Abstract

This study used a mixed research approach to identify teachers' educational paradigms and desirable skills based on the perception of the teaching role in physical education of Chilean university students who begin their training period. For this purpose, a sample of 77 students from two universities (57.1% male and 42.9% females) aged between 18 and 20 years old (x: 19.2 years) was selected. Five questions were taken from the questionnaire «Conceptions of Professional Activity in Teacher Training and Physical Education Students» aimed at assessing physical education and the perception of the teaching role. The results showed the high impact of previous experiences as students in the current assessment of the subject, as well as in the perception of the teaching role; in addition, an emphasis on the personal and attitudinal attributes of the teacher is appreciated over aspects of methodological, conceptual, and value, in characterizing a good teacher. From these outcomes, it is possible to identify a duality of dominant paradigms in the perception of the teaching role expressed where, on the one hand, an individual and personalist conception of acting in physical education (whether in the teacher or the student) is privileged despite the recognition of the relational dimension in the teaching-learning process and; on the other, an orientation toward adaptation and integration into the extracurricular cultural environment, as well as an increase in the quality of life in terms of learning outcomes pursued under a constructivist paradigm of education. The implications of these results for the training of professionals in the area are discussed.