Early Childhood Education Institution: space for listening, speaking and teaching in a welcoming and sensitive way

Abstract

This work seeks to deal with the role of the institution of early childhood education as a space for promoting listening and speaking of those involved in the pedagogical process, especially the children who, in the light of historiography, history of education/childhood and the bibliography that underpins this work, denote that children and childhoods were (and are) often perceived from the point of view of adults or their needs. In this sense, it is observed that over the last few decades one cannot speak of a childhood, but of childhoods. Neither should childhood be established as a cultural invention or abbreviated to biological and psychological aspects of human development. In this text, through a qualitative analysis, a bibliographical review and the sharing of an experience report, listening and welcoming children and families are taken into account, so that they feel part of the pedagogical process and a “resource” for that early childhood professionals get to know their children better, with a view to the child as the center of pedagogical work and the main actor throughout the entire process. Therefore, the study is divided into four topics: The history of Childhood and its bias towards studies and reflections on Early Childhood Education; childhood and its place of speech; the welcoming pedagogical practice and a brief report of experience with early childhood education. Finally, without necessarily bringing conclusions as an answer, reflections are presented in this work based on the question: how can studies in the field of childhood history contribute to the construction of more welcoming pedagogical practices in Early Childhood Education?