Abstract The study aimed to identify difficulties and aspirations of physical education teachers at public schools in Niterói, inspired by UNESCO's quality physical education goal. An action research containing quantitative and qualitative data was conducted. Thirty-five physical education teachers completed a questionnaire and seven teachers were interviewed. The results indicated that the major difficulties faced were low wages, precarious infrastructure and lack of materials. Physical education is devalued, the space allocated is inadequate, and it is treated as mere recreation. Teachers criticized the lack of commitment of some colleagues who work without planning. They also complained about undisciplined students and lack of interest from their families. They aspire to self-improvement, infrastructure improvements, and more support from school and families. Teachers who do not educate and lack of support from school and government are an unsustainable reality. A synergy of efforts should be implemented, based on a systems view.

Assumindo a Biomecânica como um conhecimento essencial para a prática do professor de Educação Física, a presente investigação, qualitativa e do tipo estudo de caso, buscou evidências sobre a intencionalidade do aluno para aprender. Ou seja, pretendeu identificar se o tipo de interação que os alunos estabelecem entre si, com o professor e com o conhecimento/ disciplina favoreceu a aprendizagem significativa pelos mesmos. Tomando por base a Teoria da Aprendizagem Significativa e utilizando a observação participante como estratégia metodológica, os registros obtidos foram variados e, conforme a natureza, categorizados pela Análise de Conteúdo ou tratados por um teste de correlação estatística. Os resultados apontam o número de falas como indicador impreciso para caracterizar a intencionalidade para aprender. No entanto, a atenção à natureza das interações, assim como aos hábitos de estudo, apresentaram-se como indicadores apropriados para a questão. No presente caso, a maioria dos 13 alunos apresentou intencionalidade para a aprendizagem mecânica.

Assuming Biomechanics as essential knowledge for Physical Education teacher practice, the present work searched for evidence of student intentionality to learn. By means of qualitative and case study research, we intended to verify if the students' way of interaction with each other, with the teacher and the subject's main theme improved meaningful learning. Meaningful Learning Theory was our theoretical framework and participant observation our methodological strategy. The records were varied and classified according to their nature by Content Analysis or treated by a correlation test. The results show the number of speech interactions is an imprecise indicator to define intentional learning, whereas attention to the nature of interaction as well as to study habits can be presented as appropriate ones. In this specific case, most of the thirteen students showed intentionality to rote learning.