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1.INTRODUCTION
The Early Childhood Education has changed considerably in recent times.
The process of acquiring a new identity for the institutions that work
with children has been long and difficult. During this process came a
new conception of the child, totally different from the traditional
view. If, for centuries the child was seen as being an unimportant,
almost invisible, today it is considered in all its particularities,
with personal and historical identity.
These changes led to new social and economic demands, giving the child a
role for future investment, this came to be valued, so their care had
to follow the course of history. Thus, early childhood education from a
welfare perspective becomes a pedagogical coupled with care, seeking to
meet the child holistically, where their specific (psychological,
emotional, cognitive, physical, etc ...) should be respected. In this
perspective, this paper proposes a discussion on the historical
evolution of the concept of childhood and its impact on care for
children in early childhood education institutions.
2. CONCEPTS OF CHILDHOOD
The design of present-day childhood is very different from a few
centuries ago. Importantly, the vision one has of the child is something
historically constructed, that is why one can see the stark contrasts
in terms of feelings of childhood throughout the ages. What today may
seem an aberration, as the indifference intended for small children,
ages ago it was absolutely normal. For larger strangeness that cause,
humanity will not always see the child as being a particularly long and
treated her like a miniature adult.
To be an unimportant, almost imperceptibly, the child in a secular
process occupies a greater emphasis on society and humanity, it launches
a new look. To better understand this issue we need to do a historical
survey on the sense of childhood, seeking to define it, register its
birth and its evolution. According to Aries:
the feeling of childhood does not mean the same as affection for
children, corresponds to the consciousness of the particularity of
children, this peculiarity that distinguishes essentially the adult
child, even young (Aries, 1978: 99).
From this perspective the feeling of childhood is something that
characterizes the child, its essence as a being, his way of acting and
thinking, which differs from adults, and therefore deserves a more
specific look.
In the Middle Ages there was no clarity over the period that
characterized the childhood, many were based on the physical issue and
determined that childhood is the period of the teeth until the age of
seven, as the quotes from the description given by Le Grand Propriétaire
(Ariès, 1978: 6):
The first age is childhood teeth that plant, and such an age when the
child is born and lasts up to seven years, and at that age what is born
is called the enfant (child), which means non-speaking, because at this
age one can not speak well or take the words perfectly, because it still
has no teeth and no firm arranged ...
Until the seventeenth century society did not give much attention to
children. Due to poor sanitation, infant mortality has reached alarming
levels, so the child was seen as a being which could not hold on,
because at any moment she might cease to exist. Many could not overcome
their early childhood. The birth rate was also high, which led to a kind
of replacement of dead children. The loss was seen as natural and
something that did not deserve to be deplored for a long time, as can be
seen in the commentary of Aries "... people could not get too attached
to something that was considered a potential loss ..." (1978 : 22).
In the Middle Ages, the child was being seen as a miniature, so that
could perform some tasks, this was inserted into the adult world,
without any concern about your training as a being specific, being
exposed to all kinds of experience.
According to Aries, until the seventeenth century, the socialization of
children and transmitting values and knowledge were not provided by
families. The child was removed early from his parents and went to live
with other adults, helping them in their tasks. From there, most of
these not distinct. This contact, the child would direct this phase to
adulthood. (Aries, 1978).
The duration of childhood was not well defined and the term "childhood"
was used indiscriminately, being used even to refer to young people aged
eighteen or older (Aries, 1989). Thus, childhood was a long duration,
and the child would eventually assume positions of responsibility,
skipping stages of their development. Even his outfit was a faithful
copy of an adult. This situation began to change, featuring a major
milestone in awakening the sense of childhood:
In the seventeenth century, however, the child, or at least the child of
good family, be it noble or bourgeois, was no longer dressed like the
adults. She now had a costume reserved for his age, which distinguishes
it from adults. This essential fact appears at initial glance at the
numerous representations of children's early seventeenth century (Ariès,
1978: 33).
The great social changes in the seventeenth century contributed
significantly to building a sense of childhood. The most important were
the Catholic and Protestant religious reforms, which brought a new
vision of the child and their learning. Another important aspect is the
affection which has gained in importance within the family.
That affection was demonstrated, mainly by emphasizing that education
has to have. The education of children, who once gave the children
living with adults in their daily tasks, has given up on school. The
work for educational purposes was replaced by the school, which became
responsible for the deformation process. The children were separated
from adults and kept in school until they are "ready" for life in
society. (Ariès, 1978).
Comes a concern with the moral education of children and the church is
responsible to direct learning, aiming to correct the deviations of the
child, it was believed that it was the result of sin, and should be
guided to the path of good. Among educators and moralists of the
seventeenth century, formed the childhood feeling that would inspire all
education in this century (Aries, 1989). Then comes the explanation of
the types of care for children, and repressive nature of compensatory.
On one side the child is seen as an innocent being who needs care, the other as being a fruit of sin. According to Kramer:
At that moment, the feeling of childhood corresponds to two
contradictory attitudes: one considers a naive child, innocent and
gracious and pampering is translated by adults, and another appears
simultaneously at first, but is opposed to it, making the child an
imperfect and incomplete, in need of "morality" and education made by
the adult (Kramer, 2003:18).
These two feelings are caused by a new attitude of family towards the
child, who now assumes its role more effectively, the family begins to
perceive the child as a future investment, which must be preserved, and
therefore must be rejected for bad physical and moral. For Kramer (2003:
18) "is not the family that is new, but rather the feeling of family
that emerges in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, inseparable
from the feeling of childhood."
Family life has a more private, and gradually the family assumes the
role formerly assigned to the community. Importantly, this sense of
childhood and family is a bourgeois model, which became universal.
Kramer said:
... The idea of childhood (...) appears to capitalist society,
urban-industrial, to the extent that change their social inclusion and
the role of children in the community. if, in feudal society, the child
played a productive role direct ("adult") so it exceeded the period of
high mortality, in bourgeois society it becomes someone who needs to be
cared for, educated and prepared for a future function. This concept of
childhood is therefore determined historically by the modification of
the forms of social organization (2003: 19).
In the eighteenth century, the education the family became interested in
issues related to hygiene and child health, which led to a substantial
decrease in mortality.
The changes benefited the children of the bourgeoisie as the children of
people remained without access to the gains represented by the new
conception of childhood, such as the right to education and care more
specific, being directed to work.
The child slowly comes out of anonymity and occupies an area of
greatest prominence in society. This evolution brings profound changes
in relation to education, it had to seek to meet the new demands that
were triggered by the appreciation of the child for learning beyond the
religious issue became one of the pillars in the care of children.
According to Loureiro:
... This period begins to be a concern to know the mentality of children
to adapt the methods of education to them, facilitating the learning
process. Surge an emphasis on the image of the child as an angel,
"testimony of baptismal innocence" and therefore close to Christ (2005:
36).
You realize the Christian character to which the education of children
was anchored. With the rise of interest in children, concern began to
help them acquire the principle of reason and the Christian adults and
make them rational. This paradgma guided the education of the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries.
Today, the child is seen as a subject of rights, historically situated
and that must have their physical, cognitive, psychological, emotional
and social needs met, featuring an integrated and comprehensive care of
the child. She must have met all its dimensions. According to Zabalza
Fraboni quote:
the historical stage that we are living, strongly marked by
"transformation" scientific-technological and the ethical and social
change, meets all the requirements for making effective the winning jump
in the child's education, finally legitimizing it as a social figure,
as the subject of rights as a social subject "(1998:68).
Thus, the notion of children as a particular being, with characteristics
very different from those of adults, and simultaneously as a bearer of
rights as a citizen, will it produce the greatest changes in
kindergarten, making the treatment of children 0-6 years still more
specific, requiring a teacher's attitude should be aware of how
accomplished the work with young children, what their needs as a child
and as a citizen.
3.The HISTORY OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION WORLDWIDE
For a long time, care and education of young children were seen as tasks
of the family, especially mothers and other women. After weaning, the
child was perceived as a little adult, when it reached a degree of
independence, started to help adults in daily activities and learn the
basics for their social integration. Did not consider the child's
personal identity.
Due to the nature of family care for infants, the first names of
children's institutions make a reference to this aspect, as the French
term "kindergarten" means manger crib. And the Italian term "asylum
nido" which means that houses a nest.
In primitive societies, children who were in difficult situations such
as neglect, were cared for by a network of kinship, or within the
family. In ancient times, the care provided by mothers were mercenaries,
who had no kind of concern for children, and many died under his care.
In the Middle Ages and modern times, there were the "wheels" (hollow
cylinders of wood, rotary), built in the walls of churches or charitable
hospitals where children were left gathered. Within this perspective,
it is evident that in the words of Oliver:
the ideas of abandonment, poverty, guilt and love pervade so precarious
that care for children during this period and will permeate certain
ideas about what is an institution that takes care of early childhood
education, stressing the negative side of care outside the family (
OLIVEIRA, 2002: 59).
Given this situation, are clear roots of the devaluation of professional
Early Childhood Education, which needs to change this stereotype, that
for working with children is not necessary qualification, for most
professionals working in this area is for laymen, which demonstrates
that even with such progress as regards the concept of a child, there
remains a kind of care that applies only to physical care, ignoring
global aspects in the care of children.
In Europe the Industrial Revolution, the agrarian and mercantile society
becomes urban-manufacturing, in a situation of conflict where children
were victims of poverty, neglect and abuse, with high mortality rate.
Gradually the children's work becomes more formal response to this
situation were emerging institutions for the care of disadvantaged
children or children whose parents worked in factories (OLIVEIRA, 2002).
In the eighteenth and nineteenth originates from two types of assistance
to small children, a good quality for the children of the elite, which
had the characteristic of education, and another that served as the
custody and discipline for children from disadvantaged classes.
Within this scenario raises the discussion of how to educate children.
Thinkers such as Comenius, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Decroly, Froebel and
Montessori configure the new bases for the education of children.
Although they had different focuses, they recognized that children had
characteristics different from adults, with its own needs (OLIVEIRA,
2002).
In the twentieth century, after the first World War, the idea grows
respect for children, culminating in the New Schools Movement,
strengthening important precepts such as the need to provide a school
that respects the child as a being specific, so this should direct their
work to match the characteristics of child thought.
In psychology, in the '20s and '30s, Vygotsky supports the idea that the
child is introduced to the world of culture by more experienced
partners. Wallon out affection as a determining factor in the learning
process. Research arise from Piaget, who revolutionized the vision of
how children learn, the theory of stages of development. Pedagogical
theories were gradually apropos of psychological concepts, especially in
early childhood education, stimulating its growth.
In the context of post-second world war, there is a preoccupation with
the social situation of children and the idea of children as holders
of rights. The UN promulgated in 1959, the Declaration of the Rights of
the Child, as a result of the Declaration of Human Rights, this is an
important factor in the conception of childhood that permeates the
contemporary, children as subjects of rights.
4. HISTORY OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN BRAZIL
The history of early childhood education in Brazil, in a sense, follows
the global parameters, with their own characteristics, marked by strong
welfare and improvisation. The children of the urban area were placed in
the "exposed wheels" to be collected by religious institutions, many of
these children were from mothers who belonged to traditional families.
In the early nineteenth century, to solve the problem of childhood,
there are isolated initiatives, such as crèches, nursing homes and
boarding schools, which were seen as institutions designed to care for
poor children. These institutions only covered up the problem and lacked
the ability to search deeper transformations in the social reality of
these children.
In the late nineteenth century, with the liberal ideals, began a project
to build a modern nation. The country's elite educational assimilates
the principles of the Movement of New Schools, developed in the centers
of social changes in Europe and brought to Brazil by U.S. and European
influence. Brazil sees the idea of "garden-care" was received
enthusiastically by some social sectors, but it generated much
discussion, because the elite did not want the government does not take
responsibility for care to needy children. With all the controversy, in
1875 in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in 1877, the first gardens were
created-schools, private in nature, aimed at children of the upper
class, and developed an educational program inspired by Froebel
(OLIVEIRA, 2002 ).
In half of the twentieth century, with increasing industrialization and
urbanization of the country, the woman begins to have a better insertion
in the labor market, causing an increase in the institutions that take
care of small children. Begins to take shape with a strong service
assistance nature.
In 70 years, Brazil absorbs the theories developed in the United States
and Europe, who argued that children from the poorest social strata
suffer from "cultural deprivation" and were asked to explain their
failure in school, this design will aim for a long time Childhood
Education, a vision rooted welfare and allowances, as Oliver says:
concepts such as cultural deprivation and marginalization and
compensatory education were then adopted, without there being a critical
reflection on the deeper structural roots of social problems. It also
has influence on policy decisions of Early Childhood Education
(Oliveira, 2002:109).
Thus, one can observe the origin of fragmented care that is still part
of early childhood education for disadvantaged children, an education
geared to meet the alleged "deficiencies" is an education that takes
into account the poor child as a being able, as someone who will not
respond to stimuli received by the school.
In the '80s, with the process of political opening, there was pressure
from the grassroots to expanding access to school. The education of
young children is being claimed as a duty of the state, which until then
had not been legally committed for that purpose. In 1888, due to great
pressure from feminist movements and social movements, the Constitution
recognizes education in kindergartens and preschools as a child's right
and duty of the state.
In the '90s, there was an expansion on the conception of the child. Now
we seek to understand the child as being a socio-historical, where
learning occurs through interactions between the child and the social
environment. This perspective has social interaction as the main
theorist Vygotsky, which emphasizes the child as a social subject, which
is part of a concrete culture (OLIVEIRA, 2002).
There is a strengthening of the new conception of childhood, into law
guaranteeing children's rights as a citizen. It creates the ECA (Statute
of Children and Adolescents) and the new LDB, Law No. 9394/96,
incorporates kindergarten as the first level of basic education and
formalized the decentralization of this phase.
In 1998, it created RCNEI (National Curriculum for Early Childhood
Education), a document that seeks to guide our work with children aged 0
to 6 years old. It represents a breakthrough in the quest to better
structure the role of early childhood education, bringing a proposal
that integrates care and education, which is today one of the biggest
challenges of kindergarten. We must say that the proposals brought by
RCN may not materialize to the extent that all involved in the process
seek effective implementation of the new proposals, if not he will
become just a set of rules that do not pencil out.
5. Concluding Remarks
Through this historical study, one can see that the concept of childhood
resonates strongly in the role of early childhood education because
directs all care provided to infants. Thus, the kindergarten is deppest
linked to the concept of childhood, and its evolution marked by the
social changes that led to a new vision of the child.
Education focused toddler only gained notoriety when it came to be
valued by society, if there were a change of attitude toward the vision
that had a child, early childhood education would not have changed the
way they conduct the teaching work and would not have arisen a new
profile for this stage of teacher education. It would not be charged to
your specific field, and the child would remain with a service aimed
only to physical issues, and its other dimensions, such as cognitive,
emotional and social unnoticed.
You can not lose sight that the concept of childhood caused by mankind
built a standardization of the child, as if it were a universal, without
characteristics of each society and every historical context.
Therefore, the Early Childhood Education and ended up being a child of
the bourgeois, and a proposal away from poor children. In spite of early
childhood education in Brazil have been institutionalized as rights of
children, few have access to quality care, with teachers who are unaware
of the pedagogical assumptions that should guide work with young
children, characterizing the specificity of early childhood education.
