From common sense to professional qualifications: the construction of baby teaching

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a survey conducted with educators of early childhood in a city based in São Paulo’s metropolitan region known as Grande ABC. In order to understand how these educators have been developing their professional identity, the survey used oral reports, iconographic representations and documentary sources as methodological procedures. The results reveal that in the early years, the nurseries’ care model was, exclusively, as social assistance. The qualification of the professionals took place through the initiative of the managers responsible for the institutions, since there were no professionals with experience and knowledge to work with babies. Facing the demands that arose on a daily basis, the educators have been building new techniques based on common knowledge and also based on knowledge built during training sections developed by principals and teachers in those educational units once they were also searching for theoretical references to qualify the paper. It’s possible to conclude that the day care center wanted to build its own identity.