Escolas da infância ao redor do mundo: sobre o brincar e outras descobertas

Abstract

In search of inspiring stories with new visions for contemporary education, I visited several countries in different continents, and the situations experimented in those learning spaces originated this qualitative research about early childhood education, whose objective is to analyse how the intentional organization of spaces can promote children’s development as a whole in different contexts. Writing letters related to our theoretical framework was our instrument of analysis and guiding element, which allowed sharing and reflecting about the experiences offered to children in such early childhood education spaces. In this sense, training constitutes a dimension that guarantees teachers continuous updating by following, through the letters, how children relate to the spaces and identify in the characteristics of these spaces the possibilities for children's development. The subjects researched were four early childhood education schools, which were considered more significant to me: “Auchlone Nature Kindergarten”, in Crieff, Scotland, a Forest School; “Roseville Community School”, located the Silicon Valley, California, based on constructivist principles of education, with a focus on facilitating a child's understanding through rich, hands-on learning experiences combined with a multi-age classroom environment; “Viiki School”, in Helsinki, Finland, whose national curriculum proposes that children learn by playing and relating to the other children and teachers around them and this is how they make sense of the world, developing their skills and building knowledge; and “La Fata Turchina”, located in San Miniato, Italy, idealized by educator Aldo Fortunati, to value the child and his protagonism, offering an environment as a project of relationships for possible experiences