Kung Fu’s teaching from practioners perspectives in the sport’s pedagogy background

Abstract

The aim of the study was to understand the teaching of Kung Fu from the perspective of students inserted in a context of the pedagogy of the sport. A qualitative research was developed with five volunteers who participated in 16 Kung Fu classes. This research was developed in a federal university of São Paulo State (Brazil). The inclusion criteria were: people from this university, over 18 years old, people who wanted to practice kung fu, experienced or no. The unique exclusion criterion was 75% class attendance. Data collection was done through the application of two open questionnaires, respectively in first and last class. The first questionnaire was designed to reveal the original student’s expectations. The second questionnaire aimed to confirm if the original expectations were fulfilled, and know positive and negatives aspects from the classes as well. Data analysis was performed by non-a priori categories. We found students' expectations were linked to switch back to practice, learning, physical activity and self-defense, and all were achieved. Also, learning, didactics, integration, applicability and access were highlighted as positive aspects of the proposal, while physical space, continuity and time were pointed as negative aspects. It was concluded that the practitioners' perspective revealed the need to invest in more extended teaching proposals. This fact is in line with critical pedagogies from Physical Education area, in which the body culture teaching allow the discovery of new meanings, so broadening the people experience.