Perfil, prática educativa e formação em serviço dos professores da educação infantil: o “caso” dos centros de educação infantil – ceis conveniados de Curitiba

Abstract

This research focuses on Children's Educational Center (CEC’s) affiliated to the Curitiba’s Municipal Education Department, philanthropic, religious and communal institutions established to care for children in kindergarten. Thus, it aims to: a) identify the CEC’s teachers profile; b) Discuss the educational practice and care in CEC’s arrangements in connection with their conceptions of childhood; c) characterize the teacher’s concept about the in-service training offered by the government municipality. Intent on bringing a historical- philosophical perspective on childhood pedagogy, we adopted a framework based on Luther, Comenius, Rousseau and Kohan. The preschool educational practice approach focuses on contemporary authors and educational laws. The methodology involved data triangulation and its analysis based on the following tools and techniques: survey (n = 383), document analysis, observation and focus group. The preschool teacher’s profile indicates female majority, 70% of them aged between 20 and 40 years, 33% who work with children for over 6 years (26.6% of those working in the same CEC in this period and 56.1% take care of zero to three years children. About the formation, 50.4% were formed on (or are studying) the Magisterium, while 41.3% have a pedagogy degree (or still study to). About the child conception, the research revealed the following categories: play, be happy, innocence, be free, life stage, someone to care and love, showing the persistence of concepts related to modern pedagogy and platonic basis. Moreover, the work still inferred about an educational practice that, as the CEC’s teachers said, involves playing, storytelling, singing, caring, educational activities, talk and dance. In relation to in-service training offered and how it is perceived by CEC’s teachers, there is a distance between what is offered and what is the teacher’s needed on the effectively implement of children’s care. The results also indicate that educational practice preserves inseparability between care and education, as advocated by public policy. About the training, this research identifies a need to increase specialized activities in the care of babies. Thus, it’s necessary to discuss the CEC’s teacher’s profile, questioning their training and educational practice, contextualizing it historically, considering it in an critic pedagogic perspective involving how the Children’s Educational Center (CEC’s) affiliated to the Municipal Education Department hosts the children and how it’s integrated to the communities.