Política, infância e educação: proposições para a valorização da experiência mimética da criança na pré-escola

Abstract

As of the problematization of the Law 12.796/2013 that indicated the obligatoriness of 4 and 5 years old children’s enrollment in preschool, we propose as general goal to the present thesis, explain the theoretical bases that make it possible to think about early childhood education in order to generate the conditions for the integral formation of the child in the light of Walter Benjamin's philosophical contributions on childhood, politics and education. The relevance of the proposed theme is justified by the importance of the analysis that is intended to be carried out on the context of the changes imposed by Law 12,796/2013 for Brazilian Early Childhood Education, about its complexity and implications for the integral development of the child. We seek to resume the debate on Early Childhood Education as a child's right, pointing out questions about the imposition of mandatory school enrollment for young children and the form of effective education. We carried out a bibliographical and documental study, through the literature review in articles, theses and dissertations and the pertinent legislation. To think about a new proposal for Early Childhood Education, we chose Walter Benjamin's philosophy as a theoretical contribution, as this theme has always been present in the author's work, especially the issue of childhood perception and the child's cognitive process, as well as the criticism of form of education in modern society Proceeded to the historical contextualization of the writings and the social, political and cultural elements that supported Walter Benjamin's reflection on childhood and education, methodology that made it possible to verify that early childhood education, as well as the entire process of formation of our society, has as its background the most varied forms of control and repression. The research showed that the Brazilian Early Childhood Education has been organized by educational public policies that follow the principles of modernity and instrumental rationality, adapting the innovative discourses and interests of the groups that organize themselves in power. Thus, the analysis categories focus on the elements of contradiction between what is laid down in Law 12.796/2013 for Early Childhood Education and the way in which it is being fulfilled in its entirety. The research results indicated several problems around the fulfillment of the referred Law, such as the absence of a specific curriculum, the disparity between the supply and demand for places in Early Childhood Education, the lack of adequate physical structure in most school institutions and the non-specific training of teachers. From the contrast between the objectives of the Law and the idea of education envisioned in Benjamin's writings, we defend the possibility of building an Early Childhood Education that contemplates and values the mimetic experience of the child in preschool, based on a new conception of childhood, which we have not found in public policies for Early Childhood Education, in teacher training and in pedagogical practices.