A questionnaire was applied to a stratified group of 150 elementary teachers (21 male and 129 female), divided into groups of 30 as to teaching experience – less than 5, between 6 and 10, 11 and 15, 16 and 21, and more than 21. Data presented here result from answers to one question - 21 traces that influence the decisions about PE practices, based on Broadfoot and Osborn’s (1993) questionnaire.

The trace “my pupils” is the most influential, with higher total reference values (751 - 5.1), followed by “my preference” and “satisfaction in the practice of sports and physical activities (688 – 4.8), “my professional ideology” (666 - 4.7), close to the fourth trace “my satisfaction and professional development” which, although higher (668), has a lower mean value (4.671). The fifth most influential trace is “my professional teaching experience” (670 - 4.5), followed by “my perception of pedagogical efficacy in PE (630 - 4.5). On the opposite side the trace “my professional association and/or union“ stands out with less hits (229) and lower mean (1.7) and standard deviation (1.0), followed by “my school inspector” (252), This is followed by “my professional image next to my peers” (326), and a fourth trace “my school coordinator” (338). The trace “my family history” (391) is placed as the fifth least influential, along with “pupils’ parents” and “my pupils” exactly with the same total values and means. Results identify two sets of traces of the personal and professional lives of teachers that influence decisions in PE: one that shows that teachers recognize their own personal characteristics and those of their pupils as more influential; another centered around the traces associated to structures of a more institutional nature, of school organization and of social impact.