Introduction

It was within a scenario of clashes and negotiations that, in 1931, physical education (PE) was nationwide regulated in secondary schools. At the time, the so-called Francisco Campos Reform ( ^{BRASIL, 1931} ) served as a strategy by the Provisional Government of Getúlio Vargas (1930-1934) to develop a “modernizing policy” for secondary schooling, centered on newly-created Ministry of Education and Public Health (MEPH). Under its responsibility, decisions were made concerning: the subjects to be taught in the grades of elementary and supplementary grades; the homogenization of teaching and evaluation; and the compulsory PE exercises, throughout the school year and to all classes.

Because it was not included in the subjects of the elementary level or the compulsory disciplines of the supplementary level, PE was introduced in the Reform ( ^{BRASIL, 1931} ) without, legally speaking, presenting the guidelines to systematize it into the curricula. However, paradoxically, MEPH determined that all exercises performed at the schools should be supervised by inspectors, which would result in monitoring school programs, teaching practices and the respective assignments of classes and grades in PE.

In such a context Where public educational policies were being implemented, publishing houses were also driven to produce “[...] specialized books, many magazines and newsletters” ( ^{BASTOS, 1997} , p. 85), specifically concerned with issues related to Education.³ In a time of intense debates in the area, it seems that encouraging these publications also came to writers dedicated to the PE cause, as in the face of a lack of criteria to provide it with organicity, seen in the Francisco Campos Reform ( ^{BRASIL, 1931} ), the circulation of printouts intended to guide the pedagogical practice of PE teachers, would also contribute to systematize and consolidate them in the school curricula.

Reading such materials, called “periodical press for teaching and techniques” (FERREIRA NETO, 2005a) evinces approximation with the periodical press aimed at Education at large. Due to the usefulness that educational historiography has assigned to these printouts, that it, as sources and objects of study, we have been following the process through which they have supplied the bases to strengthen a trajectory of studies addressing this matter.

They include ^{Catani (1994)} and Catani & Souza (1999) who claim that the the magazines specializing in education are privileged sources of analysis and informative groups, in which it is possible to apprehend the operating modes in the educational field, the information about pedagogical work, the improvement of teaching practices, the specific teaching of school subjects, the organization of systems, the demands by teachers in general, the participation of periodical publishers in the organization of the school systems and in the making of discourses intended to set up exemplary practices. This perspective allows the historian to express what is predominant, the repeated themes, information about the authors and the prescriptions of recommendations concerning the ideal forms of performing the teaching work.

In turn, ^{Carvalho (2001)} engages in analyzing the materiality of the printed materials intended for teachers and takes them as sources and as objects. Focusing on the strategies to disseminate and absorbing pedagogical knowledge contained in these documents, the author takes them as devices that normalize the knowledge directed at teaching and the practices intended for the students´ learning. Such emphasis allows the researcher to analyze the multiplicity of material devices, considering them cultural objects with specific purposes. Also, for the author, printed materials aimed at teachers would be anchored: on modern pedagogy as the “art of teaching” which substantiates the making of the printouts similar to “tool boxes”, in which “things to be used” are prescribed as well as models to be imitated by teachers, lesson scripts and exemplary practices; and on the New School Pedagogy, providing philosophical and scientific foundations underpinning the teachers´ work, by means of “pedagogical sets”.

In dialogue with these studies, we understand that periodical press for the teaching and techniques of PE, according to Ferreira Neto (2005a), has purposes similar to the educational printouts analyzed by the history of education. Published from 1930 on, in the magazine format (as books or A4 size), these periodicals advocated for schooling, professional training and specific legislation associated with PE. Writers also spread methodologies to teach the exercises and gymnastic methods, as well as theoretical frameworks to support pedagogical practice.

These findings reveal the concerns by the publications with EP, approaching the nature of these sources to those analyzed by ^{Catani (1994)} , Catani & Souza (1999), and ^{Carvalho (2001)} . Concurrent to these similarities, Ferreira Neto (2005a) also captured specific articles on sports which attempted to expand the readership knowledge in relation to ther facilities, materials, technical details and news stories about sport organizations.

Based on these characteristics and in dialogue with ^{Faria & Pericão (2008)} , the authors began to call it periodical press for teaching and techniques as a technical publication refers the one that exclusively addresses certain issues, in the case of this study, the sports (FERREIRA NETO, 2005a). Such specificities allow us to infer that in the context of PE teaching printouts some sort of technical press also developed making presses of different natures to dialogue in the pages of the magazines intended for teachers.

As writes ^{Cassani (2018)} , the publication by the technical press within the educational press reveals that, in order to include and consolidate PE in the schooling project, it was also necessary to disclose the guidelines concerning: what, how, when, whom to and where to teach and learn sports. To meet the comprehensive purpose of PE, either for the work at school or other places, it was not possible to dissociate the two forms of press as they mutually feedbacked each other.

Based on the above, the purpose of this article⁴ is to understand the strategies utilized by publishers in order to establish the periodical press for teaching and techniques as a means to disseminate and persuade teachers regarding the inclusion of PE in the school curricula.

Sources and procedures

Our reference comes from the studies by ^{Chartier (1990)} about the struggles for representation, which are practices laid in a field of competition and disputes for power. Through them, intellectual groups build and provide a social world to be read, devising arrays of “discourses” about their “objectively confronted” interests. Such struggles for representation are produced amidst multiple relations intrinsic to the printed text, which involve strategies to circulate knowledge, choices and the conducts of publishers. For ^{Chartier (1990} , p. 17), they “[...] are as important as the economic struggles in understanding the mechanisms through which [the groups impose], or [attempt to] impose, their conception of social world, their values and their domain”.

The intentions of groups of publishers in circulating their printed materials led us to utilize the concepts of conservation strategies and subversion tactics ( ^{CERTEAU, 2002} ), interwoven in editorial projects of the periodicals and in the places taken by those who produced them. According to the author, subversion tactics are generated by the lack of one´s own place, as a last resource of those who, with mobility, are subservient to those who hold power. Its purpose is the influence the space by creating new strategies. These, in turn, are manipulations of the balance of power which uphold and conquer places of production. They become possible when an individual of will and power circumscribes a place as their own, externally to targets or threats.

We have also based assumed the studies by ^{Chartier (2002)} in the analysis of the printouts as we understand them as sources, cultural objects, and products of relations between authors and publishers in which knowledge, models and ways of thinking are made available to readers. Upon analyzing the multiple devices strategically produced by the writers, in order to “induce” the reading of a printout, we comprehend that “[...] there is no text outside the support that allows it to be read, and underline the fact that there is no understanding of a text that does not depend on the forms through which it reaches the reader” ( ^{CHARTIER, 2002} , p. 127).

The reason of sorting out the sources into a period (1932-1960) is both internal and external to the object. Internally, 1932 is the year when the first editions of this kind appear, that is, of the magazines showing the editorial profile discussed by Ferreira Neto (2005a), dedicated to guide the practice and the training of professionals who would work at the schools. Namely: Revista de Educação Física (REF) and Revista Educação Physica (REPHy), both meaning “physical education magazine” with a slight difference in their spelling. The external reasons are associated with the year (1960) when this kind of printout ceased as, fulfillilng its own purposes, it ended up in decay, “[...] unable to find its place in the 21^stcentury” (FERREIRA NETO, 2005a, p. 776).

As PE was introduced in the schools and the respective teacher training was regulated on the higher education level, publishers and writers understood that the training courses would be in charge of teaching the future physical educators about the organization and planning of their pedagogical practices. For Ferreira Neto (2005a, 2005b), as the legal basis for EP had been guaranteed with the contributions by the printouts for teaching and techniques, gradually after 1960, this kind of periodicals was then seen as scientific publications, resulting from the need the academic field had in guiding the area by means of researches related to undergraduate and graduate courses as well as to the scientific societies and the professional associations.

Well-founded in these specificities, the editorials of the following printouts were taken as sources: Revista de Educação Física - REF (1932-1960), Revista Educação Physica - REPHy (1932-1945), Boletim de Educação Física - BEF (1941-1958), Revista Brasileira de Educação Física - RBEF (1944-1952) and Arquivos da Escola Nacional de Educação Física - AENEFDs (1945-1966). In order to select them, we took the concept by ^{Faria and Pericão (2008)} regarding editorials, deemed as articles of newspapers or magazines that express the thinking and the orientation of their officers in relation to the issues of their time, usually appearing in the first page. They “[...] [are] always present and [...] [represent] the key part, when they frontally [express] their own standpoint” ( ^{FARIA; PERICÃO, 2008} , p. 272).

Called by ^{Chartier (2014)} paratexts, editorials are characterized by the introduction of issues and they materialize an identity of the periodicals, made perceptible by means of distinguishing marks utilized by the editors such as the use of some kind of source, symbols, and norms of the vernacular language. Through them, we were able to capture the considerations editors made about PE as a school subject, as well as the disputes taking place among the several magazines based on their editorial project. They are divided as follows:

We devised a databank using Microsoft Excel for each magazine, including: year of the magazine, edition number, authors of editorials and titles. Subsequently, we created a databank for each periodical using software IBM® SPSS® Statistics – Version 22, and variables were assigned to these pieces of information. Using this program as a tool to organize the sources allowed for an enlarged view of the research object, helped locating and handling the documental corpus and it also enhanced the understanding about the form and contents of the sources.

Tensions and dialogues between civilians and the military

Among the periodicals we have analyzed, REF was created in 1932, with a seal of approval by the Army EP School (EsEFEX), in Rio de Janeiro (RJ). The periodical underwent interruptions between 1943 and 1947 due to the participation of the Armed Forces in the World War II, and it is still currently issued. In its first editorial, first-lieutenant João Ribeiro Pinheiro, as editor-in-chief, explained the role of the Institution in sculpting the race and nationality of Brazilians, as shown in Figure 1:

Source: Pinheiro (1932a).

Figure 1 – REF Editorial 

The editorial holds the title “Militarism and physical education”, centered in the body of the news story and printed with the same fonts used in the magazine´s name, demonstrated unity in the layout and how important the debate was at the time, and that is why it appeared in the issue that started the life cycle of REF. The editor “[...] [listed] what the work of military within the national organism has been” (PINHEIRO, 1932a, s. p.), with the purpose of emphasizing the Army´s actions on behalf of Brazil. For him, recalling the deeds of the institution would be similar to “telling the very national life”, as historical political movements, such as the unity of Brazil-Empire, the Abolition of Slavery, the establishment of the First and Second Republic, were due to the Army, that it, its participation was a condition without which these landmarks would not have happened (PINHEIRO, 1932a).

The editorial was appropriate for Pinheiro (1932a) to clarify that the institution´s initiatives to teach literacy, nationalize and socially “sanitize” children and youths, even if “silent”, would bring “fruitful and indispensable collaborations” to the Nation, such as was the case in the political sphere. The writer had in mind the recent tensions promoted in the educational field, by “[...] civil elements from the high administration, pedagogical associations, [...] [which] maliciously unpatriotically [disseminated], that it [intended] to make a work of militarism” in education (PINHEIRO, 1932a, s. p., original emphasis).

His questioning was aimed at the directors of the Congresses organized by the Brazilian Educational Association (ABE) which, until then, had not invited the Army to participate in previous events, revealing a “[...] proof of ignorance of the great work that the Army quietly [performed], through regimental schools” (PINHEIRO, 1932b, s. p.).

The editorial, as a space of visibility for the institution´s thinking, had effect on the disputes and negotiations around such topic towards society, publicizing Pinheiro´s dissatisfaction (1932a, 1932b) regarding the inquiries expressed by ABE about the future activities the Army would perform at the schools. The Association´s inability to invite the military to take parti in the Congresses, silencing them, upset, according to the editor, the contributions made by the Army to include PE in schooling, and also disregarded other actions taken by the institution that “brought advancement” from a historical point of view.

The discontent by civilians in relation to the Army was associated to the application of the “ Réglement géneral de éducation physique ” ( Méthode française ), PE general regulation (French method)⁵ at the Brazilian schools, through instructors and monitors trained by EsEFEX from 1933 on. The scenario behind these tensions included the “(mis)understanding” by the civil society about the educational conception of the Army´s Doctrine, based on “[...]discipline as a development of physical, moral, intellectual, and psychological strengths” (FERREIRA NETO, 1999, p. 47) – this would be the “alleged work of militarism” which Pinheiro (1932a) had in mind in his criticism of the “confused” thinking of civilian intellectuals.

Amidst the tensions between civilians and the military, the REF editiorials announced the need to vulgarize the “[...] great national work starting now by [EsEFEX], [doing] justice to its [idealizers]” (PINHEIRO, 1932a, s. p.). It was reference by the editor of the “benefits” brought by the French Method, whose implementation would result in “formidable repercussions on the moral and intellectual aspects, [...] the strength, the dexterity, the resistance, the speed, the harmony of forms, the courage, the boldness, the cold blood, the toughness [...]” ( ^{MOLINA, 1932} , s. p.) of Brazilian youths.

In this case, it is necessary to consider that PE being compulsory in secondary schooling became “appropriate” for the Army, due to the fact that it was mandatory to practice it at those schools, in regard of the young men interested in joining of the School of Soldiers. As the results yielded by the pre-military instruction, conducted at the civil schools, were not those expected by the barracks, approving the Reform would help the Army receive the desired draftee, mainly because he would be taught, along two years, by instructors and monitors training by the French Method at EsEFEX (FERREIRA NETO, 1999).

Thus, REF was suitable to disseminate the “collaborations” by the Army to PE teaching in the secondary schools, turning the publication into an advocate of writers who saw the French method as a means through which an official PE project would be devised in Brazil. The printout was utilized as a strategy of persuasion regarding the role played by the Army in introduction and consolidating PE in the school curricula, in order to build a “great Brazilian nation”. In order to convince the readership, it made circulate the opinion of intellectuals who, due to their importance in society, ensured reliability, repercussion and adherence to the institution´s advances to lay ground in systematizing PE with the periodical´s aid.

In this case, editorial strategies were learned as they were similar to those circulating in the field of education, such articles being published by opinion leaders, prominent public personalities, who voice played a role in implementing changes in the educational policies, attracting society at large and the teachers´ support. These practices were already found in the Manifest of the Pioneers of the New Education (1932) which, for ^{Xavier (2002)} , had the desired impact on the educational landscape, resulting from the strategy by Fernando de Azevedo to invite intellectuals who would enhance the dissemination of the manifest, especially, the journalists.

In the REF magazine, Assis ^{Chateaubriand (1934)} was the one who took the role of revealing to the public the importance of EsEFEX and its printout for including PE in schooling. His editorial led readers to the need found by the institution to develop “in all the extent required by its transcending ends” (p. 1), and for that, it was necessary to receive “civilian elements” at the gymnasium, children and young men, to educate them for the love of outdoor games. ^{Chateaubriand (1934} , p. 1) also said that “this intercommunication between the barracks and civil society was an indispensable condition for the Army to become, as it should, an agent of improvement”.

By using editorials to indicate the need for dialogue between civilians and the military, the journalist reasserted the Army´s responsibility to educate “the soul and the body” of the Brazilian youth. However, these actions would only be possible through the “dialogue” required by the writer, providing us with clues ( ^{GINZBURG, 1989} ) about the Army´s strategies to come closer to different groups of intellectuals (both civilian and military), provided that their prerogatives were the ones guiding the process to include PE in schooling.⁶

In this arena of debates, initiatives to relay guidance for PE practices also materialized in civilian periodicals, such as REPHy. Published by Cia. Brasil Editora S. A., in Rio de Janeiro, the periodical circulated until 1945. Its editorial design consisted of spreading scientific principles aimed including PE in schools and the professional training of PE teachers; it also publicized sports, with their moral and social purposes. The magazine´s objective was to advocate for the PE cause, turning into a guiding basis throughout Brazil and also for other countries. Figure 2 shows the axes that substantiate the printout:

Source: Revista Technica (1932, s. p.).

Figure 2 – Guiding axes of Revista Technica (magazine) 

In a landscape where there was a periodical which called itself the official advocate of including PE in the schools, it was necessary to persuade the public about the importance of REPHy. That is why the publishers´ strategy to publish these reading devices, throughout its life cycle, was an attempt to turn it into a reference periodical among teachers, pointing out the difference with the REF guiding axes.

Based on ^{Certeau (2002)} , it is possible to imply that the publishers´ tactics in being “supporting actors”, that is, to help the Government and the private institutions carry out the EP programs (REVISTA TECHNICA, 1932, s. p.), had the purpose of obtaining “acceptance” from the readership. It was necessary to “acknowledge” those who “officially” contributed with including PE in schooling, in order to present other possible lines of didactic-pedagogical orientation to teachers, supplying them with comprehensive contents.⁷

Publishers⁸ also used to see REPHy as the expression of a generalized ideal, a vehicle in which a bunch of “dreamers” would be able to find “[...] a more comprehensive, more lively, more real understanding of the true purpose of education embedded in lodged in the spirit of our people” (EDITORIAL, 1934, p. 11, our emphasis). The editor in this case praised the magazine by recurrently using the adverb “more”, turning it into a reading device to convince readers about the role to be played by REPHy, that is, it would be periodical that “best” guided the practice and professional training of those who would teach PE in the schools.

Appreciating the periodical was also in the strategy of proclaiming the support from several segments such as school principals, sport association directors, educators, journalists, sports followers and other individuals, who “keenly” supported and applauded the magazine. Publishers indicated that the acceptance of the printout by the civil society had already become “a reality” among those committed to PE (EDITORIAL, 1934), that is, in that scenario of competition, REPHy gathered the civilian, who REF editors still attempted to establish a dialogue with.

Publishers used the tactics of advertising REPHy as a collaborator of the “sound enthusiasm” experienced in the country regarding PE. That “scenario of rejuvenation”, fruit of the magazine´s initiatives, built an environment of “[...] affinity with the rational work of the intellectual and physical culture, [becoming] [...] part of what [was their ideal] and for what [they worked]” (EDITORIAL, 1936, p. 11).

We have also found reading devices that assigned REPHy with the responsibility of spreading PE providing teachers with “[...] more and more [...] technical teachings which [should] exist in Brazilian sports and athletics” (EDITORIAL, 1936, p. 11, our emphasis). Thus, in the face of an institution officially recognized as the one that would promote PE, REPHy editors placed it as a material support that would contribute “more effectively” to this process, providing didactic-pedagogical prescriptions about sports and athletics – even if publication like these also circulated in REF.

Under the military´s umbrella, or under the civilian umbrella, REF and REPHy editorials had a proximity regarding the strategy of acknowledging civil society as a collaborator of the magazines, with the purpose of consolidating PE in Brazil. In REF, the readership was persuaded in relation to the “contributions” from the Army to the nation, especially due to “warmly” welcoming civilian elements in their troops, in order to train monitors and instructors that would fulfill the “mission” of propagating the scientific principles of a strong and healthy race, in the schools. In REPHy, the strategy consisted of convincing different segments of civil society that the magazine already relied on the acceptance of those who advocated for the PE cause, which strengthened its editorial project.

To become an authority in the editorial Market and to move about the institutional places ( ^{CERTEAU, 2002} ), REPHy editors tactically took the principles adopted by the Army, sharing the “mission” of building a strong and healthy race. REPHy editorials granted the printout with identities as they established similarities with REF (taking the commitment of forming an “ideal of being a health Brazilian”), but they also did it by means of differentiation, proclaiming the theories that substantiated its editorial profile, that is, through the conception of a full Hellenic human formation,⁹ in which “[...] physical culture [was] sided with improving the character and the enrichment of the spirit” (EDITORIAL, 1938, p. 9).

Disputes for taking the place of authority between civilians and the military, specifically in relation to acknowledging the printouts as mentors of the pedagogical practice, before being a PE specific trait, expressed a scenario of clashes in the broader field of politics and of Education, according to ^{Vidal (2013)} . Analyzing the “ Manifest of the Pioneers of the New Education ” (1932), the author discusses the tensions resulting from the policies of the Provisional Government (1930-1934), aimed at modernizing the Brazilian educational system, giving us clues about the clashes that were happening at the time.

For ^{Vidal (2013)} , the reason for publishing the “Manifest” lay on the interest of a group of intellectuals in having control over the Ministry of Education and Health, in an effort to define the guiding principles of education in Brazil, including holding the State accountable for disseminating schools, providing them with a secular, free of charge and compulsory status. The questioning by these intellectuals to the “Francisco Campos Reform” (1931) showed that the State´s centralizing policy homogenized subjects, disciplines, methods and evaluation practices and was considered a “sterile centralism”.

The “fractures” between the person in charge of the Reform, namely, Francisco Campos, and those who also took offices in the Government, such as Fernando de Azevedo, Anísio Teixeira and Lourenço Filho, revealed, as ^{Vidal (2013)} sees it, that the clashes in the educational field were intrinsically connected with political tensions. Decentralizing the educational system, as proposed by Azevedo, Teixeira and Lourenço Filho resulted from the political disputes occurring among the regional elites, especially in the state of São Paulo, who saw centralized education as a threat to the desire of federalism and autonomy by the same state ( ^{VIDAL, 2013} ). This situation was contrary to the principles of the Vargas Government, who asserted educational policies and practices should be centralized.

This landscape of tensions involving the educational policies also impacted civil and military intellectuals who, regarding PE, sought to become a reference thereof in Brazil. They shared the interest in turning PE mandatory in the school curricula but would it require a method to be adopted? Would it be necessary to unify PE teaching in the country, linking it with the centralizing educational proposals of the Government?

On the one hand, REF editor saw the Army as the institution responsible for playing this role; on the other hand, the REPHy editorials questioned the idea that there was a unique institution to guide PE in the country. By providing discursive grounds ( ^{CHARTIER, 1990} ) for the printouts, the editorials revealed their contributions to the process of introducing PE in the schools: in REF, the editorials advocated for the do “commitment” of the military in uniformizing PE, based on the French Method; in turn, in REPHy, editors assumed it as the way to materialize the longings of a community (EDITORIAL, 1934), providing teachers with other teaching possibilities.

From consolidation to transition of editorial projects

1937 was a fruitful year to understand how Brazilian politics and education got intertwined. Getúlio Vargas established the New State (1937-1945), officially acknowledged the use of the French method as guidance for PE in the schools and enacted the Constitution which turned PE compulsory in primary, normal and secondary schools. The same year, the Physical Education Division (PED) was created, a body in the Ministry of Education and Health, in charge of managing all activities in the area.

Headed by Major João Barbosa Leite, PED issued the first edition of BEF in 1941. In 1946, the magazine´s activities were discontinued to be resumed in 1955 until 1966. Figures 3 and 4 present the Front Page and its first editorial:

Source: Front Page (1941).

Figure 3 – BEF Front Page 

Source:: Leite (1941a).

Figure 4 – BEF Editorial 

According to Figure 4 , the BEF editorials were characterized by: quotes of authors, purposes and matters covered by the magazine. In this periodical, the front page and the opening story are clues for the reading devices mobilized to make up the editorial profile: printing had scarce visual resources, few drawings and photographs, monochromatic standardized letters in its entire life cycle.

In this regard, the editorial profile of REF and REPHy were similar as, in order to orientate the practice and the training of future PE teachers, they made use of anthropomorphic photographs, drawings, and illustrations, providing models so that readers could grasp the exercises in their own bodies and, thus, be able to teach them (RETZ et al ., 2019). According to ^{Cassani (2018)} , this diversity of forms found in REF and in REPHy drew the readers´ attention making the orientation for pedagogical practices dynamic and easy to understand. Amidst the disputes in the editorial field, such reading devices granted the groups of intellectuals with authority to provide didactic-pedagogical publications, assisting teachers in their professional work.

In this context, it was also necessary to create a printout with the characteristics held by BEF which represented the official voice of the Government, but neither group was favored. It was important to mediate the tensions taking place in the area to unify it. A periodical was needed to materialize the legal landmarks concerning PE teaching in the school curricula in order to consolidate it. BEF acknolwedged its place of authority among those dedicated to the PE cause; that is way the use of visual devices was not a priority – and it helped cut the costs, especially because it was a periodical free of charge. In addition, the absence of advertisements reinforces the argument of the need to produce materials with cheap printing cost, as it would be impossible to get any financial return from advertisements.

The editor´s objective was to avoid presenting the same reading devices as in REF and in REPHy, competing with them in the editorial market. Because it was an official instrument of the Government, BEF had the role of disseminating the unity of the doctrine intended for the area, by those “[...] in charge of strengthening, physically and morally, the healthy youth that is to lead Brazil towards its genuine destiny “ (LEITE, 1941a, s. p.).

For Major Leite (1941a, s. p.), the objective of BEF was “[...] to disseminate the technical works and administrative measures which characterized the activities [...]” of DPE, so that there would be best cooperation between the Public Authorities, the educational institutions, and the teachers. The printout should establish mediations between the groups of intellectuals, both civil and military, with the purpose of giving it homogeneity in the orientation for the practice and training of teachers.

Thus, the magazine spread the achievements of DPE such as: PE regulation federal and state norms; prescription for the work of inspectors; conditions required by PE classes; and criteria to organize the homogenous groupings. Committed to reach the readers from “[...] places quite far from the capital, [keeping] those interested in the matters under its superintendency always informed about is being done” (LEITE, 1941b, p. 5), the editor publicized the Government actions on behalf of PE, but, mainly, it sought to consolidate a communication media that would be able to unify it under the New State propaganda.

For such, publishing BEF was also associated with the General Plan of PE propaganda , conducted by DPE, whose objective was to disseminate the PE cause, under two actions: by circulating contents in the communication media, such as the cinema and printouts; and by promoting contests and the production of posters. These initiatives took part in broader political context, characterized by the creation of agencies responsible for spreading the official discourses of the Vargas Era.

According to ^{Luca (2011)} , by establishing officially the Department of Press and Propaganda (DPP) the Government intended to control the communication vehicles, publish different supporting materials (leaflets, books, posters, and periodicals) and devise contests of essays, which served as advocates of that governmental project. Even if explicit approval by DPP of BEF is not found, the link with the Government allows us to associate it with the same principles contained in the periodicals analyzed by ^{Luca (2011)} , especially through the need to “to make a fuss” about the advancements of the Vargas regime in the field of Education.

Analyzing this printout also allowed us to capture its proximity with RBEF, specifically in its editorial board. Major João Barbosa Leite was the first director of BEF and of RBEF; and Inezil Penna Marinho, who had already worked with the officer at the DDP (was the head of the Technical-Pedagogical Division), also became the director of RBEF in 1946.

As a specific aspect, it could be seen that RBEF came originally from a business company with experience in publishing books and newspapers, the publishing house named A Noite . The periodical made use of reading devices such as colorful Illustrated front pages, advertisements (medicines, law offices, banking services, fashion, and literature) and social happenings (births, weddings and travels of relatives of people connected with DPP and the Brazilian PE). Thus, it provided the readership with a variety of information in order to diversify the audience as well as foster loyalty among the public interested in PE. Figure 5 shows its first editorial.

Source: Leite (1941a).

Figure 5 – RBEF Editorial 

The editorial title, in italic and unlike the printout records and the front-page body, gave the reader a handwriting feel, a strategy intended to make the news story more personal. In addition, it highlighted the purposes of RBEF showing the teachers the contents they would find in the inside pages:

[...] news from the federal, state, and local authorities, from PE schools, a classic foreign or national editorial [text], modern author, [...] and of [philosophy, pedagogy, biology, and sports]. ( ^{LEITE, 1944} , p. 3).

The editor also offered a landscape of how PE was developing in the country. For him, that was crystal clear in the initiatives of federal legislations, the directives and instructions that were issued, which “supplemented” those laws. When mentioning his own decisions on the level of DPE, Major ^{Leite (1944} , p. 1) claimed that “[...] many executive orders [had] favored the spread of PE under the form of contests and publications [...]”.

The editor also offered a landscape of how PE was developing in the country. For him, that was crystal clear in the initiatives of federal legislations, the directives and instructions that were issued, which “supplemented” those laws. When mentioning his own decisions on the level of DPE, Major ^{Leite (1944} , p. 1) claimed that “[...] many executive orders [had] favored the spread of PE under the form of contests and publications [...]”.

The editor showed some dissatisfaction towards the path PE had been taking as, in his opinion, in the “domain of practice”, little was being done to meet the expectations of the authorities who advocated for the cause of PE ( ^{LEITE, 1944} ). Thus, teachers and educational institutions were blamed for any “absences” in the professional work as they needed to raise awareness of the role they played in advancing PE in Brazil.

To “assist” in this process, ^{Leite (1944)} highlighted the “indispensable” work of the press in orientating teachers, and the beginning of the editorial mentioned Varga´s speech on the importance of communication media to cultivate the “intelligence” and the “character” of the readers. The appropriation of Varga´s text seems contradictory, in a moment when a department had been created to control the press and “[...] spread the nation´s image” ( ^{LUCA, 2011} , p. 276). However, one cannot disregard that quoting the President was a reading device intended to persuade teachers about the importance of RBEF in the editorial market because it was underpinned on official discourses.

Leite´s strategy (1944, p. 2) in acknowledging RBEF as the safest means “[...] to disseminate ideas, with a more comprehensive outreach and more lasting effects”, pointed out RBEF as a periodical that assisted teachers in systematizing their practice by filling the gaps left by other magazines, especially because they did not manage to keep their activities. The editor had in mind the interruption of REF (in 1943, due to the Army being involved in World War II) and the financial difficulties faced by REPHy, as stated in an editorial (DOZE ANOS, 1944).

^{Leite (1944)} did not ignore the contributions of these printouts to introduce PE in the schools but, in a context where the publication of both would be adversely affected, RBEF was launched as the periodical that would consolidate the PE training and professional work. The editor said: “[...] the emergence of several technical magazines, over the last 15 year, [has been] correct, [as they had] the intent of debating the matters of this branch of activity, [...] [but we need] new and safer onrushes” ( ^{LEITE, 1944} , p. 2).

As director of DEF, Major Leite understood the needs of the area by saying that RBEF had been devised as a consequence of the “pressing” demand by teachers and technicians who, even though aware of the problems experienced by the other periodicals, asked for new specialized technical magazines (LEITE, 1944). To turn RBEF into a reference among the readers, the editor strategically highlights the cooperation with the Government and teachers, and committed itself to disseminate the “[...] knowledge accumulated of a matter it specialized in” ( ^{LEITE, 1944} , p. 2).

Reviewing the sources allows us to infer that the making of a new periodical intended for PE as well as the circulation of other projections for teaching PE do not mean to silence the knowledge already acquired by the area. Even if intending to take over the place of printouts which, at that time, were not stable, the editor acknowledged the studies once produced which had also contributed in include PE in the school curricula. The editorial strategy to settle RBEF among teachers would not be a rupture but rather the continuity and expansion of the theories and didactic-pedagogical orientation they already knew.

In turn, the AENEFDs were published between 1945 and 1966 being discontinued in their life cycle from 1950 to 1952. The printout was corroborated by the National School of Physical Education and Sports (Enefd), an institution belonging to the University of Brazil (UB).¹⁰Figure 6 displays its first editorial:

Souce: ^{Lira (1945)} .

Figure 6 – Editorial of AENEFDs 

The use of italics throughout the Editorial was different from what was used in the editorial records. The title, underlined and in capital letters, also made the contents more visible.

In the text, editor Captain Antônio Pereira Lira explained that the AENEFDs materialized what had been set forth by article 41 of Decree No. 1,212, of April 17, 1939, regarding the creation of Enefd at the University of Brazil. The document mentioned the need for a regular publication to disseminate the results of the teaching and research conducted at UB. For ^{Lira (1945} , s. p.), the magazine´s goal was “[...] to spread the results of the works [from Enefd], fruit of a keen study and extensive experience, to disseminate the good doctrine and sound scientific orientation related to PE”. Even when the activities were interrupted, the printout maintained this profile, “[...] [advertising] the fruits of our experience and our work, [...] [both] on the theoretical level of the doctrine [and] on the pragmatic level of implementation and practice” (EDITORIAL, 1953, p. 6).

The AENEFDs undertook as their specific aspect to publish articles with orientation for the practices of teachers, substantiated by research initiatives. By doing this kind of scholarship, something other periodicals lacked at the time, results were given of works conducted by teachers from Enefd, obtained “[...] in the sphere of science, pedagogy, practical application of the knowledge taught” (EDITORIAL, 1954, p. 5).

The AENEFDs played a key role in the transition from the periodicals for teaching and techniques towards those approved by higher education institutions and scientific societies. Having them published meant gradual changes in relation the editorial project of the periodical press intended for teaching and techniques, because at first didactic-pedagogical orientation was provided to teach PE, which contributed to having it introduced and consolidated in the school curricula. By the end of its life cycle, it had other characteristics, specifically in the AENEFDs, which paved the way for the scientific periodicals.

Final considerations

This article analyzed the strategies utilized by Publisher in order to build the periodical press aimed at teaching and techniques as a means to disseminate and persuade teachers in relation to including physical education (PE) in the school curricula. The results show that Revistas de Educação Física (REF) and Revista Educação Physica (REPHy) were devised in a context of struggle for introducing PE in the schools, for which it was necessary to provide teachers with useful didactic-pedagogical devices to help them give their classes. At the time, the intent was to standardize teacher practices, in a context of disputes and negotiations among groups of intellectuals who were to guide PE teaching.

Boletim de Educação Física (BEF) and Revista Brasileira de Educação Física (RBEF) were created in a context when a governmental project was being consolidated, whose purpose was to centralize the educational policies. Along the process, publishers focused on unifying PE throughout the nation, based on the acknowledgement of the trajectory taken by the previous periodicals. In turn, the Arquivos da Escola Nacional de Educação Física (AENEFDs) contributed to consolidate the education of future PE teachers, especially through research, and it became the printout that laid the foundations of PE-related scientific journalism.

The fact that the military were acting as editors in different printouts made the educational project devised by the Army laid the groundwork for the editorial profile of REF, BEF, RBEF, and AENEFDs, and this did not imply in theoretical consensus and publications based exclusively on the French method. On the other hand, REPHy acknowledged the place of permanence of REF by operating practices of negotiations and complementarity in relation to the military. The was happening with REF in its Search for “dialogue” with civilian intellectuals so that scientific foundations could be built for PE.

The analysis the research sources presented in this article demonstrated that the groups of writers leading the editorials defined identities for printouts analyzed, based on the institutional standpoints they took. Through their strategies, they sought to introduce PE in the schools and symbolically assign a status and a position for themselves, which turned them into authorities in the matter.