The place of education of baby and very young children in ethnic-racial discussions: a panorama of ANPed research (2001-2017)

Abstract

This article delimits the discussions about the specificity of Early Childhood Education, as a space of care and quality education, aimed at babies and young children, meeting the understanding of this educational stage as a unique and differentiated field of basic education. Focusing on the day care segment (0 to 3 years old), this work aimed to enable some discussions that connect Early Childhood Education and the education of ethnic-racial relations, assuming the determining role of both for the construction of a more just society, as well as to overcome the different forms of racism and prejudice that are still present in Brazilian society. To this end, a broad survey of the researches that are included in the annals of the national meetings of the Associação Nacional de Pós-graduação e Pesquisa em Educação (ANPEd) was carried out, seeking to identify the visibility or not given to children up to 3 years old in these discussions. The data reveal the complex reality in which babies and very young children - as well as their teachers and the daily life experienced by both in Early Childhood Education - find themselves, remaining on the margins of discussions on the topic. They also make it possible to infer about the need for research that focuses on this context and assumes babies and very young children as subjects of rights and voice, allowing the expansion of knowledge about the way in which children of this age group, white and black, have built their ethnic-racial identities and what is the role of early childhood education in this regard.