Continuing education in early childhood education from the teachers' point of view

Abstract

It analyzes teachers' narratives about their continuing education in Early Childhood Education, taking work with children as a potentializer of training paths, permeated by feedback between continuing education and teacher collectivity and the relationship between in-service continuing education in early childhood education. The research is qualitative in nature and uses narrative interviews as a methodological tool. It was carried out with 13 teachers working at this stage of basic education in a Municipal Early Childhood Education Center. It is based on Nóvoa's conceptions of professional-personality training, shared training and the production of the profession through collegiality, articulated with Benjamin's perspective that thinks of experience through collectivity and in relation to Certeau's thinking when demarcating concepts such as space and place. The following categories were produced: i) Continuing education as a movement that brings professionals together; ii) the relationship with children as an enabler of continuing education; iii) feedback between continuing education and teacher collectivity; iv) the relationship between continuing education and space/time at the Municipal Early Childhood Education Center. The narratives revealed the importance of in-service training; the fundamental role of children in the development of the teacher's professionalism; the strength of training as a collective process; the need for coordination between teaching units in order to share experiences; the weakness of the centralized training offered by the Department of Education because it disregards the needs of the teachers and the school as a subject for training.