Challenges for Early Childhood Education: “Proinfância”—From Policy to Practice

Abstract

This text is part of the research carried out in seven units of the National Program for Restructuring and Acquisition of Equipment for the Public School Network of Early Childhood Education (Proinfancia) in operation in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The research aimed to identify the deployment process of the federal program in municipalities, from the organization of enrollment to the arrangements of physical space and the routine for the care of children from 0 - 3 years and from 4 to 5 years, in the units investigated in the state. The methodology consisted of interviews with managers, members of education departments and teachers, participant observation in the units and photographic records of the educational spaces. The combination of information, images and testimonies of those involved in interviews and field observations produces a body of knowledge and leaves clues regarding Infant Education in Rio de Janeiro. Among the findings, we can see both a standardization of routines and a distribution of time centered on an institutional logic that is distant from the needs of children, indicating the possibility of precocious schooling of children in progress. It also shows an organization impregnated with an impoverished model of schooling, with many meaningless lettering, numbering and copying activities and the rare presence of books and toys. Although progress has been made in educational policies which are more in keeping with the population’s needs and drawn from theoretical advances and research results, practical implementation of these is still the weak point for the fulfillment of the political agenda for Early Childhood Education. This paper is organized into three sections: the first contextualizes the research and Early Childhood Education policy in Brazil; the second addresses the methodological options and observed practice, with respect to the role of Early Childhood Education in the institutionalization process; the final considerations look at ways to approach child and adult education based on the results found.