The P. R. O. T. E. G. E. Framework is a methodological tool designed to help educators plan, observe, and adapt learning experiences. Its purpose is to ensure that an activity is not treated as a rigid structure but as a living environment that welcomes diverse learners, abilities, interests, rhythms, and ways of participating.

The acronym stands for:

P — People
R — Resources
O — Organization of Rules
T — Time
E — Environment
G — Gestures and Movement Actions
E — Establishment of Roles

In this context, to protect does not mean removing challenges or preventing students from experiencing difficulty. It means creating conditions in which every learner can face meaningful challenges in a safe, autonomous, dignified environment, with a genuine opportunity to succeed.

This principle is consistent with inclusive education, which seeks to identify and remove barriers arising from curricula, teaching practices, environments, and educational structures—not merely barriers attributed to the learner. It also aligns with Universal Design for Learning, which encourages educators to design flexible learning opportunities that foster agency and meaningful participation (UNESCO, 2020; CAST, 2024).

P — People.

People refer to everyone involved in the learning experience: students, teachers, teaching assistants, support professionals, and other members of the school community.

When planning an activity, educators should consider characteristics such as age, prior experience, cultural background, interests, learning needs, social relationships, confidence, motivation, and motor competence.

The same task may produce entirely different experiences depending on who participates. A game that feels exciting and accessible to one learner may feel intimidating or confusing to another. Understanding the people involved is, therefore, the first step toward creating an inclusive and meaningful learning experience.

The focus should not be limited to what students can currently do. Educators should also consider what each learner can achieve when appropriate support, encouragement, and opportunities are provided.

R — Resources.

Resources are the materials, objects, equipment, technologies, and forms of support used during the learning experience. In Physical Education, these may include balls, ropes, cones, hoops, rackets, fabrics, targets, music, images, digital tools, adapted equipment, or objects created by the students themselves.

Changing a resource can transform the entire activity. A larger and lighter ball, for example, may make catching more accessible to children who are still developing their coordination. A lower target may lead to early success, while a smaller ball or a longer distance may increase the challenge.

Resources should not be seen merely as objects used to complete a task. They function as bridges between the learner and the intended learning outcome. Selecting and adapting equipment can provide multiple entry points without removing the educational purpose of the experience.

O — Organization of Rules.

Organization of Rules refers to both how the activity is structured and the agreements that guide participation.

The educator may organize students individually, in pairs, in small groups, in teams, in learning stations, or as a whole class. Materials, boundaries, rotations, objectives, and forms of interaction are also part of this organizational dimension.

Rules do not need to be treated as untouchable. They may be simplified, expanded, negotiated, or created collectively to make participation more meaningful. Allowing additional passes, changing scoring systems, reducing distances, creating protected zones, or temporarily removing elimination are examples of pedagogical adaptations.

Changing a rule does not necessarily make an activity “too easy.” It can make the challenge more appropriate to the learners’ developmental stage and intended learning objectives.

This reasoning is supported by constraints-led approaches to movement learning. From this perspective, modifying elements such as rules, equipment, goals, and playing areas can encourage learners to discover functional and creative movement solutions (Newell, 1986; Roberts, Newcombe, & Davids, 2019).

T — Time.

Time concerns the duration of the activity, pace of execution, rest periods, response time, frequency of participation, and the time available to explore or learn a particular skill.

Not everyone learns at the same speed. Some students may need more time to understand instructions, organize a movement response, observe a demonstration, or feel confident enough to participate.

Providing more time, reducing unnecessary pressure, allowing repeated attempts, or introducing regular pauses can create a more equitable experience. Time may also be used to adjust intensity: shorter activity periods can reduce fatigue, while longer exploration periods can encourage creativity and problem-solving.

Pedagogical time should not become a race against the clock. It should provide students with room to explore, make mistakes, reflect, reorganize their actions, and progress.

E — Environment.

Environment includes the physical space in which learning occurs, as well as the social, emotional, sensory, and relational conditions surrounding the activity.

The educator can enlarge, reduce, divide, or reorganize the space to suit the lesson’s purpose. A smaller playing area may increase interaction and decision-making, while a larger area may encourage running, exploration, and spatial awareness.

Accessibility, surface conditions, lighting, temperature, noise, obstacles, safety, and circulation must also be considered. However, the environment is not only physical. It also includes whether students feel respected, welcomed, secure, and free to experiment without humiliation.

A well-designed learning environment does not guarantee that every experience will be easy. It ensures that difficulty becomes productive rather than exclusionary. UNESCO identifies safe, inclusive, and meaningful participation as an essential principle of quality Physical Education (UNESCO, 2015).

G — Gestures and Movement Actions.

Gestures and Movement Actions refer to the bodily expressions and motor actions present in the activity: running, jumping, balancing, throwing, catching, kicking, turning, dancing, fighting, climbing, creating, and communicating through the body.

A movement gesture should not be understood only as a technique that must be reproduced perfectly. Students may discover different functional ways to perform the same task according to their bodies, experiences, perceptions, and relationships with the environment.

The educator can provide variations, levels of complexity, demonstrations, physical or visual support, and different movement possibilities. The objective is not to impose a single “correct” body, but to help each learner develop increasingly effective, confident, creative, and meaningful ways of moving.

This approach is particularly relevant to physical literacy because it values not only motor competence, but also confidence, motivation, understanding, and the ability to participate in movement throughout life. Current Physical Education standards similarly emphasize the development of knowledge, skills, and personal and social capacities through meaningful movement experiences (SHAPE America, 2024).

E — Establishment of Roles.

Establishment of Roles concerns the responsibilities and functions participants assume during the learning experience.

Students do not need to participate only as performers. They may also organize materials, observe classmates, demonstrate movements, create rules, referee games, record results, provide feedback, lead warm-ups, propose strategies, or help design new challenges.

Rotating roles expands students’ understanding and prevents them from remaining in fixed positions. The same students should not always become the leaders, while others consistently remain spectators or less influential participants.

Learning also involves experiencing responsibility, listening to others, making decisions, cooperating, and understanding a situation from different perspectives. Establishing and rotating roles can therefore support autonomy, empathy, communication, and shared ownership of the lesson.

P.R.O.T.E.G.E. as an Inclusive Teaching Tool.

The P.R.O.T.E.G.E. Framework can be used before, during, and after a lesson.

Before the lesson, educators can anticipate potential barriers and design multiple participation options. During the activity, it provides a guide for making immediate adaptations. After the lesson, it offers criteria for reflecting on what worked, what created barriers, and what could be reorganized.

When students experience difficulty, educators can ask:

• Were the People grouped and supported appropriately?
• Were the Resources accessible and suitable for the learning objective?
• Did the Organization of Rules encourage meaningful participation?
• Was there enough Time to understand, explore, and practice?
• Was the Environment safe, accessible, and emotionally welcoming?
• Were different Gestures and Movement Actions accepted and encouraged?
• Were roles distributed fairly through the Establishment of Roles?

These questions shift the pedagogical perspective. Instead of immediately treating the student as the source of the problem, the educator examines how the learning environment can be redesigned.

Final Considerations

The P.R.O.T.E.G.E. Framework functions as a pedagogical compass. It reminds educators that teaching is not simply presenting an activity and expecting everyone to respond in the same way. Teaching means creating conditions in which different learners can enter the experience, explore it, contribute to it, and build meaning through it.

In Physical Education, P.R.O.T.E.G.E. can contribute to lessons that are more inclusive, participatory, flexible, and sensitive to human diversity. Adapting people’s groupings, resources, rules, time, environments, movement possibilities, and roles does not weaken the learning experience. It opens additional doors through which learning can occur.

A meaningful educational experience is not one in which every student performs exactly the same action in exactly the same way. It is one in which every learner finds a legitimate path to participate, learn, and progress.

There is also a poetic connection within the English language. The word protege refers to someone whose development is supported and guided by a more experienced person. In this sense, P.R.O.T.E.G.E. describes the framework that organizes learning, while the protege is the learner who grows within it.

Bibliographical References

CAST. (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 3.0. CAST. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/

Newell, K. M. (1986). Constraints on the development of coordination. In M. G. Wade and H. T. A. Whiting (Eds.), Motor development in children: Aspects of coordination and control (pp. 341–360). Martinus Nijhoff. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4460-2_19

Roberts, W. M., Newcombe, D. J., & Davids, K. (2019). Application of a constraints-led approach to pedagogy in schools: Embarking on a journey to nurture physical literacy in primary Physical Education. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 24(2), 162–175. https://doi.org/10.1080/17408989.2018.1552675

SHAPE America. (2024). National Physical Education Standards. Society of Health and Physical Educators. https://shapeamerica.org/standards/pe/

UNESCO. (2015). Quality Physical Education (QPE): Guidelines for policy-makers. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000231101

UNESCO. (2020). Global Education Monitoring Report 2020: Inclusion and education—All means all. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373718

Authorship note: The references above provide the theoretical foundations for inclusion, flexible learning design, ecological dynamics, and task adaptation. The specific organization and naming of the P.R.O.T.E.G.E. Framework constitute the proposed methodological synthesis rather than a framework taken directly from those publications.

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P.R.O.T.E.G.E.: Uma Metodologia para Organizar, Incluir e Transformar a Aprendizagem.

A sigla metodológica P. R. O. T. E. G. E. representa um conjunto de elementos que ajudam o professor a planejar, observar e adaptar as situações de aprendizagem. Sua principal finalidade é garantir que a atividade não seja uma estrutura rígida, mas um ambiente vivo, capaz de acolher diferentes estudantes, ritmos, habilidades e formas de participação.

Nesse sentido, “proteger” não significa retirar os desafios. Significa criar as condições necessárias para que cada estudante possa enfrentá-los com segurança, autonomia e sentido.

A sigla pode ser compreendida da seguinte maneira:

P — Pessoas.

Refere-se a todos os participantes envolvidos na atividade: estudantes, professores, auxiliares e demais integrantes da comunidade escolar. O professor considera características como idade, experiências anteriores, interesses, necessidades, relações sociais e diferentes níveis de habilidade.

A mesma proposta pode gerar experiências completamente diferentes, dependendo de quem participa. Por isso, conhecer as pessoas é o primeiro passo para construir uma aprendizagem verdadeiramente inclusiva.

R — Recursos.

São os materiais e instrumentos utilizados durante a experiência: bolas, cordas, cones, arcos, tecidos, músicas, imagens, equipamentos digitais ou objetos construídos pelos próprios estudantes.

Modificar um recurso pode transformar toda a atividade. Uma bola maior e mais leve, por exemplo, pode facilitar a participação de crianças que ainda estão desenvolvendo habilidades de manipulação. O material deixa de ser apenas um objeto e passa a funcionar como uma ponte para a aprendizagem.

O — Organização.

Diz respeito à maneira como as pessoas, os materiais e as tarefas são distribuídos. A atividade pode ocorrer individualmente, em duplas, em pequenos grupos, em equipes, em estações ou em uma organização coletiva.

Alterar a organização permite equilibrar as oportunidades de participação, reduzir as filas, aumentar o tempo de movimento e favorecer diferentes tipos de interação. Em muitos casos, o problema não está na capacidade do estudante, mas na forma como a proposta foi organizada.

R — Regras.

As regras estabelecem os limites, os objetivos e as possibilidades da atividade. Entretanto, elas não precisam ser imutáveis. Podem ser simplificadas, ampliadas ou construídas coletivamente para favorecer a participação e o aprendizado.

Modificar uma regra — como permitir mais passes, reduzir a distância ou retirar temporariamente a eliminação — não torna a experiência “mais fácil”. Torna o desafio mais adequado ao momento de desenvolvimento dos participantes.

T — Tempo.

Relaciona-se à duração da atividade, ao ritmo de realização, aos intervalos, ao tempo de resposta e ao período disponível para aprender determinada habilidade.

Nem todos aprendem na mesma velocidade. Oferecer mais tempo, diminuir a pressão ou permitir novas tentativas ajuda a respeitar os diferentes ritmos de aprendizagem. O tempo pedagógico não deve ser uma corrida contra o relógio; deve ser um território para experimentar, errar, compreender e avançar.

E — Espaço.

Representa o ambiente em que a experiência ocorre e a forma como esse ambiente é delimitado. O professor pode ampliar, reduzir, dividir ou reorganizar o espaço conforme os objetivos da aula.

Um espaço menor pode favorecer determinadas interações, enquanto um maior pode ampliar as possibilidades de deslocamento. Também é necessário observar a acessibilidade, a segurança, a iluminação, os ruídos, os obstáculos e a circulação dos participantes.

G — Gestos.

São as ações corporais e formas de movimento presentes na atividade: correr, saltar, equilibrar, lançar, receber, girar, chutar, dançar, lutar ou representar.

O gesto não deve ser compreendido apenas como uma técnica a ser reproduzida perfeitamente. Cada estudante pode encontrar diferentes maneiras de realizar uma ação corporal. Assim, o professor pode oferecer variações, apoios e níveis de complexidade, valorizando tanto a eficiência quanto a criatividade e a expressão.

E — Estruturação de funções.

Refere-se aos papéis assumidos pelos participantes durante a experiência. Além de executar movimentos, os estudantes podem organizar materiais, observar colegas, criar regras, arbitrar jogos, registrar resultados, orientar grupos ou propor estratégias.

A alternância de funções amplia a compreensão da atividade e evita que alguns estudantes permaneçam sempre nos mesmos papéis — como líderes, espectadores ou participantes menos envolvidos. Aprender também significa assumir diferentes responsabilidades no grupo.

Uma ferramenta para a inclusão.

O P.R.O.T.E.G.E. pode ser utilizado antes, durante e depois da aula. No planejamento, ajuda o professor a antecipar barreiras e possibilidades. Durante a atividade, orienta adaptações imediatas. Após a experiência, oferece critérios para refletir sobre o que funcionou e o que precisa ser reorganizado.

Imagine uma brincadeira em que algumas crianças têm dificuldade em participar. Em vez de atribuir o problema somente ao estudante, o professor pode investigar:

• As pessoas foram agrupadas adequadamente?
• Os recursos são acessíveis?
• A organização permite participação constante?
• As regras criam barreiras desnecessárias?
• O tempo é suficiente?
• O espaço está bem dimensionado?
• Os gestos apresentam diferentes possibilidades de execução?
• As funções estão distribuídas de maneira equilibrada?

Essa mudança de olhar é poderosa: o estudante deixa de ser visto como “o problema”, e o ambiente passa a ser analisado e transformado.

Considerações finais

A metodologia P.R.O.T.E.G.E. oferece ao educador uma espécie de bússola pedagógica. Ela permite compreender que ensinar não é simplesmente apresentar uma atividade, mas criar condições para que diferentes pessoas possam entrar nela, explorá-la e atribuir significado ao que fazem.

Na Educação Física, sua aplicação contribui para aulas mais inclusivas, participativas e sensíveis às diferenças. Quando modificamos pessoas, recursos, organização, regras, tempo, espaço, gestos e funções, não estamos descaracterizando a experiência. Estamos abrindo novas portas para que todos tenham o direito de aprender.

Afinal, uma boa proposta educacional não é aquela em que todos fazem exatamente a mesma coisa. É aquela em que cada estudante encontra uma maneira legítima de participar, aprender e avançar.

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