SELF-EXCLUSION IN MIXED CLASSES OF SCHOOL PHYSICAL EDUCATION: REPRESENTATIONS OF HIGH SCHOOL´S FEMALE STUDENTS UNDER A GENDER VIEW

Abstract

The study's problem was to research: which are female students' representations of High School about their self-exclusion of the school Physical Education classes? Its objective was to identify the reasons that induce female students to self-exclude from the Physical Education classes. We applied a semi-structured questionnaire to High Schools' female students of the public school “Colégio Estadual Stella Matutina”, localized at the neighborhood of Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, plus a free and unsystematic participant observation of the Physical Education classes. The Content Analysis of the data permit to declare that female students' self-exclusion is related to four main factors crossed by category of the gender: inappropriate environment (court and locker room), classes' characteristics (unorganized, repetitive, bored), lack of motor skill and displeasure on the sports learned. In order to a greater participation at the classes, female students suggested: diversify activities; improve physics structure and changes in teacher attitudes. We concluded, then, that Co-Education - discussing the questions of gender among teachers - could be a way of discussion about some of the factors that contribute to the female students self-exclusion.