Values (core and peripheral values: hedonistic, moral, religious, aesthetic, physical culture, utilitarian) 4,7; moral/ ethical formation within the school environment (personal development, behavior, norms, school discipline, moral behavior, engagement) 6,7,9,15.
Ethical values of sport 6,7,9,15; ethics of sport 16; ethical elements of sport 10; ethical issues of sport 10,15; ethical contribution of sports to physical education 7.
Ethical education 4; level of information 6.17; training of professionals at the university 5.8; low level of knowledge 6; moral dilemmas 10; judgment 11; different situations 11.17.
Programs of values education 6; reflective practice model 4.5; adequacy of education programs 4,7,11,12,15; physical education curriculum 12; humanistic knowledge 6.7; professional training 8,9; critical reflection 4,8,12; ethical reflection 11.16; ethical awareness 11.4; ethical competence of the professional 7.
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Physical education
Personal development in the school environment
Next, we discuss the four categories resulting from the content analysis 14. This category groups the findings in the articles written by Wrench and Garrett 4, Görgüt and Tutkun 6, Pezdek 7, Barker, Barker-Ruchti and Pühse 9, Costa, McNamee and Lacerda 15, who address the importance of school PE in the personal and social development of the students, and may, in this sense, include the ethical dimension. This category is discussed based on the values and moral and ethical training of students in the context of PE classes.
In order to better understand moral development, it is initially necessary to conceptualize the term “value” as qualities attributed by the subjects, perceived by reasons and emotions and distinguished from their opposites (devaluation), from things, actions, institutions, and systems, which allows to condition the world and make it habitable, so that one can fully live in it 18-21.
Based on the identified articles, one of the most important characteristics that form the character of an individual for life in society are the values
that they appreciate and seek to put into practice during life 6. By morals of the school institution, the system of values and beliefs is understood as the morals to be learned by students in the school environment, who may occupy a core or peripheral position 7. Core values constitute the focus of interest and specific individual actions, shaping positions to a considerable degree, in addition to defining the direction of students’ personal development. Peripheral values do not greatly influence the lives of the subjects in training, in this case, the students, as they do not affect the mainstream of their daily lives 7.
In this perspective, PE is a sociocultural construction created by people, for people, and based on specific human goals and values 5; therefore, it is based on the so-called core values. Hence, school PE is responsible for the development of students’ axiological-attitudinal competence, which conditions their moral choices, desires, and goals, constituting both the image of the world and their own image within the world 4. However, it is worth emphasizing that moral education can be put into practice in the institution in four ways: 1) moral education as socialization (adjusting individuals to the community in which they live); 2) moral education
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as clarification of values (liberal perspective);
3) moral education as the development of moral judgment; and 4) moral education as the formation of virtuous habits or character 22.
Although the crucial value in this axiology in PE is the body, it is addressed in such a broad context that it significantly exceeds its typically physical understanding, considering that it is inserted in several relationships, influences, and mutual dependencies with other types of values, for example, aesthetic, social, religious, utilitarian, moral, and hedonist 4,7.
School PE is understood as a means for personal development, considering that cultural diversity and plurality must be contextualized in all pedagogical practices. This scenario is based on the very object of PE: human movement, which makes children and young people psychologically, physically, and physiologically active 6,7. In addition, PE professionals, their values, character, and personality are crucial factors in moral education and must assume considerable responsibility for the ethical education of the children and young people for whom they are responsible 7,16.
It can be noticed that the values and meanings present in PE are as ancient as PE itself. From a psychological, sociological, and pedagogical point of view, PE is often seen as a significant sphere for the socialization of young people 5. From a physiological and medical perspective, PE is deemed an important contributor to health and well-being in general 5.
There are also other points of view on values and meanings alluding to PE that suggest the development of sensitivity in PE from four vectors in the school environment: education of epistemic sensitivity, education of ethical sensitivity, education of aesthetic sensitivity, and education of political sensitivity 15.
With regard to the first vector, the education of epistemic sensitivity is necessary, by the search for knowledge of reality, understanding it as a result of the fullness of human capacities. The second refers to the education of ethical sensitivity, seeking to develop autonomy, freedom, and responsibility. The third refers to the education of aesthetic sensitivity, in an attempt to develop the capacity for appreciation, contemplation, pleasure,
and aesthetic judgment of reality. And the fourth and last vector concerns the education of political sensitivity (social consciousness) to form citizens duly dedicated to the polis, the society, the creation of common consciousness, promoting harmonious relationships between them and the world 15.
In addition to the vectors present in PE in the school environment that converge for the personal training of students 15, two plans that guide school PE are observed, namely: the technological and the axiological. The first is responsible for developing the ability to use one’s own body, collecting and processing information about physical culture. The second is responsible for the axiological development of the students. In addition, there is the students’ system of values.
Besides core and peripheral values, we find autotelic and instrumental ones. The former constitute an objective in itself, and the latter are a tool used to achieve it 7. Thus, education, and specifically PE, occupy an important place in the conduct of activities as encouragement or development of the values of individuals 6.
Pezdek 7 points out that ethical education is generally considered in two types of understandings: a narrow and a broad one. A narrow understanding reduces ethical education to a certain school subject, which familiarizes students with ethical theories and norms, in addition to descriptions and assessments of moral behavior. Conversely, a broad understanding consists of weaving ethical issues in relation to society and to an individual 7. Taking this into consideration, when students reflect on these issues, an engagement is promoted towards a more deliberative attitude that is involved with the ethical content of classroom activities. Thus, greater advances are promoted in terms of ethical education 15.
It should be noted that, among the analyzed articles, the definitions of “ethics” and “morals” were used more as synonyms than as distinct concepts; therefore, both were addressed as elements that contribute to personal development in the school environment, especially regarding children. It is worth resuming that ethics and morals have similar etymology. However, morals represent the formation of character in everyday life, related to specific
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cultural phenomena, involving values that each group shares 22, and ethics is the reflection on this moral formation, on the values.
Furthermore, moral doctrines, on the one hand, systematize concrete sets of principles, norms, precepts, and values. Ethical theories, on the other hand, seek to explain the fact that human beings are guided by moral codes 23. Therefore, a value deemed correct for one social group may not be correct for another. Consequently, given the existence of moral plurality, ethical reflection is imperative for life in society, and early childhood education is a propitious locus for ethical exercise, including in the field of PE.
The morals of human beings consists of a system of rules based on values and beliefs. Ethics is the reflective exercise in the face of a conflict of values, in the search for a responsible, prudent solution. Ethics is related to decisions made in this type of value-conflicting situation and, for this purpose, moral deliberation is used 24.
The process of personal development of children is considered to be the result of interaction between family, school, and social environments. Within the school environment, supported by a pedagogical praxis, the PE class provides interpersonal situations, physical and cultural experiences that enable socialization as a moral education process.
