AUTHOR=Onofre Marcos , Costa João , Martins João , Quitério Ana , Farias Cláudio , Mesquita Isabel 

TITLE=Portuguese research on physical education and sport didactics—a critical discussion

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sports and Active Living

VOLUME=Volume 5 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2023.1172815

DOI=10.3389/fspor.2023.1172815

ISSN=2624-9367

ABSTRACT=This article presents a discussion of research in Physical Education and Sport Didactics in Portugal. It starts by situating it from an historical perspective placing the 1980's as the beginning era mainly based on the studies provided by the two first Physical Education higher education institutes of the country. The initial research, firstly based on master and doctoral dissertations, progressed to ongoing projects which have been disseminated in international and national journals and books. This development is also reported from the theoretical, conceptual and methodological perspectives, showing how it has informed the quality of Physical Education and teacher education as the two main research strands to be described, however acknowledging that a strand on sports coaching and coach education exists.On the teaching of Physical Education, the article discusses the elements relative to the teacher and to the student, focusing from the immediate and short-term to the distant and long-term that lead into young adulthood's active lifestyles. In this analysis, research on curriculum and assessment are also reported.On PETE, the article shows the prevalence of the post-primary Physical Education to argue for the need for more research on primary-level education, and discusses the diverse foci from initial teacher education to in-service education practices.In line with current trends in research, we suggest a set of four features for the future research agenda -1) addressing short to long-term outcomes of Physical Education; 2) adopting multifactorial and multi-layered perspectives of analysis; 3) embracing inter and multidisciplinary designs; and 4) taking comparative perspectives within and between European countries, and between Europe and other continents. We conclude that these features need to foreground on four levels of integration and cooperation -a) integration between the research initiatives and the needs of the professional field; b) integration between research on teaching and learning, teacher education and the curriculum; c) cooperation between the different national higher education and professional institutions; and d) integration in the international research agenda by leading and participating in project partnerships -which are needed to fully and effectively implement such agenda.