Critical analysis of the discourses around sports programs for school children in Chile

INTRODUCTION. From the institutional sphere, sport is considered an adequate educational vehicle for integral formation and the development of values in childhood and adolescence. For this reason, discourses that emphasize the pedagogical character of sport and the positive contribution of its practice in the physical, psychological and social fields domains predominate. However, from a critical perspective, the implicit association of sport with its educational benefits is questioned. The aim of this work is to analyze the institutional discourses around educational sports programs aimed at the school-age population in Chile and contrast them with the discourses of professionals and participants. METHODS. We follow a qualitative design with two phases: 1) Categorical content analysis of an institutional documentary corpus. 2) Interviews with professionals and program participants in relation to the categories obtained in the previous phase. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. The results do not show controversies or divergences between the discourses of the three sources of information analyzed, and are discussed around three axes that give legitimacy to sport, both as a sociocultural phenomenon and in its form of educational intervention program: sport is good in itself, sport is associated with health and a healthy lifestyle, and sport as a suitable vehicle for the formation of good citizens. CONCLUSIONS. A universal, uncritical and sacralized view of sport prevails, which constitutes a regime of truth about ideal forms of being, maintaining its civilizing and functional character. We finish by providing pedagogical implications and future research perspectives.