Body Percussion in Physical Education from the Perspective of Secondary Teachers

The main purpose of this study is to show the perspective of Physical Education (PE) teachers of the secondary stage on the functionality of Body Percussion (BP) as content of PE. The proven value of the BP in music education invites us to consider its transversal potential in the area of PE when sharing common aspects. From an ad hoc questionnaire that covers general aspects of Creative Movement, the 14 items linked to the BP dimension are analyzed. The total of 369 subjects answered the questionnaire, 24.4% have used BP in their PE classes despite recognizing their limited knowledge about it. Regarding the functionality attributed to this content, most consider it as a subject to improve coordination, rhythm and teamwork. However, a high percentage shows disagreement as to consider it as a content to develop physical condition. These results indicate that although the BP is a familiar content to the respondents, there is no high knowledge and application by them. Among the reasons, we emphasize that the initial training of PE teachers in Catalonia does not consider it as relevant content. Also the offer of training in BP is very low, which means that the teaching staff does not feel safe and unprepared to impart this content. For all this, it is necessary to have more training on BP, as well as a deeper knowledge of what happens in practice when the teaching staff tries to teach competences of the Creative Movement dimension through the BP.