Higher Education and Research in Physical Education. Mapping in Argentine Universities and Initial Considerations

Abstract

This article refers to the progress of the research project “Formación superior y Educación Física: prácticas, saberes y discursos” (“Higher Education and Physical Education: Practices, Knowledge, and Discourses”), located in the Department of Social Sciences and Education at the National Pedagogical University (UNIPE). The general objective of the project is to question the discourses, practices, and knowledge reproduced in undergraduate and postgraduate training and research in university-level Physical Education. It is a mixed-methods research organized in two parts: a survey of the professionalization structure in Argentina, followed by an analysis of its discourses and practices, i.e., its implementation. One calendar year into the project, the first part has been completed, involving the tracking and mapping of undergraduate and postgraduate programs (both public and private) in Argentine university-level Physical Education. The project also identified accredited research projects led by professionals in the field and specialized journals that bring together the knowledge community. In the progress made, it is possible to identify the unequal territorial distribution of academic growth in Argentine university-level Physical Education, as well as to assess regional achievements in various institutional contexts and the need to interpret them from a federal perspective.