Initial teacher education: challenges for quality Physical Education from the perspective of teacher educators and students.

Higher education in Chile is in the process of structural review. It is in this space of reflection, and in this National Quality Framework that arises the research endeavor of knowing other educational actors’ understanding of the challenges of Physical Education as a field of Chilean Higher Education, particularly teacher trainers and pre-service teachers in the last year of their course in Physical Education Teaching. The present research aims to identify current challenges of Physical Education and of the corresponding teaching profession, from the social representations of pre-service teachers and teacher-educators in Physical Education Teaching in four institutions from the Metropolitan Region in Chile. The study used a qualitative methodology, inserted in the interpretive paradigm, with a descriptive multiple case design. Data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and collection of official documents from the institutions, whereas the data analysis technique was grounded theory. Results indicate that, for teachers and perhaps even more clearly for students, the current Physical Education aims to move away from dualistic paradigm and its components, in order to define itself as Physical Education of Complexity Thinking. The dimensions and challenges for Physical Education of Complexity Thinking are the primarily educational purpose of the course, the essential link of the course with the context and the recognition of corporeity as an epistemological foundation.