Early education for diversity: starting from birth

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira-Formosinho, Julia
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Araújo, Sara Barros
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/12277
• topic: Pedagogy-in-participation; Diversity; Context based teacher education; Pedagogical dimensions

Democracy is at the core of the beliefs, values and principles of Pedagogy-in-Participation, the pedagogical perspective of the Childhood Association1 which is based in Portugal. Thus, it is proposed that early childhood education centres should be organised for democracy to constitute, simultaneously, an end and a mean, i.e. to constitute a presence, either at the level of central educational aims and in the realm of daily life of all actors. This article analyses the topic of early diversity education, considering intervention and research that has been developed by the Childhood Association concerning education and care for children from birth to 3-years-old. The authors aim to identify the main characteristics of this pedagogical approach that are most effective in the promotion of respect for diversity, the characteristics of the context-based teacher education approach that sustain the childhood pedagogical approach and the characteristics of the transformative interventions that were carried out within a cooperative praxiological research approach. A qualitative multi-context case study aiming at researching programme development and outcomes was conducted. The analyses carried out points to the important role of context-based teacher education processes and, within these, the central role of pedagogical dimensions (pedagogical spaces, materials, time, adult–child interactions, observation and planning), of families, nature and culture as mediators in the emergence of sensitivity and respect for all forms of difference. The article also presents some lessons that can support educational intervention, invoking the ideas of Paulo Freire for a deeper understanding of those processes.