Training of Physical Education teachers in Pará in the 1930s and 1940s

Introduction

The history of teacher training in Brazil has been a recurring topic of research in the Education field. However, the number of published studies suggests the need for new research to address topics that remain underexplored, such as the historicity of Physical Education teacher training in Pará. According to Andrade and Guimarães (2024), these studies are not only limited to the history of Physical Education teacher training in the state, beginning with the Escola Superior de Educação Física do Pará (ESEFPA), the first institution to offer a higher education program in Physical Education in Pará, but also neglecting other historical periods and contexts of teacher training. Considering this context, this research emerges and asks: what was the reality of Physical Education teacher training in Pará between the 1930s and 1940s? Based on this issue, this study aimed to identify the reality of Physical Education teacher training in Pará during the 1930s and 1940s.

The sources used to construct the text were diverse, including decrees, laws, and newspaper articles circulating at the time. To gather these sources, we consulted various local and national archives. From there, we cross-referenced the data, which allowed us to more fully understand the historical context of Physical Education teacher training in Pará between the 1930s and 1940s.

Three locations were visited in person and consulted online: the Imprensa Oficial do Estado do Pará, where decrees were consulted; the Biblioteca Pública Arthur Vianna da Fundação Cultural do Estado do Pará, where clippings from the Folha do Norte and Diário Oficial do Estado do Pará were mapped; and the publications of the Revista de Educação Física do Exército Brasileiro, in which we found a telegram discussing the creation of the Departamento de Educação Física do Pará.

The analysis and interpretation of the collected documents also enabled us to identify two important categories: a) the 1934 Physical Education Course; b) the 1942 Physical Education School, which will be presented below.

About the paths taken: methods, institutions, teachers, and disciplines

During the 1930s and 1940s, there was intense discussion about the creation of Physical Education courses in Belém, Pará. These courses, intended to train teachers to work in primary education, were offered for one academic year but were eventually discontinued.

In the decade leading up to the 1930s, it was possible to identify the incorporation and strengthening of Physical Education in schools through Swedish Gymnastics, created by Pier Henrik Ling, as a subject in public primary education, in the boys’ and girls’ education, and in military training and Scouting. Rational and scientific, Swedish Gymnastics was based on its creator's knowledge of anatomy. The adoption of movements with an analytical structure and its unmistakable aspect of order and discipline made it intensely authoritarian. This gymnastic model became quite popular, as many claimed-when practicing gymnastics-that they were doing a "Swedish" (Oliveira, 2010).

The Swedish Gymnastics Method, proposed in the 19th century, was in force in Pará until the early 1930s, when it was discontinued by the intervenor Magalhães Barata. Barata, in agreement with the federal government, considered that the method did not correspond to the concepts of scientific Physical Education and, therefore, should be replaced by the French Method (Silva, 2015). This change would constitute not only a change in method, but also a new doctrinal conception. Bruschi (2019) also reminds us that the French Method's introduction into the country coincided with the Education Reform promoted by the Minister of Education and Health, Francisco Campos, in 1931, which made Physical Education mandatory in secondary education institutions. This was definitively established in Articles 131 and 132 of the 1937 Constitution. According to the author, the main characteristic of this method was the idea of having a set of materials, the Règlement Général d’Éducation Physique (RGEP), to assist in organizing classes for civilian and military Physical Education teachers, based on the indication of purposes, lesson models, content, and assessment methods.

With these concerns and objectives in mind, Pará and the Federal Government, under the direction of the French Military Mission, established the French Method, with a concept guided by anatomy and physiology, and implemented it widely (Soares, 1994).

Thus, the need for specific training for Physical Education teachers was raised on numerous occasions by different governments. In the 1930s, school education in Pará emerged as a key topic in the speeches of local leaders. In these speeches, they proclaimed an efficient education and assured that it would be so if it was linked to the development of intellectual, moral, and physical aspects. Throughout this period, primary education also emerged in the debates, with the aim of proposing improvements in classrooms in groups and schools (Pará, 1933).

From this, discussions intensified regarding how to work with pedagogical methods and processes and implement them by teachers in schools. To achieve these improvements, teacher training was established to instruct them to better perform their duties and assist them in the regular application of pedagogical methods and issues in classes. Thus, "[...] the preparatory course for improvement was created" (Pará, 1933, p. 10).

It was during this period that the need for training Physical Education teachers in Pará arose. This effort sought to develop pedagogical processes and methods for scientific Physical Education in state schools, focusing on health, maintaining a resilient body for greater work performance, and fostering strong and healthy students. This corroborated Soares' (1994) study of the objectives of Physical Education during the period.

Given this observation, an attempt was made to organize Physical Education in the 1930s during the Intervention of Major Joaquim Cardoso de Magalhães Barata. Barata, by legal appointment of the head of the Provisional Government of the Republic, exercised his powers and created the Departamento de Educação Física do Pará, reporting directly to the Diretoria geral da Educação e Ensino Público do Estado (Pará, 1933). Furthermore, Major Magalhães Barata specifically created the Secretariat of Education and Public Health, as well as implemented a curricular reform based on civic education and modern pedagogical practices. Azevedo (1960) states that, in the modern conception of Physical Education, the teacher:

must attend not only to the selection of an appropriate system, but also to the most complete knowledge possible of the students' bodies, and to the execution of the exercises, which in turn depends on three factors: the number and duration of the exercises, the pleasure with which the students perform them, and precision, which is the perfect adaptation of movements to a given exercise. If school gymnastics for boys, especially up to the age of 14, should aim to 1) modify their temperament, the more or less morbid diatheses that most of them owe to their heredity, 2) broaden their chests and thus ensure a well-ventilated chest, and 3) obtain a good physical posture, correcting any academic deviations of the spine, the need for individualized instruction and teacher competence is easily understood, without which gymnastics could never achieve the salutary effects that modern physical education expects from it (Azevedo, 1960, p. 92-93).

On March 8, 1934, the Department of Physical Education was established in a ceremony attended by Interventor Magalhães Barata, the Commander of the Military Region, Colonel Costa Araújo Filho, Mayor Ildefonso Almeida, as well as other federal, state, and municipal authorities, as well as teachers (Silva, 2015).

In this scene, a telegram from Belém do Pará to the press in the country's capital, then located in Rio de Janeiro, a direct communication to the Escola de Educação Física do Exército (EsEFEx), conveyed information about the creation of the Departamento de Educação Física do Pará. The decree establishing the institution, signed by Intervenor Magalhães Barata, was considered a momentous act for Physical Education, also known at the time as body education. During this period, it was already possible to identify the presence of several organized sports events in Pará, which indicated a strengthening of the field.

According to the aforementioned telegram, the Department would be responsible for coordinating, guiding, and controlling existing physical practices, as well as creating and developing what was yet to be created, based on scientific criteria, among which the medical service played a fundamental role in early childhood education. The emergence of this institution contributed to the implementation of local and national political strategies in force at the time, such as eugenics:² "[...] given the joy with which it was received by the people, it is another stepping stone towards the eugenic reconstruction of our country" (Um Dia..., 1934, p. 18).

The Department was under the responsibility of Army Engineering Officer Captain Orlando Moreira Torres and was responsible for disseminating, regulating, and overseeing Physical Education in Pará's educational institutions and maintaining a special course to qualify state teachers to teach Physical Education (Pará, 1933).

In Decree No. 1,138 of December 30, 1933, we identify the term "modern" in relation to changes in pedagogical processes in classrooms, as developed as they were in other countries. The modern method referred to the French Method, as it was a method from another country introduced into Brazil. At the time, "[...] it seemed that everything that came from abroad, that was produced in other countries, was good, 'modern,' 'evolved'" (Lima, 2015, p. 185) or, as a lyric from the song by Mosaico de Ravena (a band from Pará from 1986 to 1994) criticizing the lack of appreciation for our culture, says, "enough of the things of this land, because what's good comes from abroad."

According to Silva (2015), the Physical Education Department consisted of a classroom, an office, and a biometric laboratory located in the building of the Escola Superior de Agricultura e Medicina Veterinária, on Tito Franco Avenue, now Almirante Barroso Avenue. The administrative staff of this Department consisted of a qualified technical director, a medical assistant, two other doctors, a technical secretary, an assistant, a typist, a janitor, and a technical monitor. Some of these employees performed administrative and teaching duties in the 1934 Physical Education Course, as will be discussed below.

The 1934 Physical Education Course

Through the 1934 Physical Education Course, the Pará State Government made, for the first time, an institutionalized attempt to train Physical Education teachers in the state. The Regulations were signed by Intervenor Major Magalhães Barata and approved by Decree No. 1,164 of January 8, 1934.

The Course was committed to preparing Physical Education teachers and instructors, with the goal of prioritizing the training of teachers, Fire Department officers, and State Police officers, as well as disseminating, unifying, and intensifying Physical Education teaching in the state's educational institutions. According to a publication in the Diário Oficial do Estado do Pará on June 17, 1934, the course was supervised by EsEFEx, an institution that served as a model and was responsible for disseminating its teaching method-the French Method-alongside the Federal Government. The 1934 course was scheduled to last four months, including the admissions exam period.

The course was governed by the Diretoria Geral da Educação e Ensino Público and subordinated to the Department of Physical Education, both in terms of teaching elements and administrative organization and adherence to course regulations (Pará, 1934a). It operated out of the Escola Superior de Agricultura e Medicina Veterinária, with facilities adapted for teaching purposes. This school can be seen in Figure 2.

The 1934 Physical Education Course was divided into General Theoretical-Practical Education, consisting of the subjects Anatomy, Hygiene, Physiology, Physiotherapy, Anthropometry, Emergency Care, Pedagogy, and History of Physical Education. Practical Education included the subjects Practical Demonstration and Execution of the Method, Study of the General Regulations of Physical Education, Classroom Design for Different Ages, Organization of Sports Meetings, and Organization of Physical Education Teaching, in addition to the Internship. The Chart 1 shows the subjects and their respective teachers.

With the implementation of this course, the state government's objectives for Physical Education became clear, as seen in the publication in the Diário Oficial do Estado, June 17, 1934 (p. 13):

It will be one of the greatest achievements of the Magalhães Barata administration, which has spared no effort to ensure that Physical Education reaches its rightful place in the state and provides our native people with the necessary elements to achieve or maintain health, the only asset we cannot do without.

The courses began on February 1st, 1934, and ended on May 30th of the same year. Enrollment required a teaching diploma obtained from an official educational institution or one recognized by the state or federal government; be an officer in a military or militarized corporation, with a professional military course or final exam certificates in Portuguese, French, Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Physics, Chemistry, Natural History, and Brazilian History, or, failing these, an entrance exam certificate; be between 16 and 35 years old; and be in good physical shape.

The French Method was the method adopted during the implementation of the 1934 Physical Education Course. Figure 3 shows the course's students in a practical demonstration of the French Method on the premises of the Escola Superior de Agricultura e Medicina Veterinária, where the Departamento de Educação Física do Estado was located. According to Oliveira (2010), the French Method was one of the greatest influences on Brazilian Physical Education and served as its bible for more than two decades, including the 1930s.

Bruschi (2019), in an analysis of the French Method, points out that teachers, equipped with the General Regulations for Physical Education, would be able to organize a teaching program for all grades. Thus, to give more rigor to theoretical discussions and encourage them, the Pedagogical Bases were presented to organize a Physical Education class, which should be divided into a "preparatory session," "lesson proper," and "cooling down." Based on this, teachers would choose the practices to be used in the class. The author, based on the regulations, presents six forms of exercise: 1) games; 2) flexions; 3) educational exercises; 4) applications; 5) individual sports; and 6) team sports. Each with its own purposes and characteristics.

In the actions developed by the pelo Departamento de Educação Física do Pará in the 1930s, published in the Diário Oficial do Estado do Pará 17, 1934 (p. 13), the French Method was adopted:

The State of Pará, by officially embracing the Physical Education Crusade initiated and guided by the Army Physical Education School, attests to the culture of its people and their thorough understanding of the scientific method.

Fifty-four teachers certified by the State Normal School and, with the permission of the Federal Intervenor, a pharmacist and a law student enrolled in the course, totaling 56 students. During the course of the course, 10 teachers and the pharmacist were dismissed for various reasons, reducing the number of students to 45.

The Figure 4 shows the students in the course during a class in the Anthropometry and Notions of Morphology course, taught by Professor Dr. Djalma Chanstinet. Specifically, we can see the anthropometric examination of a child who was evaluated through tests of “[...] vital capacity, nasal patency, dynamometry, etc.” (Diário Oficial do Estado do Pará, 1934, p. 13).

In the anthropometric examination, children were classified by physiological age, with girls performing the same exercises as boys until the age of nine. After that, they were "[...] separated [...] due to the anatomical and physiological differences that begin to become clear after that age" (Diário Oficial do Estado do Pará, 1934, p. 13). After three months of exercises, the child underwent a new anthropometric examination to verify the results obtained. In the classes that included this examination, the students could therefore learn to prescribe physical exercises, based, as seen, on the theory of anatomical and physiological age.

The course participants' progress was assessed through oral, written, and practical exams, and the instruction was both theoretical and practical. In the practical training, supervision and implementation work was carried out monthly, whenever possible, individually. Based on their grades, students were classified as "Fair," "Good," or "Very Good." Graduated Physical Education instructors and teachers received a diploma, and monitors received a certificate of aptitude (Pará, 1934a).

The student who completed the course with a "Very Good" rating received Honorable Mention and could obtain a position as director or assistant instructor in their specialty course within the Department, civilian and military educational institutions, and state sports associations. If no students received Honorable Mention, students with a "Good" rating would be accepted (Pará, 1934a).

Despite initial efforts and initiatives, at the end of 1934, the Magalhães Barata administration suspended the course, citing the need for reorganization, citing a lack of classroom equipment, a need for restructuring its regulations, and the need to build a stadium (Pará, 1934c). The decree suspending the course further stipulated that the number of teachers certified in the first academic term of 1934 met the urgent needs of Physical Education in the state's groups and schools. Therefore, the opening of enrollment for the second academic term of the course could be postponed without prejudice, so that it could subsequently operate with assured efficiency. Regarding the suspension of the 1934 course, Captain Orlando Moreira Torres³ delivered the following statement:

Unfortunately, financial difficulties prevented the State Government from maintaining the Physical Education Department, whose course only operated in 1934, with 45 teachers graduating that year. Their absence is sorely felt. We are certain, however, that, given the results already achieved, the State Government will broadly develop physical education with the reopening of the Department, so that Pará can extend its benefits to the most remote corners of its land. To the fearless teachers of Pará, whose current responsibilities have increased, we will simply repeat the words of our representatives in their closing address of the school year: "Our shoulders will not be crushed by the weight of such responsibility, because your temple (or temper) of character is well-founded, having been watered with Brazilian clay. Do not frighten us with the obstacles you encounter, with the initial failures, with the detractors of physical education, because the truth is with you. The seed has been planted and will germinate, for I will be attentive" (Torres, 1936, p. 11).

It is interesting to note that the legislation in force at the time focused on the legal requirement to train specialized physical education teachers with diplomas and the ability to teach effectively throughout the state. In light of this, in February 1934, the Federal Intervenor Major of the State of Pará, by legal appointment of the head of the Provisional Government of the Republic, granted benefits regarding the hiring of state teachers who had graduated by the Departamento de Educação Física (Pará, 1934b, p. 1).

Despite the interruption of the Physical Education Course in 1934, there was still concern about teacher training. Thus, after a few years, Federal Intervenor José Carneiro da Gama Malcher ordered the reopening of the State Physical Education Course in 1939. The reason was linked to the need to train professionals qualified to teach Physical Education (Pará, 1939), as it was mandatory for all public and private educational institutions, under the terms of the Federal Constitution in force at the time, to have teachers in this field. (Brazil, 1937).

The course would be held at the headquarters of the Clube Remo which had adequate facilities for its operation, and all this at no cost to the State (Pará, 1939). The organization of the course would be under the administration of the General Directorate of Education and Culture. According to Captain Orlando Moreira Tôrres's speech, we observed that the Clube Remo would offer a suitable space for the course, as it was able to attract more than 500 students for exercise and more than a thousand students during civic festivities. However, the course never began.

The Pará School of Physical Education in 1942

The early 1940s were marked by dynamic initiatives in the field of Physical Education. In 1941, by Ordinance of May 16, the Interim Federal Intervenor, Deodoro de Mendonça, appointed Dr. Armando Bordallo da Silva, a physician in the Department of Health with a degree from the University of Brasil, to take over the management of Physical Education services in all public schools in the capital of Pará.

In 1942, Decree-Law No. 4,046 of June 9, established the State School of Physical Education, subordinate to the Department of Education and Culture. This school was based on the regulations of the Escola Nacional de Educação Física e Desportos (ENEFD). The need for teacher training was recognized, as per the 1937 Federal Constitution, which, in Article 131, considered Physical Education, civic education, and manual labor mandatory in primary, secondary, and secondary schools. No school could operate without these requirements.

According to Decree-Law No. 4,046 of June 9, 1942, the paid positions of director, secretary, and the 15 teachers of the Escola de Educação Física do Pará were part of the state's sole civil service cadre. All of these positions were selected and appointed by the Director General of the Department of Education and Culture. For the creation of the Escola de Educação Física, expenses of fifty thousand contos de réis (50:000$0) were budgeted, which would be distributed among permanent staff (paid positions); variable staff (contracted and daily workers); permanent materials; consumables; and miscellaneous expenses.

The Escola de Educação Física do Estado do Pará was created as a specialized educational institution. Its legal basis arose from Decree No. 4,053 of June 19, 1942, which approved its Regulations and determined that the School would have the following functions: to train a body of Physical Education teachers capable of guiding, disseminating, and unifying its practice throughout the state; to disseminate the knowledge necessary for the practice of Physical Education and Sports; and, in partnership with the ENEFD, conduct research related to Physical Education issues, in order to contribute to a better understanding of the "Brazilian biotype."

The School maintained the one-year Normal Physical Education Course, consisting of the following subjects: Anatomy, Human Physiology, Kinesiology, Hygiene, Emergency Aid, Physiotherapy, Biometrics, Physical Education Methodology, History of Physical Education and Sports, Organization of Physical Education and Sports, Rhythmic Gymnastics, General Physical Education, Aquatic Sports, Individual Land Sports, Team Land Sports, Offensive and Defensive Sports. These subjects corresponded to the same ones that constituted the Normal Physical Education Course of the ENEFD, established by Art. 4 of Decree-Law No. 1,212, of April 17, 1939. The School's faculty was composed of professors and doctors graduated from the ENEFD, but if someone was unwilling or unable to assume the position, specialized personnel would be appointed by the EsEFEx, which would occur upon recommendation of the School's director. The courses and their respective teachers are presented in the chart below.

The 1942 Physical Education Normal Course, like the higher education course offered by the ENEFD, had a curriculum aimed at training teachers for school work, despite the absence of pedagogical subjects (Azevedo, 2013). According to the same author, admission to the Normal Course required a diploma in teaching. The ENEFD was therefore important in reshaping and redirecting physical education teacher training for primary education in several states across the country (Melo, 1996; Cunha Júnior, 2011), including the state of Pará.

The subjects addressed the social, political, and economic model of the time, based on medicine, the knowledge of physicians, and the pursuit of healthy bodies. We understand that the organization of the disciplines (in the curriculum) was not done in an innocent and neutral manner, as their ordering always implied power relations, conveying visions of humankind, the world, and society, as well as private interests. This explains why these areas of knowledge, and not others, were selected (Silva, 2007).

According to the Course Regulations, approved by Decree No. 4,053 of June 10, 1942, instruction took place in the form of theoretical classes, practical classes, and physical exercises. The "Organization of Physical Education and Sports" disciplines were taught through theoretical classes. The "General Physical Education," "Sports," and "Rhythmic Gymnastics" disciplines were taught through physical exercises, and the teachers for these disciplines were female whenever possible. The remaining disciplines were taught through theoretical and practical classes.

In each school year, there was an additional period for second-term exams and entrance exams (selection). The first registrations for the course's entrance exams were held at the Dr. Freitas School Group Secretariat, Gaspar Vianna Pavilion⁴, until June 22, 1942, from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM, as shown in Figure 5.

According to the Ordinance of January 27, 1942, the Pará School of Physical Education began operating at the same location where the selection process was registered, that is, at the Dr. Freitas School (Figure 6), using the Professora Anésia Pavilion, the Gaspar Viana Pavilion, the Genésio Alves Leão Pool, the Gustavo Capanema Gymnasium, and two expropriated houses that were remodeled and attached to the school.

The Physical Education Normal Course lasted one academic year, comprising nine months, beginning on March 1st and ending on November 30th. It was distributed as follows: two academic terms, each lasting three and a half months; two examination periods, each lasting fifteen days; and a fifteen-day period for visiting the city's sports facilities after the last academic term.

The Força Policial do Estado stadium was available for practical classes, as was the Santa Casa de Misericórdia building, where the radiology office was located, used for radiological work. Professors Luiz Tito de Castro Leão, Hélio Vecchio Mauricio, Raymundo Ferro e Silva, and Hermógenes Ferreira de Carvalho were available to the Physical Education School.

The enrollment in the course was limited to the capacity of the School's general resources. Candidates were required to present a diploma in physical education teacher training, must be between 18 and 28 years old, present proof of identity and sanity, undergo a rigorous health inspection, and finally take the admission exam. Regarding diplomas, the School awarded students who successfully completed the course the title of Physical Education Teacher, as stated in Chapter VII of its Regulations (Pará, 1942b).

In its general provisions, the School Regulations specified the use of uniforms for internal and sports use. Outside of school, these uniforms could not be worn, except for civic or sports events. It also states that the Director General of Education and Culture could authorize the enrollment of teachers from other states at the School, upon request from the respective governments. The Physical Education program only operated in 1942. Despite its suspension, the School graduated a class of 25 physical education teachers.

According to a Folha do Norte publication on March 20th, 1943, the course concluded with a sports festival in the morning, and the graduation ceremony took place in the evening. The morning festivities took place in the gymnasium and on the sports field of the Grupo Escolar Dr. Freitas. The morning program included the following: a performance of the Hino Nacional by the students, rhythmic gymnastics performances, athletic activities, javelin and discus throws, high jump, volleyball, practical classes, and a complete lesson for the primary school. All activities were carried out by the students.

During the evening, the graduation ceremony took place in the Pará Commercial Association hall, opened by the then federal interventor, Colonel Magalhães Barata, followed by the performance of an anthem entitled "Bandeirantes da Educação Física", with lyrics by Professor Eugênia Souza Filho; a presentation of the school by then-principal, Major João de Almeida Freitas; a speech of commitment by the graduates; speech by the class valedictorian, Maria Elena Tavares; the diploma ceremony; speech by the class's godmother, Eugênia Souza Filho; and, finally, the Hino Nacional. The course closing and graduation ceremonies can be seen in the figure below:

Below are some excerpts from the speech by the class's godmother teacher, Eugênia Souza Filho:

This is the second time that Belém, Pará, has celebrated, in a dignified and fitting manner, the graduation of Normal Teachers specializing in Physical Education: it is the second time that new preceptors from Pará have combined their role as intellect sculptors with the role of health educators. The first time occurred when the specialists were awarded their diplomas by the "Department of Physical Education" in 1934, created by then-Major Barata and directed by Captain Orlando Moreira Torres. And no event, gentlemen, is more significant than what is being repeated today; no gesture more appropriate than that of these teachers, who did not want to be content with a role of semi-educators, learning the science of the formation of the spirit and disregarding that of the moral improvement of the body as itself, while there is life, body is not soul, and soul is not body. [...] we, the first graduates, young women, harassed and wronged - not by the constituted Powers from which we always received only the greatest affection and the best support - had to draw on all the resources of patience, good will, and unfailing enthusiasm, to always keep the sacred fire of the Ideal alive! [...] And so, gentlemen, I assure you, that, in Pará, the task of Physical Education teachers still has, as well-defined limits, on the one hand, the criminal ignorance of many, on the other, the saddest and despicable slander... That is why, without false modesty or misplaced pride, when I examine the road traveled, my heart beats with justified joy: for the enormous campaign in favor of the teaching of Physical Education in our land, is a page of bravery, dedication and civic work, upon which, one day, the History of Civilization in Pará will do justice! [...] Go, finally, my courageous companions, to carry out our 'commitment' [...] 'For the infinite devotion to our God', to fight for Brazil or for Brazil, to die! (Folha do Norte, March 23th, 1943, p. 3)

In her speech, the professor emphasized that the 1942 Physical Education Normal Course represented a second attempt to train Physical Education teachers in Pará, the first being the 1934 Physical Education Course, run by the Department of Physical Education, directed by Captain Orlando Moreira Torres. Both initiatives had a single class of Physical Education teachers.

Also in her speech, Professor Eugênia Souza Filho criticized how society perceived Physical Education teachers during this period, which were professionally unknown and slandered. For these reasons, among others, they felt harassed and unfairly treated. The professor thanked the graduates for not giving up, for having the patience, goodwill, and enthusiasm to stay until the end of the course. She also said that Brazil needed Physical Education teachers who combine education and health, capable of reinvigorating the Brazilian man mentally and physically.

The teachers approved and trained by the Physical Education Program were Beatriz Fraia Lima, Cimélia Malcher, Dinorah Bezerra, Eneida Araujo, Elza de Jesus Silva, Ilza Raimunda O. de Souza, Josefa Blanco Carril, Luci Cordeiro dos Santos, Licia Ponte e Souza, Lourdes Martins Marta, Mirian Rofé Zaguri, Maria Elena Tavares, Maria Celina Antunes, Maria Luiza Barbalho, Olgarina Coeli de Morais, Onergelina Oneide de Morais, Olga de Gaia Bastos, Raimunda Fernandes, Risoleta Mendes Granjense, Silvia Braga Seixas, Tuicema Nogueira de Souza, Tereza da Silva Leite, Zulneida de Almeida Souza, Lourdes Martins Marta, and Ilza Raimunda de Oliveira Souza.

Despite the various initiatives taken to create the Pará School of Physical Education in 1942, it was closed the following year. Intervenor Magalhães Barata argued that the school did not comply with the legal requirements set forth in Article 34 of Decree-Law No. 1,212 of April 17, 1939 (p. 5), which states that "no educational establishment or any other institution may issue the diplomas referred to in Article 32 of this law, nor other titles of equivalent significance, unless recognized by the federal government."

The governor took into account the federal government's difficulty in expanding the dissemination of Physical Education standards and teachings in primary schools in various rural areas of Pará. This was limited to the capital, resulting in a "hateful and unpatriotic exclusivity" that undermined the goal of improving and strengthening the race, one of the basic tenets of the National State (Pará, 1943).

Physical Education in Brazil was an important component in achieving national goals. It was understood as important in the direction of “[...] forging that ‘strong’, ‘healthy’ individual, indispensable to the implementation of the country's development process” (Castelanni Filho, 2006, p. 39), and its teachers were given the responsibility of simultaneously being the model and the trainer of this achievement. Thus, Physical Education and teachers became inseparable and joined forces in the effort to assume considerable importance in the National State.

The Escola de Educação Física do Pará of 1942 was dissolved by Decree-Law No. 4,313 of May 4, 1943, which also created the State Physical Education Service, subordinate to the Department of Education and Culture. According to its regulations, this service would include teaching Physical Education in school groups, in normal and secondary education programs, medical services, and the State School of Physical Education.

As the same as the 1934 course and the School of Physical Education, the Physical Education Service was also discontinued by the state governor, Major Luiz Geolás de Moura Carvalho - using their rights through Ordinance No. 197 of August 19, 1947. These situations represented a setback for Physical Education teacher training in Pará.

It is worth noting that returning to the 1930s and 1940s leads us to believe that Physical Education teacher training truly consolidated its development in Brazil during these decades, as it was "[...] during this period that the number of publications, decrees, and institutions dedicated to Physical Education training increased considerably" (Figueiredo, 2016, p. 211), a movement also seen in the political-educational context of Pará. Conducted both in the military ranks and in civilian life, this training had questionable duration, but it was what was possible to consolidate within the existing governmental reality.

Final Considerations

Based on this research, it was possible to identify two important spaces for training Physical Education teachers in the state of Pará throughout the 1930s and 1940s, namely: The 1934 Physical Education Course, sponsored by the Pará Department of Physical Education, and the 1942 Physical Education Normal Course, organized by the Pará School of Physical Education. Both were influenced by historically prominent institutions in higher education in Physical Education in Brazil: the first by EsEFEx and the second by ENEFD.

Through the establishment of the 1934 Physical Education Course and the 1942 Physical Education Normal Course, seventy teachers were qualified to work in primary education, the first to receive Physical Education qualifications whose training took place in Pará. The training obtained through these courses, combined with the teaching experience these teachers had, enabled them to work in primary education. As Matni (1985) suggests, it is possible that the selection of candidates with this training took into account not only their pedagogical training but also their work in primary schools.

These courses represent the first institutionalized attempts to train Physical Education teachers in Pará. Even though their operations were interrupted, both courses contributed to the development of Physical Education in primary education in the state, as well as in the dissemination and propagation of theories, methods, and practices related to Physical Education at the time, which contributed to the formation of the "Brazilian biotype," that is, the formation of the "national man," and thus the pursuit of national identity.

Efforts were also made in 1939 and 1963 to create institutionalized Physical Education courses in Pará. However, they never became operational. With the absence of a Physical Education school, other approaches were pursued in the 1950s and 1960s to train Physical Education teachers in the state, a potential subject for future research.