Name: CAMILLA MARIA MELLO
Publication date: 28/08/2026
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ANA CAROLINA CAPELLINI RIGONI | Presidente |
| ASHER GROCHOWALSKI BRUM PEREIRA | Examinador Externo |
| RONALDO RÔMULO MACHADO ALMEIDA | Examinador Externo |
| STEFFEN DIX | Examinador Externo |
| TARCÍSIO MAURO VAGO | Examinador Externo |
Summary: The 2018 presidential campaign of Bolsonaro, under the slogan "Brazil above everything, God above everyone", reveals that Bolsonaro's God is Christian and increasingly Evangelical. His election further indicates the rise of Evangelicals in the public sphere and state power. The effects of this rise can be seen in Brazilian schools, where Evangelical students and teachers are increasingly incisive and imposing regarding their beliefs and moralities. Some Evangelical groups have been attempting to guide school discussions and decisions based on their conservative religious codes, intensifying social conflicts surrounding issues of gender, racism, and religious intolerance. Beyond these issues, the influence of religion in public schools affects the decision-making of Evangelical teachers regarding curriculum content and how to approach it, as is the case with dance, capoeira, and other bodily manifestations that comprise school Physical Education (PE). In a public and therefore secular school, addressing these practices pedagogically from a historical-cultural perspective should be the duty of all teachers, rather than a matter of choice, affinity, or religious affiliation. Thus, we question whether the pedagogical approach to certain bodily practices is conditioned by the religious identities of PE schoolteachers. Does the unrestricted defense of "academic freedom" collaborate with the constitutional guarantee of a secular state or does it deny it? What are the impacts of religious discourse on school PE contents? Based on these questions, the objective of this doctoral research was to analyze whether and how the religious beliefs of PE teachers influence their pedagogical choices. Methodologically, the research was conducted through teacher narratives, engaging PE teachers from Elementary and Middle School (I and II) in the municipality of Vitória/ES as interlocutors. The results reveal that the pacts established among teachers, principals, and communities—at times explicit, at times silent— produce profound impacts that condition PE objects of knowledge, regulate bodies, and transform the curriculum component into a territory of exclusion.
Keywords: religion; physical education; teaching
