Las experiencias escolares y el pensamiento docente sobre la asignatura de Educación Física y Salud

Abstract

Experiences in university students’ Physical Education and Health classes could be key to providing feedback on initial teacher training processes, particularly regarding the development of healthy habits. The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of Physical Education teacher education students at a university in southern Chile regarding the subject Physical Education and Health as a promoter of healthy habits, and to identify how they project teaching it in their future professional practice. A quantitative, cross-sectional, and descriptive study was conducted. The instrument applied was the ESTIPENDO questionnaire, and the convenience sample, based on inclusion criteria, consisted of 108 students from the same program. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, mainly frequency analysis, means, and percentage distribution, using SPSS v.25. The results indicated that the most characteristic contents were sports (80.6%) and physical fitness (59.3%), while health care was less frequent (17.6%). A total of 49.1% strongly agreed that Physical Education and Health was an effective reference for developing healthy habits, while 11.1% reported little agreement. The activities they would most use for teaching healthy habits were sports (86.1%) and non-sport games (56.5%). It is concluded that the subject Physical Education and Health served as a formative reference for healthy habits, and that students would continue teaching health-related content mainly through sports.