Abstract

The national Physical Education curriculum establishes the possibility of incorporating various individual sports into its objectives, with artistic gymnastics being one of them. The purpose of this research is to characterize the teaching and assessment of artistic gymnastics in schools based on the experiences of first-year students in the Physical Education Pedagogy program. A mixed-methods approach was used with a non-probabilistic sample. From a quantitative perspective, a cross-sectional descriptive design was employed, applying a questionnaire validated by content and expert judgment, which included both open-ended and closed-ended questions. For the qualitative approach, a phenomenological and interpretive perspective was adopted, with open-ended responses subjected to coding to identify hermeneutic units. The sample consisted of 93 first-year Physical Education Pedagogy students, of which 79 were men (84.95%) and 14 were women (15.05%), with an average age of 19.26 ± 1.28 years. The results indicate a high frequency of floor exercises in basic education, particularly between grades 5 and 8, with a variety of emotions ranging from satisfaction with achievements to fear and anxiety during evaluation. It was concluded that the way gymnastics is taught and assessed directly influences students' emotions toward the discipline. It is essential to prioritize progressive methodologies that respect classroom diversity to avoid feelings of frustration, fear, and anxiety. © 2025, Campus EDUCA SPORTIS S.L.. All rights reserved.