Criança e infância

concepções de professoras da educação infantil do município de Ituiutaba, Minas Gerais

Abstract

This article presents a survey conducted in the Pedagogy Course of the School of Education of the Federal University of Uberlândia (FACIP/UFU) in 2015. Our aim was to identify what are the beliefs of female teachers working in both public and private sectors of education in Ituiutaba, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, regarding children and childhood. We relied on a qualitative research and used semi-structured interviews for data collection. In general, the account of teachers regarding their teaching practices made us realize that the reason for holding talks is that they believe children are subjects capable of engaging in dialogue and expressing their opinions. However, when reporting on other daily activities, those teachers favour the teaching of literacy skills as if children lacked any previous knowledge. With reference to childhood, the teachers’ testimonials favoured play-related aspects: traditional street games, circle games, stickball, badminton, hopscotch. We have also identified childhood beliefs related to moments of joy and pleasure as well as of playing with family and friends.