we can see this movement towards proposing didactic material to aid the teacher, since the body culture of movement is vast as it comprehends gymnastics, dances, games, team sports, fights, etc., all in their historical and cultural context. Due to this knowledge breadth, it is difficult for the teacher to master these contents, and instruments to support him are increasingly necessary, such as TB as a pedagogical instrument.

^{Carmo (1999)} writes about TB as necessary to teach football. According to her, since it is a “national passion” and its practice is so popularized, common sense leads us to think that its contents are public domain, with no need for books, which is a mistake. ^{Galatti (2006)} and ^{Galatti, Paes and Darido (2010)} present proposals for the teaching of team sports. The classic quartet of sports within the school culture, i.e., football, basketball, volleyball and handball, could not be left out. ^{Rodrigues (2009)} and ^{Fraiha (2012)} propose using TB to teach basketball in school. ^{Impolcetto (2012)} innovates in an attempt to collectively design a TB to teach Volleyball. ^{Silva (2014)} points out the possibilities of Olympic education as a sport, and ^{Diniz and Darido (2012)} do so about dance, followed by ^{Barros (2013)} who innovates by presenting a proposal of hip hop teaching. ^{Farias (2018)} proposes a TB on ICT Information and Communication Technologies) in Caucaia, in the state of Ceará.

Six studies conduct a discussion on PETB. ^{Rufino’s (2013)} end-of-course project for his Physical Education degree dealt with dialogues and interconnections concerning the use of TB in PE. ^{Darido et al. (2010)} make considerations about the criticism surrounding TBs and reflect on the possibilities of producing them; ^{Neves (2011)} discusses TB as a mediator between teacher and student in PE classes. ^{Rodrigues and Darido (2011)} seek the opinion of experienced teachers about PETB in their practices; ^{Rosário and Darido (2012)} relate history and science curricular contents in TBs with the curricular contents of PE, and Cintra (2019) discusses the impact of books on school practice.

We found six studies that aimed to evaluate PETBs. ^{Santos (2012)} evaluates the Manual de Educação Olímpica ( Olympic Education Manual ) and ^{Fraiha et al. (2016)} collect students’ opinions about the use of TB to teach basketball. Ethics and health as cross-cutting themes are also evaluated by Rufino and Darido (2011; 2013). ^{Barroso and Darido (2017)} evaluate the use of teacher and student versions of Lições do Rio Grande (Rio Grande Lessons) (booklets). Finally, two studies conducted bibliographic research: ^{Ontañón, Duprat and Bortoleto (2012)} map circus activities in the literature of PE; and ^{Souza Júnior et al. (2015)} analyze research dealing with PETB.

PETBs in research

Based on our survey of research, we found 19 textbook titles which circulated from 1855 to 2014. They are shown in Chart 3 below, in increasing order of year of publication. The chart presents the books’ authors, titles, year of publication, publisher/place and the authors who investigated them, according to data available in the studies:

To form our TB documentary corpus, we considered only the titles that were published as printed books. Some regional curricular resources were investigated through localized research. Even though they may have been used to some extent as a didactic resource, we did not consider them due to their materiality (i.e., not as books). These are: Roteiros de Atividades Educação Física – primary education, from 6th to 9th grade in the state of Minas Gerais, Guias de Orientações para a Intervenção Pedagógica do Estado do Espírito Santo (Espírito Santo State Guidelines for Pedagogical Intervention), 2011, and Cadernos Pedagógicos do Município do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro City Pedagogical Booklets), 2014.

We can also see the use of various terms to designate the didactic materiality. The publications used for the teaching of gymnastics were called manuals, compendiums, treaties and regulations, while the most recent ones were called textbooks, lessons, scripts, guides and pedagogical booklets.

According to ^{Choppin (1992)} , a textbook consists of an extensive set of curricular contents, with a progression in units, which enables collective and individual uses, and also as a pedagogical instrument inscribed in a long tradition, inseparable, both in its creation and its use, from the teaching structures, methods and conditions of its time. Based on this definition, we can present our first research question: Can we say that all the publications in Chart 3 are textbooks?

Conceptually, no, since not all of them were specifically designed for school use, but they are analyzed here for having been so used in particular historical contexts, like some gymnastics manuals, for example, proposed for various environments, such as the Swedish gymnastics manuals Ginástica doméstica, médica e higiênica (Domestic, Medical and Hygienic Gymnastics) and Tratado prático de gymnastica sueca (Practical Treatise on Swedish Gymnastics), which were intended for use in home environments and in clubs, but were appropriated for school contexts, the former having been used in primary education in the state of Paraná ( ^{PUCHTA, 2015} ). In the case of Manual de gymnastica hygienica (Hygienic Gymnastics Manual), published in 1902, it was proposed for practice without a teacher, which reinforces the perspective that gymnastics manuals were designed to guide the teacher, or even, in this particular case, to be the guide itself.

The book O homem forte - gymnastica domestica - natação - esgrima - tiro ao alvo ( The Strong Man – Domestic Gymnastics – Swimming – Fencing – Target Practice ), by Army Captain and Congressman Domingos Nascimento, was published in 1905, in Curitiba, with 2,000 copies printed. Heavily influenced by German gymnastics, which explains its highly militarized scope, it was adopted by the General Inspectorate of Public Education of São Paulo and by the Instruction Council of the State of Paraná, and was probably used in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina in the early twentieth century ( ^{PUCHTA, 2015} ).

Another example of this militarized bias in gymnastics was the Regulamento Geral de Educação Física , published by the Army in 1934 for the teaching of the French Method of gymnastics, officially adopted across the country in 1931. This is a translation of the French original and was formed by three parts, one intended for school, one for sports and one for military use. Souza Junior et al (2015, p. 486) say that it was “used in schools across the national territory”. ^{Bruschi (2015)} observes the use of this manual as a guide for secondary education students in the state of Espírito Santo in the 1930’s. However, by comparing its contents with the syllabus and documents of the Mary Help of Christians School, he points out that there were differences, adaptations and suppressions between each other, which clearly demonstrates the representation struggles in ^{Chartier (1990)} and the strategies and tactics in ^{Certeau (1998)} . According to ^{Borel (2012)} , copies of the Regulamento were distributed to students enrolled in the Special Course at the Espírito Santo School of Physical Education, in 1933, and from 1935 onwards, a price was established for its distribution, i.e., 9,000 réis (270 reais in today’s value) a copy.

Our second research question concerns the contents. Are all works listed intended for Physical Education? No. The first eleven titles listed in the chart are intended for the teaching of gymnastics methods in late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and they account for 57.9% of all works listed. Published from 1855 to 1934, their occurrence coincides with the hygienistic period from 1850 to 1930, proposed by ^{Soares (1990)} , who discusses the influence of hygienistic medical thinking on Physical Education. This seems to have been the period in which textbooks were most used, perhaps because it was under medical supervision and also due to the need to train gymnastics instructors and masters, as they (gymnastics teachers) were called at the time. With regard to this period, ^{Darido and Rangel (2005)} say that medicine sought, through Physical Education, to promote hygiene and health habits as it considered that physical exercise would develop the individual, both organically and morally.

Nearly four decades later, we can find a first government-issued work, namely Guia para aulas de Educação Física (Guide for Physical Education Classes), published by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 1971, in a period marked by a sports-oriented approach encouraged by the military regime. In 1976, the first Physical Education textbook was published, in line with the concepts of providing an intermediary resource between teacher and student. It was titled Trabalho Dirigido de Educação Física (Directed Practice for Physical Education) (also known for its acronym TDEF), by teacher Hudson Ventura Teixeira, published by Editora Saraiva. The book was revised and published with changes in 1996 under the name Educação Física e Desportos (Physical Education and Sports), both publications being intended for basic education students.

The TDEF, which is also a workbook for students, is similar to the textbooks of other school subjects. In an interview with a teacher who taught in the city of Niterói in the 1970’s, he recalls that “its use was mandatory in the Niterói municipal education system”, the PE teacher’s “Bible, the bedside book” at the time. He also said that “the education department chose that book, the teacher was given a copy and was supposed to follow the book’s sequence”; it was a kind of guide on the contents to be taught, and he says gymnastics was not part of his classes because the book in use did not include it in its contents.

From 2006 to 2014, four government-issued books can be found in the states of Paraná, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul and Paraíba, maybe fostered by the National Education Guidelines and Framework Law from 1996, based on which Physical Education became a mandatory curricular component of schools’ pedagogical proposal. In the two years following the enactment of this law, a document called National Curriculum Parameters was issued which defines Physical Education as a body culture of movement. The demand for knowledge production to meet this approach influenced the interest in textbooks. The Paraná book was a pioneering, innovative one in that it was the first government issued textbook to be adopted by a Brazilian state, and it was designed as a result of Projeto Folhas (Leaves Project), a project in which teachers at the state education department submitted texts that formed the book’s chapters. In São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul, they were called booklet and lesson, respectively, and were printed in book format. As for João Pessoa (Paraíba state’s capital), the initiative was at the municipal level, also in book format.

Not all works listed in Chart 3 have their author’s name in them, but in those that do, two authors are recurrent. Gymnastics master Arthur Higgins signed three books. According to ^{Marques (2011)} , Higghins was the teacher ‘in vogue’ as he organized, on Sunday mornings in Praça da República’s gardens, what the Jornal do Commercio (Commerce Journal) called Gymnastica procreative (recreational gymnastics) ( ^{SOUZA, 2011} , p. 39). According to Marisa Lira (1953 aped ^{SOUZA, 2011} ), even though Higgins was openly republican, in 1885, Brazilian emperor Dom Pedro II appointed him teacher of Gymnastics, Military Evolutions and Fencing at the Pedro II School. Another recurrent name is teacher Hudson Ventura, mentioned earlier.

It is worth highlighting the importance for researchers to describe in detail the procedures used to find the analyzed didactic works, thus making it easier for new researchers to access sources, which contributes to foster investigation about PETB. Tirana Ferrer (2017) notes that in spite of textbooks’ long history in the educational field, they were conceived as eminently instrumental resources, and therefore easily discarded. ^{Collados Cardona (2008} , p. 325) say that “working with these often sparse and physically vulnerable materials makes simply locating and cataloging specimens a task that consumes considerable energy in fieldwork”.

Considering that the works listed in Table 3 have been the subject of few studies, and even more rarely of compared studies, certainly much can still be inquired about these same books, as well as about so many others that have not yet been investigated, thus expanding the field of research around the teaching of Physical Education.

Final considerations

The range of different output and publication formats of the 55 selected studies, which include end-of-course projects, dissertations and theses, as well as articles in journals, is somewhat limiting concerning the homogeneity and relevance of the overview we propose here, but it nevertheless allows us to make some considerations about the investigations that had PETB as their source/object of research. Research began in the 1990’s and showed an increase in subsequent years, which demonstrates the current pertinence and demands about the theme of Physical Education textbook. Another conclusion is the predominance of research in the country’s Southeast region, with an emphasis on UNESP in Rio Claro, in the state of São Paulo, and on researcher Suraya Cristina Darido as an author and research advisor.

As with research analyzing TB of other school subjects, content analysis stands out as the main approach used in PETB research, and it accounts for nearly half of studies found. However, the emphasis is not on denouncing ideology present in TBs, perhaps because these investigations began in the 1990’s, when the concept of dominant ideology began to be reconsidered by the field. In addition to content analysis, we found other research objectives in the analyzed studies which range from proposals for creating textbooks to textbook evaluation to discussions and reviews on the subject.

We identified 19 PETBs for the period from 1855 to 2014, based on the studies that comprise this overview. These publications suggest that in periods when Physical Education sought its identity, at first a scientific one in the early twentieth century, and later as a school subject in the early twenty-first century, manuals and textbooks were more extensively used. The period of a century and a half shows that this instrument was used over the process of construction of the Physical Education subject in Brazil, from the teaching of gymnastics and its relationship with hygienistic practices, used as a manual for the teacher, to the textbooks for teachers and students in the 1970’s to the creation of regional textbooks of Physical Education, fostered by state and municipal governments (Paraná, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul and Paraíba).