Be an aunt or teacher? Professionality in early childhood education, a look at the representations of segment teachers

Abstract

This article deals with a study carried out with fifteen pedagogues completing a lato-sensu postgraduate course at a higher education institution in São Paulo. Data collection was carried out through a focus group whose objective was to understand how the teachers participating in the study represent themselves and how they perceive the representations that society makes of the work of teachers in this segment. Data were analyzed based on Bardin's Content Analysis assumptions and based on authors such as Freire (1997, 2001), Jodelet (2001), Moscovici (2003), among others. The results reveal that social representations about the work of early childhood education teachers interfere in relationships and pedagogical practices and that professionalization is a way to change conceptions. The study also highlighted the desire to recognize early childhood education as a stage of basic education.