Educação infantil na perspectiva das relações étnico-raciais: relato de duas experiências de formação continuada de professores no município de Santo André

Abstract

This study aimed to describe two teacher training experiences for teachers of early childhood education and primary schools in Santo André City, in the state of São Paulo, being them: Gender and Race and The Color of Culture, developed in 2005 and 2006. The research tried to evaluate the impact of the training programs in raising awareness and guiding teachers of early childhood education about the importance of including the perspective of ethnic-racial relations in their teaching. For this, the most adequate methodology of research for the proposed objectives was the qualitative research. Thus, the study analyzed the constitution and the settings of these programs, based on the available documents and on three interviews: one with the representative of the Department of Education and Training and two with kindergarten teachers working in municipal day care centers. The results of the analysis showed that: the training programs helped to include the ethnic-racial issues into the discussion about teaching practices, but this was limited to the period of the training courses. The results also pointed out the weaknesses of a formation process that adopts the method of multiplication, without reaching the schools, because that is one of the factors causing the discontinuity. One of the conclusions of the study is that this kind of training has to take in account the specificity of early childhood education. To carry on this work, other conditions are also necessary: the teacher personal involvement with the theme; the partnership and encouragement by the school management team; as well as the adoption of a permanent public policy by the Department of Education. In this way, teacher trainig programs on ethnic-racial relations could contribute to build a more democratic and egalitarian society