Physical education, citizenship building and the national curriculum parameters

The Ministry of Education and Sport, by means of the Secretary of Elementary School, inspired on the Spanish educational model, mobilized a group of researchers and professors in order to elaborate the National Curriculum Parameters (PCNs). The PCNs have as main function to support the States and Counties' curricula elaboration or version. The authors of this study aimed to analyze the Physical Education Proposition for Third and Fourth Cycles (fifth to eighth grade within the Elementary School), which is in the Physical Education area PCNs, trying to elucidate its innovating aspects, and to present and discuss early critiques to the documents - such as theoretical assumptions, elaboration and realization process. The methodology consisted on qualitative research - through bibliographical analysis. Although Third and Fourth Cycles’ Physical Education area PCNs feature some important advances and possibilities to the curricular subject, many of the presented ideas were already in some researchers’ work. The text published as PCNs assisted this knowledge organizing, articulating it on its various dimensions. As main advances one could list the following items: inclusion principle, contents dimensions, and transversal themes. We consider PCNs as an advance in Brazilian educational system, remarking that one single proposition cannot solve all educational problems, due to the complexity of this country