The liminal position of the National Network Professional Master’s Program in Physical Education within Stricto Sensu Graduate Education

Abstract

This study analyzes the position occupied by the National Network Professional Master’s Program in Physical Education within Brazilian stricto sensu graduate education, based on its historical-normative trajectory, the legal guidelines for professional master’s programs, and its creation, expansion, and network-based organization. Drawing on a qualitative narrative review of normative documents, specialized literature, and institutional records, the program is identified as occupying a liminal position by affirming the centrality of teaching practice and public schools as legitimate spaces for knowledge production, articulating academic criteria with social relevance. This configuration challenges hegemonic conceptions in the field by recognizing Basic Education teachers as producers of situated scientific knowledge. Program expansion has occurred unevenly, revealing limits to interiorization strategies and challenges related to coordination, funding, and institutional conditions. From the perspective of educational policy and management, the network structure presents a contradictory character: while it enhances national outreach and interinstitutional cooperation, it also exposes regional inequalities that affect policy implementation. It is concluded that the program expresses both the potentialities and limits of a graduate education policy oriented toward Basic Education, whose effectiveness depends on concrete conditions of management and institutional support.